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Pitt has to have some confidence heading into rematch with Virginia

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uva gardner celebrate
UVA forward Jayden Gardner celebrates after his jumper gave Virginia the lead with less than a second to go. Photo by Dan Grogan.

Virginia needed five points in the final 11 seconds from Jayden Gardner, the final bucket hitting every part of the rim and some of the backboard before falling through in the final second, to get a 57-56 win over Pitt back in December.

Gotta think the Panthers are steeled for Act II coming up on Wednesday.

Pitt (7-10, 2-4 ACC) has lost three of its last five, but last time out, on Saturday, the Panthers defeated Louisville, 65-53, getting 20 points from Jamarius Burton and 19 from John Hugley.

Hugley had 12 and Burton 11 in the loss to UVA last month. Pitt, in that one, was 8-of-16 from three, a solid showing for a group that is shooting 30.4 percent on the year, 348th in D1.

Rotation guys

Hugley, a 6’9” center, is the leading scorer (15.4 ppg, 8.1 rebounds/g, 46.0% FG, 17.4% 3FG).

His buckets come largely in the paint – he’s shooting 50 percent on 130 postups this season, and gets to the line for 7.8 free throw attempts per game, and he hits 72.2 percent at the stripe.

Burton, a 6’4” senior shooting guard, scores 13.0 ppg (38.9% FG, 32.6% 3FG), and is a below-average defender, allowing opponents to score .922 points per possession, per Synergy Sports data.

Point guard Femi Odukale (11.9 ppg, 3.4 assists/g, 37.5% FG, 31.9% 3FG) brings size (6’5”) at the one.

Mouhmadou Gueye, a 6’10” power forward, averages 8.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, and also rates as a below average defender (.947 PPP).

The other starter is 6’7” small forward William Jeffress (4.8 ppg, 4.3 rebounds/g, 30.4% FG, 20.0% 3FG).

Fleshing out the rotation are 6’7” forward Nate Santos (4.1 ppg, 34.9% FG, 27.0% 3FG), 6’1” guard Onyebuchi Ezeakudo (1.9 ppg, 36.7% FG, 40.9% 3FG) and 6’8” forward Noah Collier (1.6 ppg, 54.5% FG).

Keys for UVA

Virginia is going to need a bounceback performance from 6’7” power forward Jayden Gardner (14.0 ppg, 7.2 rebounds/g, 52.5% FG), who averaged 6.5 points per game on 20.8 percent shooting in two games last week.

Gardner had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 33 minutes in the win over Pitt last month.

6’4” shooting guard Armaan Franklin (12.5 ppg, 43.0% FG, 24.4% 3FG) has averaged 14.3 points per game over his last seven, shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from three.

Franklin had 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting (0-of-6 from three) in the win over Pitt at JPJ.

6’3” point guard Reece Beekman (7.5 ppg, 4.6 assists/g, 41.1% FG, 25.8% 3FG) has been contributing well on both ends of late – scoring 10.0 points and dishing out 4.5 assists per game over his last six, shooting 53.1 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from three in that stretch.

The bigs – 6’11” Kadin Shedrick (5.8 ppg, 5.2 rebounds/g, 55.7% FG) and 7’1” Francisco Caffaro (4.1 ppg, 3.5 rebounds/g, 48.9% FG) – will need to avoid foul trouble.

Last time out against Pitt, Caffaro fouled out in 17 minutes, and Shedrick had four fouls in 21 minutes of floor time.

Story by Chris Graham

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