Jamarius Burton gives Pitt steady play in a variety of roles

In games that matter most (those against ACC opponents), only four people have been on the floor as long as Pitt senior guard Jamarius Burton:

Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim, who played 40 minutes against Pitt on Jan. 11, and the three officials in each game.

In seven conference games, Burton has played all but 10 ½ of the 280 minutes. He’s played all 40 twice, including the 66-61 loss to Virginia on Wednesday night.

Don’t expect much to change Saturday when Pitt (7-11, 2-5) visits Clemson (10-8, 2-5) for a 6 p.m. tipoff on the ACC Network. The loser falls closer to last place in the conference.

Burton has been a steady presence, whether he’s handling the ball, looking for an opening in the opposing defense, shooting foul shots, providing leadership, or trying to come up with some answers for Pitt’s spotty play.

“Honestly, it just comes down to being the smarter and tougher team,” Burton said, trying to explain the Virginia game to reporters, “and that’s what they were (Wednesday). They were smarter and they were tougher.”

Burton’s words matter because he backs them up on the floor.

He’s committed only 10 turnovers in seven ACC games, not bad when you consider he has the basketball in his hands a good bit of the time.

His streak of successful free-throw attempts ended at 31 Wednesday when he missed two of six. That dropped his season percentage in all games to 88.9 (fourth among ACC players), but he’s 27 of 29 (93.1%) against conference opponents.

Plus, he’s shooting 46.2% from the floor in ACC games — second to John Hugley’s 46.5% among Pitt’s starters — while averaging 15.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

Burton, who missed the first two games while recovering from a knee injury, shoulders a larger burden than he might have expected when he transferred from Texas Tech this year.

Losing guards Nike Sibande (injury) and Ithiel Horton (suspension) has robbed Pitt of its two best long-range shooters while thinning out the bench. Sibande hasn’t played at all, and Horton played 28 minutes in one game, scoring 13 points with three 3-pointers before criminal charges against him were re-filed.

Despite the manpower shortage in the backcourt, Pitt counter-punched with Virginia for more than half the game until what Burton referred to as “defensive fatigue” became too much to overcome.

“We couldn’t finish the plays off (on defense),” he said. “We played great defense for a majority of the shot clock and then they capitalized on us last minute.

“When you guard for 28, 29 seconds and they get an offensive rebound (Virginia grabbed 11) or whatever the case may be, that’s tough on your defense. Because now you have to guard for another 30 seconds.

“(Virginia is) not the type of team that’s going to shoot any quick balls. They’re going to run their shots until they get a great shot. We came up short when it came to closing possessions on defense.”