John Hugley, Jamarius Burton lead Pitt past Louisville

The range of John Hugley’s confidence is as broad as his shoulders.

At a listed weight of 280 pounds (he could have dropped a few since the beginning of the season), that’s a lot of shoulders. And — the way he’s been playing — that’s a lot of confidence.

Hugley played only 25 minutes, 55 seconds of Pitt’s 65-53 victory against Louisville on Saturday at Petersen Events Center. But he made every second — and most touches of the basketball — count. He scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds, contributed an assist and two steals and did his best to ensure Louisville’s big men went home with the requisite muscle soreness.

“Don’t nobody want to keep getting chest to body for the whole 40 minutes,” he said of his battles with Louisville’s big men, including 6-11, 245-pound Malik Williams. “My goal is just wear dudes down and just beat them up inside.”

When asked about the Louisville players trying to defend him in the paint, he said, “Too little.”

“They’re not too little,” coach Jeff Capel said, but he gets Hugley’s point.

Truth be told, Hugley’s confidence is not misplaced.

He has scored 80 points and grabbed 33 rebounds in four of Pitt’s past five games, and now the Panthers have won two of them. Small strides but important ones as players try to keep the season from unraveling.

The key to this victory was the ability of Hugley’s teammates to score and attract attention. Jamarius Burton led both teams with 20 points, and Mouhamadou Gueye, who also had eight rebounds and four blocks, and Femi Odukaleh added 10 points each.

“It opens up a lot because then they play me one-on-one,” Hugley said. “And we all can see what happens when I get played one-on-one.”

The victory was satisfying for Hugley, who was in foul trouble and played only 19:24 of the 75-72 loss at Louisville on Jan. 5.

“It was great being able to play (more minutes), just coming back for blood,” he said.

The game was closely contested into the second half before Pitt, which committed only three turnovers after halftime, built a 12-point lead when Hugley lasered a pass to Gueye for an easy dunk with 9:48 to go.

After that, Louisville (10-7, 4-3) never seriously threatened while losing its third game in a row. It was a departure from past games when Pitt played well early but struggled late. This time, players punched back.

“We’ve had times where we’ve done it for 28 minutes, 32 minutes, 37 minutes,” Capel said. “We have to be able to do it for 40 minutes, and we were able to do that.”

The margin of victory was Pitt’s largest of the season. Ground down by manpower deficiencies that stretched from the end of last season to the start of this one, the Panthers (7-10, 2-4 ACC) started 2-6.

They have won five of the past nine in a quest to gain respect, but that’s something they already have won from their coach.

“The thing that I admire about this team — and I do; it’s not just coach-speak — they’ve shown up every day trying to get better,” said Capel, whose record against Louisville as Pitt’s coach is 2-5. “It’s been hard with some of these heart-breaking losses. It’s what makes me believe, and I believe it in my core that good things are on the horizon for us.

“It would be easy to jump ship. It would be easy to not show up or pout or feel sorry for yourself, and our guys haven’t done that.”

Capel was most pleased that his players recovered from the first big loss in weeks, 77-61 to Syracuse on Tuesday.

“There was a big-time response,” he said. “I thought we fought for 40 minutes. I thought we were incredibly together.”

Burton, whose stat line included eight rebounds, four assists and a steal, called the victory “a big confidence booster.”

“When we do what the coaches tell us to do, when we’re together,” he said, “this type of outcome is possible.”