Pitt aims to pursue bigger prizes after surviving bright lights of New York City

For a basketball team trying to find sure footing in a season of rough roads, the bright lights of Madison Square Garden can be daunting.

But Pitt (4-7, 0-1 ACC) found a way to win a close game there Saturday, pushing past St. John’s, 59-57, after leading for only 4 1/2 minutes.

“It was the first time for a lot of us playing in an NBA arena,” sophomore center John Hugley said. “We had to fight through some adversity at Madison Square Garden. It’s a big confidence boost.”

Another challenge arises Tuesday afternoon, however, at a venue that hasn’t been especially kind to the Panthers this season: They’re coming home to Petersen Events Center.

That’s right. Over the years, Pitt is 162-16 (91%) in nonconference games at the Pete, but this season the Panthers are only 3-5 in front of sparse home crowds.

Pitt’s final nonconference game tips off at 2 p.m. Tuesday against Jacksonville (7-2) on the ACC Network. It’s Pitt’s last game before the ACC season resumes Dec. 28 at the Pete against Notre Dame.

Pitt’s challenge will be setting aside the past game and sustaining what led to victory: a strong defensive effort.

St. John’s entered the game averaging 85.2 points per game. In seven of their first 10, the Red Storm scored no fewer than 83 points with a high of 119.

It should be noted that St. John’s played the Panthers without leading scorer Julian Champagnie, the brother of former Pitt star Justin Champagnie. He was out after testing positive for covid-19, the New York Post reported. Champagnie is scoring at a 20.3 points-per-game pace.

But Pitt has held four of its past five opponents under 60 points. For a team that struggles to get more than two players into double figures — it has happened only four times — good defense will be the key to the season.

“Guys are understanding that we need everybody.” Hugley said. “I feel like everybody is coming together and playing their role, and I’m very proud of it. I feel like guys are playing with more energy. We’re communicating more, talking more. Nobody’s hanging their head down.”

Hugley said the team was “just learning how to click back from adversity” over the first six games of the season when Pitt lost four of six.

Hugley said coach Jeff Capel emphasized to the team at MSG the importance of playing with strength and confidence. The message from the head coach was, “Don’t let them try to punk us,” Hugley said.

Pitt already has lost seven games, but the average margin has fallen from 14 to start the season to two points in the past three defeats.

“We’re not no pushovers. When you play Pitt, you’re going to get hard basketball every game,” Hugley said. “You’re not going to get nothing easy. You have to work for everything you get when you play us.

“We’re greedy. Whatever it takes to win we have to do. If we have to come out with blood, whatever we got to do. Just fight until that buzzer goes off.”

Hugley, who continues to lead Pitt in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (eight), made a personal sacrifice, cutting out his beloved late-night snacks to drop from 280 pounds to 265 since the start of the season.

“I’m a big snacker,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said he pushed himself harder in the weight room. “Doing the little things, I wasn’t doing before,” he said.

Senior Jamarius Burton, who scored 20 points and hit the winner against St. John’s, said the team knows all too well what it feels like to lose. He credits the coaching staff with creating an atmosphere of positivity during dark times.

“It was still positivity, still encouragement, still things we can learn from each and every game,” he said. “Showing up every day kept us motivated to keep going through this whole first stretch of the season.

“That’s what makes us stronger individuals. That’s what’s going to help us. We’ve been on the other side of victory and we know what it feels like.”