Ithiel Horton gets involved as balanced Pitt rolls past Northern Illinois

Justin Champagnie has known Ithiel Horton and watched him make shots for a long time, even before they became teammates at Pitt.

So, Champagnie was not surprised Saturday night when Horton snapped out of his two-game slump and hit five 3-pointers to help lead Pitt (2-1) to an 89-59 nonconference victory against Northern Illinois (0-3) at nearly empty Petersen Events Center.

Horton’s chief problem in Pitt’s first two games when he totaled only 10 points?

“Ithiel likes to be a perfectionist,” said Champagnie, who was the actual star of the show with 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Champagnie hit 8 of 13 shots, including four 3-pointers himself and a follow slam. But what he wanted to do more than anything after the game was talk about Horton.

“He doesn’t like to mess up,” Champagnie said. “When he does, he lets it drag on for plays and plays and plays. I had some of those problems last year (as a freshman).

“I try to tell him everyone makes mistakes. LeBron James makes mistakes and he’s the best player in the world.

“Just play your game, keep going and shoot your shot.”

Horton, a Delaware transfer playing his first season at Pitt after sitting out 2019-2020, listened to Champagnie’s advice, but also got some from another source.

A Pitt staff member gave him a podcast of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and former Blue Devils star J.J. Redick talking basketball. He said listening to two of college basketball’s most prominent figures talk about making shots gave him the boost of confidence he needed.

“I tried not to put a lot of pressure on myself coming into the season,” said Horton, who scored all 15 of his points from beyond the arc (five of 12). “The first few games showed I put more pressure on myself than I thought.

“The difference (Saturday) was me actually believing I could play on this level and coming out here and making these shots.

“As a whole, the first two games were a microcosm of the doubt picture I presented in my head. The first two games I was definitely nervous and doubtful.

“I’ve made those shots already,” he said of past seasons and in practice at Pitt. “What’s different now? Just on a bigger stage.”

Horton was one of three Panthers who ended up with 15. Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney matched him with that total, each hitting two 3-pointers. Toney has scored 55 points in the first three games.

Coach Jeff Capel said he liked seeing the ball go through the hoop – Pitt shot 50 percent (30 of 60) — but he was even more partial to what happened before the shots found the cords.

Pitt recorded 26 assists on those 30 baskets.

“Maybe since I’ve been here (three seasons), it’s the best job we did of sharing the basketball,” Capel said.

He called 26 assists on 30 field goals “pretty incredible.”

“We moved the ball. We shared the basketball. The ball didn’t stick.,” he said, noting Horton recorded four assists along with his long-range bombs.

Capel was especially encouraged because moving the basketball was a prominent topic of conversation and the videos he recently shared with the team.

He also liked how well his team played defense. Northern Illinois, a Mid-American Conference school, kept pace with Pitt for much of the first half before Pitt ratcheted up its intensity.

NIU scored only seven points in the final 8 minutes, 46 seconds of the first half. Pitt turned a 29-22 lead at 8:32 into a dominant 45-29 advantage at halftime.

Trendon Hankerson scored 15 points for NIU in the first half, but only three after halftime. Capel said he directed Pitt’s defense toward the NIU ball screens aimed at freeing Hankerson for open looks.

“We tried to take the ball out of his hands on ball screens,” Capel said. “I thought our guys did a really good job of executing that.”

As a result, Hankerson was handcuffed and NIU committed 18 turnovers to Pitt’s eight for the game.

“Every time we got (Hankerson) in a ball screen, we wanted to blitz him,” Capel said.

The victory was a boost for Pitt’s confidence after uneven performances in the first two games. Next up is Pitt’s only nonconference road game of the season – Northwestern on Wednesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Pitt also will play Gardner-Webb at the Pete next Saturday before the ACC opener Dec. 16 at Miami.

“The chemistry on the floor was definitely unfolding,” Horton said. “Now, we just have to harness that and put it in a bottle and just keep refining it and when we go on the road to Northwestern, just unleash it all on them.”

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