Jeff Capel was critical of the lackluster start by Pitt in its season-opening 80-70 loss to St. Francis (Pa.), saying he was surprised by the lack of energy at the start and wondering whether it was nerves or jitters.

The youngest player on the Panthers, and one of the youngest in all of college basketball, noticed the increased intensity while watching with excitement from the bench for the first 10 minutes of the game.

By the time William Jeffress made his debut, he was prepared to make an impact. The 6-foot-7 freshman swingman from Erie played the most of Pitt’s five freshmen, scoring seven points, with four rebounds, an assist, a steal and a turnover in 20 minutes, 24 seconds. His plus/minus rating of plus-8 was the team’s best.

“Whenever you come into the game, you’ve got to be ready to make plays,” Jeffress said. “I just wanted to come off the bench and supply energy to my team and continue to communicate and keep pushing our guys that we can still win this game, even though we were behind.”

It was the kind of impact that could lead to a bigger role for Jeffress when the Panthers (0-1) host Drexel (0-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center. The Dragons, who finished 14-19 (6-12 in the Colonial Conference) last season, have a Quaker Valley graduate in 6-4 junior guard Coletrane Washington and a Seneca Valley alum in assistant coach Justin Jennings.

At 17 years, five months and two days, Jeffress is the youngest player in the ACC since Brad Dougherty debuted at North Carolina at 17 years, one month and one day in 1982. Since 1976, the only ACC players younger than Jeffress were Dougherty and Duke’s Mike Gminski (17 years, three months and 23 days).

That’s elite company for Jeffress to keep, as Gminski and Dougherty became All-Americans and NBA first-round picks. Then again, Jeffress should only be a high school senior. A top-100 recruit by Rivals.com, Jeffress reclassified to graduate early from McDowell after scoring 1,673 points in three seasons.

The Panthers are counting on their freshmen to contribute valuable depth, and junior swingman Au’Diese Toney warned the newcomers that they needed to overcome their nerves in the opener.

“I tell them all the time: ‘This is your first college game. There’s going to be a lot of jitters. We’ve been through that. At the same time, it’s basketball. Play your game,’ ” Toney said.

Jeffress took heed when he entered the game at the 9:55 mark of the first half. He assisted on fellow freshman John Hugley’s three-point play that cut it to 29-21 with 6:51 in the first half. The first-half performance earned Jeffress more playing time in the second half, after the Panthers fell behind by 20. Jeffress stripped Maxwell Land for a steal and threw down a two-handed fastbreak dunk to cut it to 58-44.

“Will, he gave us a lift of momentum when he came in and started to play good,” Toney said. “I told him, ‘Take your shot. Don’t hesitate.’ The last practice, he was kind of timid about not shooting. I was like, ‘Shoot that ball. You can shoot, so shoot the ball.’ That’s what he did, and he stepped up to the plate.”

Pitt assistant director of basketball operations Ronald Ramon, one of the most prolific shooters in program history, shared the same advice on the bench. Jeffress didn’t hesitate to take his shot when he got the chance. But Pitt failed to capitalize on the momentum of the dunk and a Jeffress 3-pointer that trimmed St. Francis’ lead to 72-61 with 3:56 remaining.

“One lesson I can take away is that you’ve got to bring it every given night,” Jeffress said. “Everybody is beatable. If you don’t come out with energy and you don’t come out the gates right away, it’s hard to win from behind. Also, I take away that intensity and energy is really one of the biggest things in college basketball. We didn’t come out with that much energy. We were kind of flat, and our intensity dropped as St. Francis started to pull away. We got into ourselves instead of coming together. It’s a lot about leaning on your teammates, trusting your coaches and continuing to play together.”

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