Pitt, Louisville rosters sport new looks for Wednesday's ACC encounter

When Pitt visits Louisville on Wednesday in its third ACC game, both teams will present a different look from their most recent meeting early in the 2020-21 season.

Pitt’s starting lineup will include five new starters, unless Ithiel Horton somehow slips into the lineup. The game will be Pitt’s first since Horton was reinstated from suspension last Thursday.

Among the other four starters from a year ago, Xavier Johnson and Abdoul Karim Coulibaly have transferred, Nike Sibande is lost for the season with a knee injury and Noah Collier’s next start will be his first this season.

Then, there’s the coach. Jeff Capel missed the 64-54 loss to Louisville at Petersen Events Center after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Of the five who started for Louisville (9-4, 3-0 ACC) in its 67-64 victory at Georgia Tech on Sunday, only Samuell Williamson started for the Cardinals against Pitt last season.

In fact, five of the game’s 10 projected starters — Pitt’s Jamarius Burton (Texas Tech) and Mouhamadou Gueye (Stony Brook) and Louisville’s Noah Locke (Florida), Matt Cross (Miami) and Jarrod West (Marshall) — were on other teams last season. Before settling on Louisville as his transfer destination, West considered Pitt.

There’s nothing unusual about the situation, however. It’s just college basketball these days.

“Everyone’s roster has changed for the most part,” Capel said. “That’s the nature of everything we’re dealing with (in) college athletics and, specifically, college basketball.”

Capel said opponents who annually change personnel present no special challenge in preparation.

“This is what we do,” he said. “We study (the opponent). We try to put together a gameplan and see what their strengths are and how maybe you can take away some of those strengths.

“Even if they had everyone back, they’d be different because you’d think they would have gotten better.”

Pitt’s roster overhaul has been well-documented. The Panthers (5-8, 0-2) have played the entire season without their top five scorers from last season. But Femi Odukale and John Hugley are averaging a combined 27.2 points per game, and Burton has a current streak of six games scoring in double digits.

Odukale will be no stranger to the Cardinals. He registered the first double-figure scoring effort of his career when he scored 16 against Louisville last season.

Louisville is only 4-3 since November, losing to Western Kentucky, DePaul and Michigan State. But the Cardinals have won three ACC decisions against N.C. State, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech by a total margin of 12 points.

Defense has been the key for the Cardinals, who surrendered an average of only 62.3 points per game in their nine victories.

“One thing we’ve been able to hang our hats on in ugly games at times has been our defense,” coach Chris Mack said. “Although we may not be generating turnovers for points, it’s not giving up points. It’s not giving up open looks. Our defense has been pretty good.”

He said his team identity will be its defense “until we get our offense more on track, get some guys to shoot a little better.”

Louisville center Malik Williams (6-foot-11) is averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds after missing all but three games last season with a foot injury. He has scored in double figures in seven consecutive games.

“I’m so used to talking about his defense,” Mack said, “I probably haven’t given him enough praise publicly for who he’s been offensively. He’s really starting to gain his confidence on that end of the floor.”

Williams will challenge Hugley’s presence in the paint. At 6-9, Hugley is standing among the ACC leaders, averaging 14.8 points (tied for 14th), 7.9 rebounds (fourth) and 2.8 offensive rebounds (third).

The game will be test in another way for Pitt. The Panthers have lost all nine games at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center and are 1-11 overall against the Cardinals since joining the ACC.