Trey McGowens comes off bench, helps Pitt rally past Northern Illinois

The best coaches know what buttons to push to ignite their players. They can sense when to do it, and just as importantly, how to do it.

Pitt’s Jeff Capel figured that out over the past few days and decided to bench starting sophomore guard Trey McGowens at the beginning of the game Monday night at Petersen Events Center against Northern Illinois.

Capel called it a coach’s decision, and it certainly wasn’t a punishment because McGowens sat out the first 2 minutes, 22 seconds, ended up playing 36:32 (three seconds off his season high) and scored 18 points to lead Pitt (8-3) to a come-from-behind 59-50 victory.

McGowens strung together an impressive stat line that included seven made shots in 13 attempts (4 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc), three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Xavier Johnson added 11 points, Eric Hamilton 10 and freshman Justin Champagnie eight (all in the second half).

Pitt trailed for most of the game — but never by more than seven points — and finished on a 15-0 run. While holding Northern Illinois (6-5) scoreless over the final 6:35, Champagnie scored six points, Hamilton added three and Au’Diese Toney two. McGowens’ 3-pointer with 56 seconds left turned a four-point lead into seven and ensured the victory.

So, what was Capel’s thinking in letting McGowens watch for a couple of minutes?

“He’s a good player, and we need him to be a good player,” Capel said. “And we need him to be confident in him all the time and not get down on himself. And to know we have confidence in him to do things and play the right way.

“It wasn’t any drawn out thing. This is what I thought was best for our team today.”

Over the previous five games, McGowens had scored zero, three and four points sandwiched around 15- and 16-point efforts against Northwestern and Rutgers. His scoring average fell from a high of 15 to 11.2.

McGowens said the brief benching was a matter of him “seeing how things would happen when I was off the court.”

“Me and coach kind of talked about it two days ago. He just talked about trying to get my mind right, locked back in, asking me questions, ‘Was I good?’

“We kind of had a heart-to-heart.”

Asked what he did to get his mind right, he said, “I just had a lot stuff going on, just being able to talk to somebody.

“The biggest thing is having teammates who are there, no matter what.” Even with McGowens leading the offense, Pitt had trouble shaking Northern Illinois and guard Eugene German, the leading scorer in the Mid-American Conference.

“We didn’t have the energy,” Capel said. “We were lethargic. We were trying to do different things, and nothing worked.”

Capel switched to a zone defense in the second half to take away German’s ability to drive, and it worked. Northern Illinois missed 12 of 13 3-point attempts in the second half, when German scored only five of his 18 points (two under his average).

The game was Pitt’s first in nine days after a week of final exams.

“These guys are fried,” Capel said. “You know how it is after exams. You’re mentally drained and exhausted.

“I’m glad we were able to get out of it down the stretch and figure out a way to win. We found something within us.

“It’s a game last year we don’t win.”

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