Pitt Take 5: Panthers take 1-at-a-time approach, know big-time games will arrive soon enough

Greg Elliott is nearly two decades removed from being a kid on Christmas morning. It’s no surprise, then, that Pitt’s graduate transfer guard is showing plenty of patience with so many tasty treats awaiting him, only days away.

Before the end of the year, Pitt will have the opportunity to open eyes nationally and around the ACC in games Tuesday at Syracuse and Dec. 30 at North Carolina.

Then, there’s the nine-day break after the Syracuse game when players can visit family and friends over the holidays.

Elliott, however, is focused solely on making shots. He’s hit 22 of 34 for a 64.7% success rate over the past four games. And, of course, North Florida is first on his to-do list.

The Panthers (7-4) play their final nonconference game of the season Saturday at Petersen Events Center against the Ospreys (3-6) of the ASUN Conference.

So, don’t ask about Syracuse.

“I don’t know nothing about that game. I play North Florida on Saturday,” Elliott said.

The break is also far back in the recesses of his mind.

“We can’t look toward that break. We know we have two (ACC) games coming up, but first we play on Saturday.”

While awaiting the attack of the Ospreys at 1 p.m., here are five thoughts to ponder:

1. Keep shooting

North Florida coach Matt Driscoll’s video study of Pitt told him Pitt 6-foot-7 forward Blake Hinson likes to shoot long-range shots — and is good at it, too.

“The way he’s shooting it right now, it’s almost like he’s never met one he hasn’t liked,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll’s point is Hinson is shooting a nice percentage from 3-point range (23 of 60, 38.3%) and overall (58 of 120, 48.3%, 10th in the ACC).

Coach Jeff Capel wants Hinson, Elliott, Nelly Cummings and Jamarius Burton to keep shooting 2s and 3s. It’s how teams end up scoring more than 72 points, something Pitt has done in six of the past seven games.

Pitt secures 36.2% of its points from behind the arc, compared to 26.2% last year. The accuracy percentage is up, too, from 31.4% to 34.4%.

2. A good sign

Perhaps the most encouraging sign displayed by Pitt so far was the way it recovered from a 1-3 start to win six of its next seven games.

Every team in the nation plays its share of weaklings in November and December. But, for Pitt’s critics to ponder, two of the past six victories were against power conference teams Northwestern (7-2) and N.C. State (9-3) on the road.

Pitt beat Northwestern, 87-58, in the game after the Wildcats nearly upset now-No. 19 Auburn in a 43-42 loss.

What does early success mean for the short- and long-term future of Pitt basketball? Nothing. But it does offer a bit of hope this season is headed in the right direction.

3. Learning to take a punch

Elliott said he has been impressed with his team’s overall resiliency, especially considering there were so many first-time Pitt players arriving from so many different homes this summer.

“We were all new to each other so you had no clue what these guys are like when the battles start on the court,” he said. “We take a punch, get up, get off the mat and fight back.

“We came back from Brooklyn (after losses to Michigan and VCU). It was gut check time for a lot of people in our program. For us as a group to come together and see where we are now has been huge.”

4. Lesson in maturity

Elliott said players focused on their mistakes after the 91-60 loss to Michigan, rather than blaming it on a superior opponent.

“You don’t want to lose by 30, (but) you have to take every loss as a lesson,” he said. “We had some losses early that we had to learn from. It takes a mature team to look in the mirror and (say), ‘It’s not what they were doing against us. This is about the stuff that we didn’t do well.’ That costs us those games.”

5. Court quarterback

Point guard Nelly Cummings is settling in as the quarterback of the offense, handing out an average of 4.4 assists (sixth in the ACC). He also is shooting just less than 40% from the field (41 of 103).

Cummings doesn’t have enough free-throw attempts to qualify as the conference leader, but he’s made all 19.