Pitt's Ithiel Horton sits for games, goes 'overboard' at practice

When his Pitt teammates leave campus for a road game, Ithiel Horton must find ways to entertain himself.

“It’s just me here,” said Horton, the new guy after transferring from Delaware last year. “I have to find what to do, find distractions.”

Because of its one-year restriction on transfers, the NCAA won’t allow the 6-foot-3 guard to play in Pitt’s games until next season, or even to accompany the team and just watch from the bench.

But college athletics’ governing body can’t stop him from walking into Petersen Events Center, picking up a basketball and working on his shot when no one is around.

Horton loves the game, but his body needs occasional rest. Eventually, he puts down the basketball, finds the library and loses himself in the Harry Potter series of books. Right now, he’s reading “Goblet of Fire” after finishing “Prisoner of Azkaban.”

“I spend the rest of the time waiting for the game,” he said.

Horton watches the games on TV with intense interest, because he spent the days leading up to them simulating the other team’s best scorer.

At various times this season, he has been Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes and Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, the leading scorers in the ACC.

“I evaluate myself on whether our guys can stop that opponent,” Horton said. “I go extra. I go overboard. They don’t like it, but this is how I can help the team. They get frustrated a little bit.”

He said his teammates are loathe to give him credit when he does “kick them in behind,” but he’s OK with it.

“It’s not about me. It’s about us,” he said.

Sophomore guard Xavier Johnson said he has improved his defense trying to guard Horton.

“I think he’s a pro scorer, for real,” Johnson said. “You become a better on-ball defender because he’s really good. I wasn’t expecting to see all that from him.

“You don’t have to create for him. He creates for himself.”

Coach Jeff Capel, a man not prone to offer excessive praise, talks about Horton like he could have been one of the best players in the ACC this season.

“If you can guard him in practice, I haven’t seen a better guy in this league that they will have to guard,” Capel said.

Horton is so good, according to Capel, trying to guard him can be ego-deflating.

“It can also mess with guys’ confidence,” Capel said. “Because you can play really good defense on him and, a lot of times this year (in practice), there’s been nothing anybody can do.”

Horton ended up at Pitt after playing 33 games for Delaware as a freshman last season, averaging 13.2 points (tops among freshman in the Colonial Athletic Association), shooting 43.3% from the field and 40.9% from beyond the 3-point arc.

“I’ve always talked about this level with my dad,” he said. “I sat on the couch with him, watching these type of (ACC) games, watching the NCAA Tournament.

“Not saying that Delaware was a bad place … it kind of defeats the purpose of the whole plan my family and I have talked about my whole life.”

When he decided to transfer, he flirted with Arkansas and liked the “toughness” its coach, Eric Musselman, was injecting into the program. But it was located in another world, too.

“I was leaning toward Arkansas. Obviously, it’s in Arkansas, completely foreign to me,” said the native of Vauxhall, N.J.

Horton’s case might have occurred too soon because there is speculation the NCAA might allow players who transfer to play immediately, possibly as soon as the 2021-22 basketball season.

“I think guys should be able to transfer and be able to play. The NCAA is kind of power-tripping with that rule,” Horton said.

But, then, he abruptly stopped and said, “Well, matter of fact, if you don’t want us to play, that’s OK. I can understand you don’t want it to be a tornado out here, with people transferring.

“At least let us travel with the team.”