Pitt's Justin Champagnie focuses on team while trying to ignore 'outside noise'

Distractions rush toward Justin Champagnie at a dizzying rate.

• Will he win ACC Player of the Year?

• Can he wrestle the conference scoring title from Duke’s Matthew Hurt?

• What if the lure of the NBA becomes too strong for the Pitt sophomore to ignore?

• And what about the recent roster upheaval at Pitt?

Champagnie is doing his best to keep all of those things where they belong at this point in the season: outside his thought processes.

“I try to block out the outside noise,” he said.

Champagnie and his teammates are in the middle of what they hope will be a late-season revitalization of a program that was once 8-2, but will take a 10-10 record into its regular-season finale Saturday at Clemson.

On consecutive days last week, Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney, who were second and third on the team in scoring, left with the intent to transfer.

“I wish them the best in their travels,” Champagnie said. “I hope they go somewhere where they fulfill their dreams. I’m cool with them. There’s no bad blood. They want something different and they left. We have to focus on what we have here.

“It kind of set us back a little bit, but at the same time it gave a boost forward where guys stepped up. Will (Jeffress) and Nike (Sibande) and Femi (Odukale) … showed why they’re here and what they can do on the court.

“I think it’s all worked out for the best right now, and we have to keep pushing.”

Asked the difference in the team from what it was two weeks ago, Champagnie said, “We got a lot of energy. We go out there and fight together. It’s all about Pitt. It’s not about anything else but Pitt and what we can do to win.”

The team’s goals remain high.

“Right now, it’s all about trying to make some runs in the ACC Tournament (starting Tuesday), try to get the team an NIT (bid) or try to get in the NCAA Tournament.”

He tries not to think about his future and the NBA while the present still has meaning.

“I let my parents deal with it. I just focus on Pitt,” he said. “That’s a decision, me, coach (Jeff Capel), my mom and pops are going to make after the year’s done.”

He said Pitt has a bright future of its own.

“I believe what they got going on here,” he said. “Us believing in coach and us believing in each other is what kept us going. That’s one of the main pillars of us building this program back up to the top.”

Champagnie leads the ACC in rebounding (11.5 per game) and is second in scoring (18.7 points). Those stats make him a candidate for ACC Player of the Year.

“It will be honor to win it,” he said, “but at the same time, it doesn’t mean nothing to me if we don’t try to get these wins.”

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