Senior transfers Jamarius Burton, Mouhamadou Gueye set examples for Pitt's young roster

The NCAA transfer portal can be a scary place for coaches, but it also can be a useful tool.

Pitt coach Jeff Capel has been a victim of the portal, but he also knows how to use it to his benefit. After five players entered last year, Capel realized Pitt’s roster needed a significant infusion of talent and experience.

Seniors Jamarius Burton, 21, and Mouhamadou Gueye, 23, arrived from Texas Tech and Stony Brook, and both have set good examples for five other members (four sophomores and a walk-on) of Pitt’s seven-man rotation.

“They’re men,” Capel said Monday on the ACC coaches’ conference call.

“Jamarius and Mo have a maturity about them. The way they carry themselves, their approach, how they work, how they show up every day. They’re really good examples, and we feel fortunate we have them in our program.”

Burton has taken a leadership role, on and off the court, often stepping up at the end of games to handle the ball or take a crucial shot. He has scored in double figures in eight consecutive games while averaging 15.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in that time.

Gueye, 6-foot-10, is Pitt’s most effective 3-point shooter, hitting 16 of 42 (38.1%) while averaging 8.1 points and 5.6 rebounds (second on the team).

The rest of the regular contributors include sophomore center John Hugley, who leads in scoring (15.7 points per game, 10th in the ACC) and rebounding (8.2, fourth), sophomores Femi Odukale, William Jeffress and Noah Collier and senior walk-on Onyebuchi Ezeakudo. Neither Hugley, Jeffress nor Collier played a full season in 2020-2021.

Ezeakudo helps fill a void, especially with guard Ithiel Horton suspended again. The longest tenured player on the team (four seasons), Ezeakudo often replaces Odukale at point guard.

“He’s someone I trust, we all trust,” Capel said. “He’s done an outstanding job for us all year long. We’re going to need him to really step up. He knows me. He knows us. He knows what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Capel said putting Ezeakudo on scholarship “could be something that we do.”

Despite the inexperienced lineup, Pitt (6-9, 1-3 ACC) has been competitive (if not always victorious) over the past nine games. Pitt is the first team in ACC history to have its first four conference games decided by three points or fewer. Three were defeats, but Pitt won its first conference game Saturday against Boston College, 69-67.

Capel liked the fight in his team, but he could have done without the 16 turnovers and BC’s nine 3-point field goals.

“It was a good win for us, but we still have a long ways to go,” he said. “Some of the same mistakes that we’ve had in these other games when we’ve had leads, we have to get better at those. We have to get better so we’re not in that situation in the end where it comes down to the final play.”

Pitt is fortunate the ACC doesn’t appear to be especially strong this season. The most recent Associated Press Top 25 rankings were released Monday, and Duke, which dropped from No. 2 to No. 8, was the only school representing the ACC. Miami upset the Blue Devils, 76-74, on Saturday, but the Hurricanes are only third among others receiving votes.

Which brings this discussion to the Syracuse Orange (7-8, 1-3), who will welcome Pitt to the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Orange have been to six Final Fours and three of the past five Sweet 16s while winning one NCAA Tournament championship under coach Jim Boeheim, who is in his 46th season at the school.

That makes his tenure nearly twice as long as two of his sons (Buddy and Jimmy, the team’s leading scorers) have been alive. Buddy is fourth (18.6 points per game) and Jimmy 18th (14.6) in the ACC.

Syracuse also has three of the ACC’s most prolific 3-point shooters. Joseph Girard III leads the conference with 46, and Cole Swider and Buddy Boeheim are tied for seventh (34). Overall, Syracuse nearly doubles Pitt’s 3-point output (137/72).

The first half of the season has not been kind to the Orange, who have lost three in a row. Syracuse’s average margin of defeat in its most recent four losses is 3.2 points.

The battle to watch most likely will erupt in the paint where Hugley, 6-9, 280 pounds, will be guarded at least part of the time by Jesse Edwards, 6-11, 230.

Hugley scores more than one-third of his points (83 of 235) from the free-throw line. Pitt is third in the NCAA with 25.6 percent of its points coming from the foul line. Meanwhile, Edwards has fouled out of eight games, including the past four in a row. Coach Boeheim labeled many of them “foolish fouls.”

Capel wasn’t surprised when Hugley was fouled 13 times and hit 15 of 20 foul shots against Boston College.

“He’s a big guy,” he said. “In order to try to move him, there’s contact and so he’s unique in that sense.”