Pitt overcame another slow start to log another double-digit win over an ACC opponent Saturday night, as the Panthers beat Stanford 83-68 at the Petersen Events Center.
The teams: Pitt (12-2 overall, 3-0 ACC; 23 KenPom, 12 NET) and Stanford (9-5 overall, 1-2 ACC; 96 KenPom, 86 NET)
Top performers:
Ishmael Leggett - 21 points, 9/13 FG, 0/4 3FG, 3/3 FT, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Jaland Lowe - 16 points, 5/14 FG, 2/5 3FG, 4/4 FT, 5 assists
Guillermo Diaz Graham - 12 points, 5/8 FG, 2/5 3FG, 5 rebounds
Maxime Raynaud - 21 points, 7/10 FG, 3/5 3FG, 4/4 FT
Storylines
Leggett’s return
Senior guard Ishmael Leggett missed Wednesday’s win over Cal with an ankle injury, but he returned on Saturday, and while he was a bit rusty to start, hitting just two of his first five attempts, he reminded everyone why he’s arguably Pitt’s most important player this season.
When Stanford went on a 9-0 run early in the first half, it was Leggett who put a stop to it with a jump shot. And in the Panthers’ big run to close the first half, he scored 11 points.
After missing three of his first five shots, Leggett made six in a row and seven of his final eight to finish with a team-high 21 points. It was Leggett’s fifth 20-point game of the season and the 18th of his career. He also tied his season high with nine made field goals, and he only needed 13 attempts to get there. Additionally, Leggett shot 9-of-9 from two-point range.
Leggett filled out his stat sheet with six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Another slow start
On New Year’s Day, Pitt fell behind Cal by 16 points before finishing the first half strong and running away with things in the second half.
On Saturday at the Petersen Events Center, the Panthers didn’t fall behind by 16, but Stanford did have a nine-point lead as late as the 8:05 mark of the first half and seemed to have a chance to take control of the game by keeping Pitt at arm’s length.
But just like the Panthers settled in and took over against Cal, so too did they change the direction of the game against Stanford. First, Zack Austin drained a three; then, Leggett converted an and-1 and Jorge Diaz Graham followed that with a three. Leggett would hit three more jump shots, Jorge would hit another three and Jaland Lowe would add a deep shot of his own before the half ended, giving Pitt an eight-point lead at halftime.
In the second half, it was all Pitt. The Panthers came out of the locker room, rattled off a 10-0 run before Stanford scored and kept the lead between 15 and 21 points throughout the final 17 minutes of the game.
Defending Raynaud
Stanford center Maxime Raynaud is one of the best players in the ACC, and he certainly looked like it on Saturday night, opening the game by hitting his first six shots for 11 points in the first nine minutes. But Pitt’s defense got more aggressive with Raynaud, and the Panthers' use of double teams and traps limited him to just three points in the final 11 minutes of the half . Even more impressively, the Panthers only allowed Raynaud to attempt two shots in that stretch.
The success against Raynaud continued into the second half; he didn’t make his first basket of the half until the 7:11 mark, a field goal drought of nearly 18 game minutes. The Stanford center finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting; in the second half, he scored seven points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field.
The Diazes Graham
The midseason bounce-back of Guillermo Diaz Graham continued on Saturday.
After shooting 3-of-29 from three in a seven-game stretch, Guillermo has made 5-of-10 from deep and has scored 26 total points in the last three games.
Meanwhile, Jorge Diaz Graham made just five three-pointers in the first 10 games of the season, and four of those five came in the win over VMI. But in the last four games, Jorge has come off the bench to make 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. That includes 2-of-2 in 15 minutes on Saturday night.
Perhaps the most remarkable stretch for both Diaz Graham twins came in the final seven minutes of the first half, when Jeff Capel put the brothers on together with center Cam Corhen. That lineup - the three bigs plus Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett - went on a 20-5 run.
A looming return for Dunn
Senior guard Damian Dunn has been out since suffering a thumb injury early in Pitt’s loss to Wisconsin in late November, but it appears that a return is imminent as Dunn went through all of the Panthers’ warmups with his teammates prior to Saturday’s game.
The initial projection for Dunn’s recovery was six weeks from surgery; that timeline lands on Monday, Dec. 6 - the day before Pitt’s trip to Duke next week.
After the win over Stanford, Capel said that Dunn wasn’t available to play on Saturday night but requested the opportunity to work in warmups. Capel said that Dunn is “getting close,” which leaves open the possibility of the Houston transfer playing in Durham on Tuesday.
Making history
With the win, Pitt improved to 12-2 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. That’s the Panthers’ best overall record through 14 games since the 2015-16 season, and it’s also their first 3-0 start in conference play since that same season.
Up next
Pitt will take its perfect ACC record on the road Tuesday night for a matchup with Duke. The Blue Devils are 4-0 in the conference after winning at SMU on Saturday.
