Men’s Basketball: Panthers seek win over lowly South Florida

In its second-to-last home game of the season, the Pitt men’s basketball team receives a visit from the Bulls of South Florida — one of the Big East conference’s cellar dwellers in the league standings.

No. 23 Pitt (21-7, 9-6 Big East) ran its previous opponent, St. John’s, off the floor at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, behind a career-high 25 points from redshirt senior point guard Tray Woodall.

“He was terrific in every way,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said of Woodall. “I think every shot he took was a great shot. He handled the ball well and he played good defense.”

After the Panthers suffered defeat in back-to-back games against Marquette and Notre Dame, Woodall knew that Pitt needed to beat St. John’s and regain momentum as the regular season nears its end.

“It was a must win. I think everybody strapped down,” Woodall said. “I was comfortable. I am a senior and I should be comfortable out here. I wanted to try and shift the momentum of the team.”

The Panthers should not expect to need another game-winning performance from Woodall on Wednesday, with South Florida (10-16, 1-13 Big East) entering the Petersen Events Center as the loser of nine consecutive games.

USF’s only victory in Big East play this season came at the USF Sun Dome — the Bulls’ home floor — in January against the conference’s current leader, Georgetown. How the Bulls won the game still bewilders the college basketball world, as the Hoyas visited South Florida with a completely healthy roster.

The Bulls are led by junior Victor Rudd, a 6-foot-9 forward who leads USF in both scoring and rebounding at 11.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Rudd almost led his team to victory a week ago against St. John’s with a double-double, scoring 18 points and registering 11 rebounds.

Flanking him in the post is 6-foot-8 Toarlyn Fitzpatrick. The senior ranks second to Rudd in both scoring and rebounding for the Bulls, putting up 10.2 points per game and pulling down 5.2 rebounds per game.

With these two talented players in the frontcourt, Pitt’s big-man trio of freshman Steven Adams, redshirt junior Talib Zanna and senior Dante Taylor will need to ensure neither Rudd nor Fitzpatrick has the kind of game that could lead to an upset of the Panthers by USF, who beat Pitt in both contests between the teams last season.

On the perimeter, point guard Anthony Collins runs the show for USF head coach Stan Heath. This season, Collins elevated his name as one of the conference’s up-and-coming point guards, putting up 8.8 points per game and handing out 6.4 assists per game through his sophomore season thus far.

With Collins in the backcourt is senior Jawanza Poland, a 6-foot-4 guard who also likes to attack the glass, as evidenced by his average of 4.5 rebounds per game. He can also score efficiently, with an average of 9.3 points per game on the back of eight shots attempted per game.

But with a deeper and more talented roster than USF, the Panthers enter the contest as heavy favorites.

Woodall, who increased his points-per-game average to 11.4 after his breakout game on Sunday, leads the Pitt offense, while redshirt Lamar Patterson (10.2 points per game) replaced the struggling Zanna as the team’s second-leading scorer.

Patterson and the Panthers feel that after a tough week of practice following two straight losses, the victory over St. John’s will boost Pitt’s momentum ahead of its final three regular-season games against South Florida, Villanova on Sunday and at DePaul next Saturday.

“There were a lot of hard practices and coach got after us,” Patterson said.

But after the impressive win at Madison Square Garden, Coach Dixon acknowledged that he believes his team can still improve in one crucial category.

“We have to do a better job rebounding and get ready for the next one,” he said.