Men’s Basketball: Panthers to face St. John’s in season’s final home game

Last season, both Pitt and St. John’s finished near the top of the Big East standings and… Last season, both Pitt and St. John’s finished near the top of the Big East standings and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. This year, neither team will reach .500 in Big East play.

When the Panthers (15-14, 4-12 Big East) face the Red Storm (13-16, 6-10 Big East) at the Petersen Events Center tonight, it won’t be for NCAA Tournament seeding. Instead, both schools’s only chance at making the NCAA Tournament and avoiding the consolation prize of an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament will be a win at the Big East tournament in New York City.

Despite the fact that Pitt likely won’t make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade, the Panthers must focus on the Red Storm and the team’s six talented freshmen. Fresh off an upset win over No. 18 Notre Dame, St. John’s looks to continue the strong play that has recently resulted in a three-game win streak for interim head coach Mike Dunlap and his players.

“We’re just growing every day, and I think it shows out there,” Red Storm freshman Moe Harkless said after the team’s win over Notre Dame. “Earlier in the year we had trouble closing out games. As of late, we’ve been doing a better job of closing games out.”

Of the six freshmen playing key roles early in their careers, D’Angelo Harrison and Harkless present the biggest challenge to opposing teams.

Harrison, a 6-foot-3, 202-pound guard from Missouri City, Texas, leads the Red Storm in scoring, posting 16.8 points per game. Harrison presents a big challenge for Pitt defensively as the Panthers have struggled with prolific perimeter scorers this season.

Harkless, a 6-foot-8, 208-pound guard-forward hybrid from Queens, leads the frontcourt unit for St. John’s. Harkless pulls down a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game and ranks second on the team in scoring with 15.6 points per contest.

“Moe is the best player in New York City,” St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin said last year when Harkless committed to St. John’s. “He is an excellent athlete, highly skilled and versatile enough to contribute at multiple positions.”

Phil Greene, Sir’Dominic Pointer and Amir Garrett make up the rest of St. John’s strong freshman class.

“[The freshmen] are all kind of interchangeable, and they play hard. And they’re playing with a lot of enthusiasm because — I think as a new team and a young team — people didn’t really know what to expect out of them,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said.

Dixon also commented on the number of minutes the Red Storm freshmen play, as five of the six average more than 25 minutes a game, with Harkless leading the team with an average of 36.4 minutes per game. In the Red Storm’s previous two games, Harkless played all 40 minutes.

Veteran players have also stepped up alongside the St. John’s freshmen. Nurideen Lindsey, a sophomore guard who transferred from Redlands Community College in Oklahoma, runs the point for St. John’s and ranks third on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game.

Junior forward God’s Gift Achiuwa from Nigeria plays a role in the post with his 6-foot-8, 236-pound frame. He scores 8.8 points per game on 52.4 percent shooting and records the second-most rebounds per game with 5.4 per contest.

As for the Panthers, the goal for Dixon’s squad is to put together a season-ending win streak, starting with a victory in Ashton Gibbs’ and Nasir Robinson’s final game at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers will play at Connecticut on Saturday to close out the regular season.

Both players are currently contending with nagging injuries. Robinson has been struggling with his right knee all season and has it drained on a regular basis. Gibbs is nursing an ankle injury and missed part of practice the week before Pitt’s loss to Louisville on Sunday.

With players on the mend and not playing to their usual standard, sophomore J.J. Moore stepped up to provide a scoring spark for the Panthers. After scoring 21 points in a loss to South Florida on Feb. 19, Moore again led Pitt in scoring against Louisville, posting 16 points.

But his performance did not cancel out the negative impact of Pitt’s inability to maintain possession. The Panthers turned the ball over 18 times against Louisville, and redshirt junior point guard Travon Woodall committed six turnovers.

“There’s been times when he’s trying to do too much,” Dixon said. “There’s been some situations where we’ve forced some things.”

The guard play between Woodall and Gibbs has been lacking during the five-game losing streak. Gibbs, who averages 15.4 points on the season, has put up just 8.8 points per game while shooting 30.7 percent. He also hasn’t made a 3-point shot in the last three games.

Woodall has scored 7.6 points over the last five games while shooting 26.4 percent from the field. He averages 13.9 points per game this season.

Moore said the Louisville game provided an opportunity for the Panthers to end their losing streak and pick up a win. But despite keeping the game close, the Panthers couldn’t return to Pittsburgh with a victory.

“We made some flaws on the defensive end, and we made some flaws on the offensive end,” Moore said. “It just fell through.”

Dixon agreed with Moore, saying that the turnovers certainly marred the Panthers’ chances at pulling out a victory.

“We felt it was a game we should have won, and it just got away from us,” Dixon said. “Turnovers were really what hurt us.”