Men’s Basketball: Woodall brings grit, toughness to point guard position

The common characteristics of a New York City-bred basketball player are well documented —… The common characteristics of a New York City-bred basketball player are well documented — gritty, tough, strong and prideful. The Big Apple is home to a jaw-dropping number of Basketball legends, from Kareem to Dr. J to Billy Cunningham.

If you narrow your search to the borough of Brooklyn, the list will continue to impress with names like Carmelo Anthony — and you might have heard of Michael Jordan as well. On that same list of Brooklyn-bred players who represent their backyard, you will find Pittsburgh’s own Travon Woodall.

Woodall, a redshirt sophomore with the Pitt basketball team, has personified that New York style since arriving in the Steel City. During his freshman season, Woodall suffered a devastating knee injury that left him on the sideline and earned him a medical redshirt.

“I tell people all the time; it hurt not being able to do anything to help my team,” he said. “But just sitting back and watching Levance [Fields] be a floor leader and the prime example of a general, that helped me progress as a player.”

Fields, who will go down as one of the best to ever don the Panther uniform, had a significantimpact on the path of Woodall’s career. One of the things Woodall tries to replicate from Fields’ game is his assist-to-turnover ratio.

“Normally, I was just going out there playing, not really caring about how many turnovers I had,” Woodall said. “After playing with a guy like Levance, and thinking about how important it was to him, he averaged almost four to one [assists to turnovers]. I realized to be a good point guard, that’s key.”

Last season, Woodall finished with a team leading 1.86 assist-to-turnover ratio. In the season’s final 10 games, he compiled a 3.22 assist-to-turnover ratio, showing drastic improvement in the category. The improvement has continued into this season.

“I think that having that first year go by and learning how to play within the system, he’s really taking advantage of it,” senior forward Gilbert Brown said. “He has asserted himself really well and he’s shown it with his playmaking ability, creating for other people and knocking down those open shots.”

Up to this point in the season, Woodall has a 2.85 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks third in the Big East. With his success, Woodall has been seeing an increased role on the floor, but he also understands that his success hasn’t come because he is trying to be someone he isn’t.

“I understand there are a lot of guys that came here from the N.J.–N.Y. area, but all I can do is play my game,” Woodall said. “I’m not going to try and be anybody else but myself. I can’t be Levance, I can’t be B. Knight, I can’t even be Ashton [Gibbs].”

The beauty of Woodall’s mentality is that when he plays the game, his roots shine through.

“He has that scrappiness,” Brown said. “Stepping in there and taking those charges, you see the toughness that the New Jersey and Brooklyn guys tend to have when Travon plays.”

Along with the Brooklyn tag, you will also hear many people associate Woodall with the term “true point guard.” The term is associated with pass-first, strong-minded and ball-distributing guards like  John Stockton, who shined while playing for the Utah Jazz. To Woodall, being a true point guard has a lot of meaning.

“It’s being the coach on the floor,” Woodall said. “Make sure everybody knows where they’re going to be, like the quarterback. If anything bad happens to the team it falls on you, but at the same time, if you win, you can be the first one people praise.”

As this season has unfolded, Pitt’s offensive production has shown improvement in large part due to this mentality. So far this season, Pitt has scored 80 points in six different games. In all of last season, they hit the 80-point mark five times.

The team’s chemistry is one of the main reasons many people see the Panthers in Houston for the Final Four come April. For players like Travon Woodall, Ashton Gibbs and Nasir Robinson — who have all known each other since the seventh grade — this chemistry was a long time coming.

“Me and Ashton, our chemistry has built tremendously,” Woodall said. “I come in the lane and I’m just throwing the ball because I already know where he is going to be.”

Their development has helped Woodall produce 6.9 points and 4.1 assists per game as a spark off the bench. With the Panthers’ early success, their expectations have continued to rise along with the fans’. Along with Woodall’s personal goal of graduating this summer with a degree in communication, Woodall has one clear goal for the team:

“I’m trying to go to Texas,” Woodall said with a smile. “I’ve never been to Houston before.”