Young breaking mold as rare Pitt scorer

If an offense coached by Jamie Dixon were a seesaw, it would not be a fun one. Since Dixon has… If an offense coached by Jamie Dixon were a seesaw, it would not be a fun one. Since Dixon has taken over as coach of the Pitt men’s basketball team, he’s used an incredibly balanced scoring attack. This year, though, senior Sam Young looks like he might heavily tip the seesaw. On Saturday night, Young scored 28 points against Vermont. It was the fifth time he’s scored more than 20 points this year, and the fourth time in the last five games he’s scored at least 23. Through the Panthers’ first nine games, Young averaged 20.8 points per game. ‘It’s by design,’ said Dixon after the Panthers’ 80-51 victory over Vermont in Saturday night at the Pete. ‘We’re running a lot more plays for him than we’ve ever really run for a guy.’ Young also has the previous high under Dixon, averaging 18.1 points per game last season. ‘It started last year really,’ said Dixon. ‘That’s the first time we had a guy score that many.’ The next highest total is 16 points per game by Carl Krauser during the 2004-05 season. Part of what makes Young so dangerous is versatility. He’s showed he can play out on the perimeter or down in the paint. So far Young is shooting 37 percent from 3-point range and is second on the team in rebounds. ‘He’s a really tough matchup,’ said Vermont coach Mike Lonergan. ‘He’s quick on the baseline, but he’s too strong to put a guard on him.’ Young showed off his versatility against Vermont. The senior went 10 of 21 from the field, including 2 of 4 from beyond the arc and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line. He also tossed in nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Dixon noted that Young’s scoring doesn’t come from selfishness or continually hoisting up shots. Senior Tyrell Biggs agreed. ‘He gets his buckets in the flow of the game,’ said Biggs. ‘We try to make it easier for him by trying to be aggressive early, so they can focus on us a little more and get him going.’ Although he only attempted it a few times Saturday, one of Young’s most devastating offensive weapons is his pump fake. Young makes like he’s going to take a shot, lifts himself in the air while leaving the very front of his sneakers on the floor and, as the defender jumps up to block the shot that almost was, Young is free to drive to the hoop. After playing Young and the Panthers, Washington State coach Tony Bennett called it a ‘world-class’ pump fake, and Young has said he likes to tell teammates it’s the best pump fake in the country. Since Young drives to the hoop so frequently, he also has the most free-throw attempts of any Panther so far this year. While he hit 6-of-8 free throws against Vermont, Young is only shooting 69 percent from the line this year. That number is better than the team average but still on the poor side. Young feasted on the decent competition the Panthers faced so far this year, but as Big East play starts in the upcoming weeks, the opposing defenses will only get tougher. For Young to finish with the highest scoring average of any player under Dixon, he’ll have to use all of his tricks, as well as improve his free-throw shooting. Through the first nine games this season, Young has shown no reason to think he can’t keep up his scoring average. He wouldn’t explicitly say whether he thought he could keep it up, though. ‘I hope so,’ said Young.