Troutman shooting for the NCAA record books

Does this guy ever miss?

Chevon Troutman. Pitt’s 6-foot-7-inch forward/center averages 11.8… Does this guy ever miss?

Chevon Troutman. Pitt’s 6-foot-7-inch forward/center averages 11.8 points per game and leads the team with 5.1 rebounds per game. But his most impressive line this season is his field goal percentage.

Troutman shoots at a 73.5 percent clip from the floor. If he averages five field goal attempts per game for the season – he currently sits at 4.9 – Troutman will finish the year with far and away the highest field goal percentage in the country.

At 73.5 percent, he currently has the second-highest single-season field goal percentage in NCAA history. Only Steve Johnson, who finished the 1981 campaign for Oregon State with a 74.6 percent effort, has ever shot with more efficiency.

Like most things, the soft-spoken Troutman simply shrugs off the accomplishment.

“It’s just about getting open spaces on the floor, getting good passes and getting wide open,” Troutman said. “I try to create a lot of space when I’m around the basket.”

Troutman grew up in Williamsport, Pa. One of eight children, Troutman came from a large, supportive family, and he says that his parents never pushed him into anything that he did not want to pursue.

“We didn’t have a lot to worry about because my parents provided for us, so everything was cool growing up,” Troutman said. “They really just let me do my own thing; they didn’t really force anything on me. I just picked basketball myself.”

Growing up, Troutman was a multisport athlete. He was a defensive lineman in football. In track, he ran the 400 and participated in the high jump. But Troutman’s height and big frame made him ideal for the basketball court.

“Basketball was my number one sport,” Troutman said. “I was pretty good at both [football and track], but I just cut them out so I could focus on basketball.”

At Williamsport Area High School, Troutman had one of the most successful basketball careers in the school’s history. He was an Associated Press Big School first-team All-State selection as a center, and he was named Mr. Pennsylvania Basketball 2000.

In his four-year tenure at Williamsport, he amassed 1,563 points and 1,128 rebounds, both school records, and led the Millionaires to the AAAA state championship. But perhaps Troutman’s most stunning achievement came in a single game against Bishop Hannon High School, in which he pulled down 37 rebounds.

“I don’t know; that game, the basketball just kept on coming to me,” Troutman said. “I never really got tired that game, so I was in most of the game. And everywhere I was, the ball was.”

With all of his accolades, it is no wonder that Troutman was heavily recruited upon graduation in 2000. But he says that Pitt’s proximity to his home was his main reason for choosing the Panthers.

“A lot of people were recruiting me from all across the country,” Troutman said. “But I just basically cut it down to a five-hour radius from my hometown so that I could get back and forth in case something ever happened.”

Troutman sat out his first year of school, becoming a redshirt freshman, and in his first year of eligibility, he started the first two games of 2001 against Morgan State and Northern Arizona.

Troutman came off the bench for the Panthers for the rest of the regular season, and had his breakout game came at Georgetown Jan. 19. Troutman scored eight points, grabbed four boards and hit key shots down the stretch to help the Panthers to a 68-67 win over the Hoyas.

As Troutman’s productivity increased, so did his minutes, and on the eve of Pitt’s second round NCAA Tournament game against California, Troutman found out that he would be getting his first start since the beginning of the season.

“I had been playing well the last couple games before that, and then Brandin [Knight] came to me and was like, ‘You’re going to be starting tomorrow, so get your rest,'” Troutman said. “It was just like playing in any other game, but the caliber of the tournament made it a great feeling.”

Troutman scored 11 points and grabbed seven boards in Pitt’s 63-50 victory over the Golden Bears. He narrowly missed a double double with nine points and eight rebounds in the Panthers’ Sweet Sixteen overtime loss to Kent State. Pitt was out of the NCAA Tournament, but Troutman had arrived.

Troutman started the 2002 campaign off the bench, but this time it was as the sixth man for the Panthers. Once again, his breakout game of the season came in mid-January, only this time it was at home against Syracuse. Troutman went 10-of-12 from the field to score 23 points in Pitt’s win over the Orangemen.

He followed up that performance with perfect shooting against Georgetown. Troutman went five-for-five from the field and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line to score 20 points in yet another one-point victory over the Hoyas. Troutman has scored in double figures in nine of Pitt’s 12 Big East games this season, and his 11.7 points per game off the bench is second best on the team.

“My teammates are getting a little more confidence in my scoring,” Troutman said. “They’re looking for me a lot more, so I’ve got to work a little harder to get open so that I can score a couple easy baskets.”

“He’s very good at sealing defenders off with his body,” Pitt head coach Ben Howland said. “He always is creating an easy open passing lane to catch the ball by using his body effectively and sealing it and keeping contact within the defensive front.”

Troutman also drastically improved his free throw shooting. His 61.7 free throw percentage is up from 47.1 in 2001-2002, and 51 of his points this season have come from the charity stripe.

“I’ve been concentrating a lot more, and if you concentrate, it’s going to turn over and you’re going to start shooting well,” Troutman said.

At 6-foot-7-inches, Troutman is small for a Big East center. But his willingness to throw his body around as well as his chemistry with fellow forward/center Ontario Lett has allowed Pitt’s dynamic duo to make plenty of extra passes and create easy shots.

“I’ve always been comfortable playing with Chevy,” Lett said. “The chemistry has always been there. When I get it at the high post, he knows exactly where to go, and I know where he’s at, and we know where to look at for other. We compliment each other really well at both ends of the court.”

“Ontario and I, we’re smaller big men, but we have better skills than most big men,” Troutman said. “We’re a little bit faster. We can dribble, pass and rebound, and we can do a lot of things that taller people can do. But we create a lot of space when we play offense and defense, and it makes us a lot easier to get open.”

Troutman says that he knew that the Panthers could become a winning program, and his main goal is to win the national championship.

“I’ve never been a part of a losing program,” Troutman said. “I knew that we could be good as long as we had the right people here. We’ve got the right people here and everybody is working together, so that’s helping us become a great basketball team.”

“The biggest thing you can do in college is win the championship, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”