Men’s Basketball: Newcomers provide instant punch, need to continue production

When Derrick Randall found out that his first game with Pitt would also be his first start at Pitt, his focus didn’t change.

“Just go out and give it my all and just do everything right,” Randall said.

As the largest player on the floor against Savannah State, Randall used his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame to haul in 12 rebounds — eight off the offensive side — and score 12 points for a double-double in his Pitt debut. The spot start for Randall came about because redshirt senior center Talib Zanna was serving a one-game suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules.

But Randall took advantage of the opportunity and showed what he was capable of doing.

“‘D’ is a force down low,” said redshirt senior, Lamar Patterson, of Randall’s performance “That’s what we expect from him.”

A transfer from Rutgers, Randall wasn’t the only new face to contribute to Pitt’s 88-55 win Friday against Savannah State.

Head coach Jamie Dixon finds half of his rebounding and scoring production from last year gone because of transfers, graduation and Steven Adams’ departure to the NBA. The burden to replace that statistical output lies on the shoulders of a group of players who played their first games as Panthers Friday.

“We’re going to play some freshmen,” Dixon said. “I have confidence in them.”

That group includes freshmen such as Michael Young, Josh Newkirk and Jamel Artis. But Pitt will also rely on the efforts of newcomers such as Randall and even Josh Ko and Chris Jones, who played a combined 18 minutes Friday.

Led by Randall’s double-double, the aforementioned group collectively posted 42 points and 27 rebounds. The point total was just under half the Panthers’ 88 total points, while the rebounding accounted for over half their 47 boards. It was a good start for a group that needs to consistently produce.

“The new guys played great,” Patterson said. “Josh played great, shot the ball well, ran the team well. Mike and Jamel played well, so they got a lot of good practice for it, with our early practices we had going on, the early workouts — so they’re playing great right now.”

Newkirk finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and proved more than capable of backing up sophomore point guard James Robinson, at least for one night. Most impressive about Newkirk, who stressed the need for an improved jump shot, was his 3-for-3 shooting from 3-point range.

“I’ve just been in the gym working on it and when I get the opportunity, I make the most of it,” he said of his long-range marksmanship.

Young also started in his first regular season game and chipped in nine points and eight rebounds. Artis was the first man off the bench Friday and added four points and five boards.

While Dixon relied primarily on two freshmen last season in Robinson and Adams, this year will require his trust not only in three freshmen, but also players such as Randall and Jones, who hadn’t played in a regular season game for Dixon before Friday.

At the early stages, inexperience doesn’t seem to be something with which Dixon is concerned, let alone keen on making excuses to cover.

“We can’t point to it,” Dixon said. “I’ve never done it and I’m not going to start this year.”