Pittsburgh is currently searching for its identity in the early going. The Panthers will have the opportunity to start to mold one when they host Longwood on Friday night in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Coach Jeff Capel, who has 11 new players, thinks he found at least two he can count on heading into the game against the Lancers (1-0) of the Big South.
Senior center Cameron Corhen, the only returning starter for the Panthers (1-0), had 23 points and 12 rebounds in Pittsburgh’s 74-59 opening win over Youngstown State on Monday.
Even better, Iowa State transfer Nojus Indrusaitis had 13 points off the bench, including three 3-pointers that helped the Panthers pull away down the stretch from the scrappy Penguins.
“He made some shots,” Capel said, who is in his eighth season with the Panthers. “We can put the basketball in his hands. We can run him off stuff. He’s a good player. He’s getting an opportunity to play, and he’s taking advantage of it. I think he’s starting to find his confidence again in himself as a player after really not playing last year.”
The 6-foot-5 sophomore guard is a former Top 100 recruit who never really got his shot with the Cyclones. He played 31 minutes off the bench against Youngstown and posted a team-high plus-23 when he was in the game.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that got a chip on their shoulder that really want to win,” said sophomore guard Brandin Cummings, who had 18 points, in an interview with Panther-Lair.com. “And we got out there, pick up 94 (feet). All you gotta do is play with intensity, man, and good things happen. And so we went out there and we did that, and obviously good things happened.”
Longwood is coming off a 92-55 win over Mary Baldwin in its opener.
The Lancers had four players in double figures, led by forward Johan Nziemi with 16 and guard Jacoi Hutchinson with 15.
Forward Elijah Tucker also had 11 and Jaylen Benard had 14 off the bench.
The Lancers had 20 turnovers, however, and first year coach Ronnie Thomas knows his team needs to fix that as they step up to play Pittsburgh.
“Hopefully, we got some of that out of the way,” Thomas said. ” We are going to make mistakes, but what matters is how quick we move on from them. Our mindset is to get these guys to win the next step. We want to show them what Longwood is all about.”
–Field Level Media
