Gardner-Webb @ Pittsburgh preview
Petersen Events Center
Last Meeting ( Nov 14, 2016 ) Gardner-Webb 80, Pittsburgh 99
A horrendous start against Northwestern nearly did Pittsburgh in until the Panthers were saved at the last second by Justin Champagnie.
The Panthers will hope for a better start and another big game from Champagnie on Saturday afternoon when they host Gardner-Webb in their final non-conference game of the season.
Pittsburgh (3-1) has won three straight since absorbing a 10-point loss to St. Francis (Pa.) in its season opener. After victories over Drexel and Northern Illinois, the Panthers eked out a 71-70 win at Northwestern on Wednesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Pittsburgh missed its first 12 shots in the game's initial five minutes and trailed by 11 at halftime. The Panthers won it dramatically when Champagnie converted a go-ahead dunk with five seconds remaining, capping a game in which they made 17 of their final 27 shots after starting 8 of 44 from the floor.
"We came in at halftime and we told our guys just to relax," Pittsburgh coach Jeff Capel said. "You could tell the guys were putting so much on their plate and were so frustrated and were wearing their frustration on their face because of our offense."
Champagnie's dunk capped a 20-point and 20-rebound performance, the first by a Panther since DeJuan Blair at UConn on Feb. 16, 2009. It also was the second straight double-double for Champagnie, who is averaging 18.3 points and 11.0 rebounds after posting 12.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in his freshman season.
Champagnie, Au'Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson are forming a potent trio for Pittsburgh.
Toney is averaging 18.3 points on 58.1 percent shooting this year after averaging 9.5 last season.
Johnson is averaging 18.0 points, up from the 11.7 he averaged last season when he shot 37.3 percent from the floor.
Gardner-Webb (0-1) can relate to what Northwestern went through against Pitt. The Bulldogs showcased plenty of depth by using 10 players, but they dropped an 86-84 decision at Western Kentucky on Thursday when Jaheam Cornwall misfired on a corner 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
"We're going to play the games, and we're going to compete to win the games," Gardner-Webb coach Tim Craft said. "And then we're going to try to learn from the things we did well and the things we did poorly and move from there.
Jacob Falko led the Bulldogs with 19 points while Cornwall and Lance Terry each added 15. Kareem Reid totaled 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks while also defending projected first-round draft pick Charles Bassey most of the game.
Gardner-Webb enters the game projected to finish fourth in the Big South, while Cornwall is a preseason first-team All-Big South player after averaging 13.1 points last season.
--Field Level Media