Pitt won its debut game in the ACC behind the play of its star player, Lamar Patterson, beating NC State on the road 74-62 in Raleigh, NC this afternoon.
Patterson started slow. He scored only 5 of his team-high 22 points in the 1st half. He shot 8-16 with two 3-pointers and was a force on both sides of the court. In fact, the entire Panther team showed gametime jitters falling behind 15-2 to the Wolkpack early in the ballgame. Pitt only shot 9-27 (33%) from the floor in the 1st half.
On top of that, Pitt also had a lot of trouble stopping forward Wolfpack forward TJ Warren, who pumped in a game-high 23 points on 9-22 shooting including 4-4 from the charity stripe. Warren’s play forced Pitt coach Jamie Dixon to switch to a 2-3 zone for the remainder of the half.
NC State also received help from reserve guard Ralston Turner, who scored 11 points, and led 34-26 at half.
But in the 2nd half, it was all Pitt. The Panthers used smothering defense and came out on fire from within the paint to outscore NC State 24-8 after halftime.
Pitt received significant minutes from forward Talib Zanna, who scored 15 points (7 for 11 from the floor), and freshman Michael Young, who scored a career-high 13 points on 4-7 shooting, including a perfect 4-4 from the line.
Next up: vs Maryland at the Pederson Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA on Mon 1/6. Tipoff is at 7pm.