As expected, Pitt had little trouble with Gannon in the team's sole open exhibition of the season. On Friday, the Panthers routed their opponent, 80-50 at The Pete.
As is usually the case in these game, Pitt played a variety of players. No one played more than Cameron Johnson's 24 minutes and all of the scholarship guys got at least ten minutes of action.
Leading the way offensively were James Robinson, Jamel Artis, and the aforementioned Johnson - all had 13 points. Pitt's newest big men, Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and Rafael Maia combined for 14 boards in only 27 minutes of action. Michael Young added nine points and three rebounds. True freshman Damon Wilson did not play with a hamstring injury.
On the rebounding front, the Panthers could have probably done a bit better there. Beating Gannon by only seven on the boards isn't great - especially since they shot 33% from the field to the Panthers' 45%. Gannon actually tied Pitt with 13 offensive boards.
Still, it's nothing to be overly concerned with yet since Pitt emptied the benches for this one. Analyzing these stats too much at this point is folly. As long as you win (looking at you, St. John's), it's not worth taking these too seriously.
Pitt opens the season next weekend against Gonzaga in Japan.
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