Analysis: Pitt carries momentum, plenty of solid hope into Cameron Indoor Stadium to confront No. 4 Duke

Over the past 2¹⁄₂ seasons, Jeff Capel and his players have raised the profile of Pitt’s basketball program, winning 58 games and standing tall among the best teams in the ACC.

Yet in the early days of 2025, there is so much more to prove to exhausted Pitt fans, who are hungry for some legitimately good news after two agonizing football seasons and an NCAA basketball tournament snub last year (fair or not).

The Panthers are averaging 84.1 points, third in the ACC and one-10th of a point better than the school record set in 1987.

OK, but how good is Pitt?

It’s time we found out.

Pitt (12-2, 3-0) will travel to Durham, N.C., for its most difficult test of the season when it meets No. 4 Duke at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils (12-2, 4-0) are good, or, as Capel said, “unbelievably talented.”

Duke leads the ACC and is tied for sixth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing an average of 59.2 points while playing three top-10 teams: No. 2 Auburn, No. 7 Kansas and No. 10 Kentucky. Duke lost two of those games but handed Auburn its only loss.

Coach Jon Scheyer, who missed Dukes’ 89-62 victory at SMU on Saturday with an illness but is expected back for the Pitt game, utilizes a starting lineup with three freshmen.

At the head of the class is 6-foot-9 Cooper Flagg, projected as the top choice in the NBA Draft this year while averaging 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists and shooting 44.7% from the field. Kon Knueppel (6-7) averages 12.4 points, and 7-2, 250-pound center Khaman Maluach, from the South Sudan, doesn’t miss many shots, hitting 43 of 55 (78.2%).

Veteran point guard Tyrese Proctor is one of three Blue Devils in the top 10 in the ACC in 3-pointers (2.5 per game), just ahead of Isaiah Evans (2.4) and Knueppel (2.1).

The Panthers don’t need to defeat Duke to prove they belong among the best in the ACC. A victory would be great for the resume at the end of the season and would rock the college basketball world. But the idea is to stand toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s great teams and prove they belong — win or lose — and not have a repeat of the 90-57 loss at Mississippi State a month ago.

To that end, senior guard Damian Dunn, who was averaging 11.1 points before missing the past seven with a right thumb injury, is almost ready to return.

“Could be,” Capel said. “We’ll know for sure on Monday (when Dunn sees the doctor). He’s getting close.”

On Saturday night, long after most everyone had gone home, Dunn worked out alone on the floor at Petersen Events Center, shooting, dribbling, testing his thumb. He is eager to help Pitt carry its recent momentum into Cameron.

The Panthers have won five in a row, and their 12-2 mark is the best since Jamie Dixon’s last season (2015-16).

Some highlights:

• Ishmael Leggett played through pain to score 21 points Saturday in the 83-68 victory against Stanford. He’s fifth in the conference in scoring (17.8) and is hitting 63.4% of his 2-pointers (71 of 112), often navigating through heavy traffic around the basket.

“I’ve been watching him play for a year and a half,” Guillermo Diaz Graham said. “There are still some things that (surprise me). How can he do that?”

• Zack Austin, the most athletic player on the team, is shooting 44.6% (25 of 56) outside the 3-point arc while standing fourth in the ACC with 21 blocks (200 in fewer than four seasons). One of his two blocks Saturday was almost a steal when he grabbed the ball when it barely had left the shooter’s hand.

“Crazy, unhuman-like what he did,” Leggett said.

• Pitt is built on guards Leggett, Jaland Lowe, Brandin Cummings and Dunn, but its big men stepped up Saturday. With Cam Corhen, Guillermo Diaz Graham and Jorge Diaz Graham in the lineup late in the first half, Pitt blitzed Stanford, 23-6, to take command of the game.

• They also didn’t flinch when faced with Stanford’s 7-1 Maxime Raynaud, who is leading the ACC in scoring and rebounding, often trapping him in the post.

Stanford coach Kyle Smith got a close look last week at two of the best teams in the ACC, Clemson and Pitt, losing to the Tigers by 14 three days before losing to Pitt by 15.

“Different style,” Smith said. “Both have really good guards. Pitt is a little more sleek offensively. Clemson likes to grind you a little more.”

No one knows better than Capel the challenge awaiting the Panthers on Tuesday.

“But I’ll be excited to see if we’re ready for it,” he said.