Pitt rolls to victory against Stanford, stays unbeaten in ACC

The beard is coming in nicely, if a bit scruffy in its infancy. So, Pitt junior Guillermo Diaz Graham said he plans to keep the tough-guy look for the foreseeable future.

“I’m going to run with it,” he said.

Yet the beard was only a small part of the story Saturday night at Petersen Events Center while Diaz Graham helped Pitt defeat Stanford, 83-68, in front of a crowd of 8,087. He was one four Pitt players who scored 11 more more points, but he did so much more.

He scored 12 points while attacking the basket, scoring on a follow dunk, hitting two 3-pointers, grabbing five rebounds and handing out three assists. All the while providing the size (7-foot) — along with his 6-foot-11 twin brother Jorge and 6-10 Cam Corhen — that helped disrupt Stanford’s 7-1 Parisian Maxime Raynaud. Diaz Graham also blocked three shots among Pitt’s seven overall.

Almost lost in the victory was Zack Austin getting two blocks and becoming the third player in NCAA history to record at least 1,200 points, 600 rebounds, 175 3-pointers and 200 blocks in a career.

Entering the game as the ACC’s leading scorer and rebounder (20.8 points, 11.9 boards per game), Raynaud was almost no threat after scoring 11 in the first nine minutes of the game. He finished with 21 and five (only one rebound after halftime).

Raynaud leads the nation in double-doubles (11) and had recorded three in row before Pitt’s defense stopped the streak Saturday.

“I couldn’t distinguish which one was which,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said of the twins. “That’s a lot of length inside.”

“We wanted to go at (Raynaud) and try to make him guard. And wear him down,” coach Jeff Capel said..

The Diaz Graham brothers played key roles for the Panthers offensively, with Jorge scoring six points — all in the first half — on two 3-pointers.

Meanwhile, Guillermo has snapped out of an early-season shooting slump, htting five of his past 10 3s since Dec. 21 (three games). He’s getting more physical in the paint — with and without the basketball, on both ends of the court — and occasionally exposing his verbal side after a particularly timely play.

“Being more verbal helps me out, helps me get out of my head,” he said. “It goes both ways. I’m able to help the team and I’m helping myself, too.”

Capel is not surprised by Diaz Graham’s resurgence.

“My thing that I love about him is that he is the look of a good player back,” he said. “He doesn’t have that doubt on his face anymore. We’ve tried to be there for him (during his struggles).”

Also, his parents — Francisco Diaz and Elizabeth Graham — are in town for their annual holiday visit from the Canary Islands. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that since the Sam Houston game (Dec. 21), his parents have been here. That certainly helps,” Capel said.

The Panthers (12-2, 3-0 ACC) have won 15 in a row at the Pete, their longest streak there since 2012. Pitt also has won a school-record eight consecutive regular-season games against ACC opponents, two short of its 10-victory conference streak in the Big East that ended in 2011.

Furthermore, after scoring at least 83 points in each of the past four games, Pitt is one of three teams undefeated in ACC games this season, with the others being No. 4 Duke (12-2, 4-0) and Clemson (11-3, 3-0). Pitt visits the Blue Devils on Tuesday in Durham, N.C.

Although the Diaz Graham brothers were instrumental in the victory — Pitt’s fifth in a row in any venue — Ishmael Leggett’s play was the key. After missing the California game Wednesday with an ankle injury, he scored 21 points, hitting all nine of his 2-point attempts. Leggett has scored 14 or more points in 12 of 13 games.

“That’s hard to do,” Smith said of achieving perfection inside the 3-point line. “He’s the kind of guy if he sees the ball going in the hoop, he forgets about all the pain.”

Jaland Lowe added 16 points, with five assists, and four steals. Austin finished with 11 points.

Leggett, whose only misses were four 3-point attempts, scored nine points in the final 6 minutes, 47 seconds of the first half. That helped Pitt whittle away at a nine-point Stanford lead and seize a 38-30 advantage at halftime.

”He’s a guy who can go on spurts by himself scoring,” Capel said, noting Leggett has had no real competition since Dec. 21.

”He tried to compete in practice (after returning from a holiday break), and he got hurt, which makes me not want to compete as much in practice after that.

“We just started putting the basketball in his hands and he made plays.”

Leggett was in the starting lineup, but it took some time for him to find offensive rhythm.

”I felt good. I fed off a lot of my team’s energy. Adrenaline is a real thing,” he said. “It took me a couple possessions. I was really excited to get back out there. I just wanted to take my time with everything. After that, I settled down.

”You never really realize how much you miss playing with your brothers. I just missed it so much.”