Pitt’s new-look roster has opened the season with a perfect record, and the Panthers will try to keep that run going Friday night in Indianapolis against a Butler team looking to bounce back from its first setback.
The Panthers are 3-0 and chasing a 4-0 start for the third time in the past four seasons. They’ve already topped 80 points in all three wins, beating Rider, Buffalo and Penn State.
Chase Foster, Baye Ndongo and A’lahn Sumler have each delivered a 20-point game for Pitt. Foster is averaging 16.3 points per game, while Ndongo is putting up 16 points and 11.7 rebounds a night. Ndongo’s biggest outing so far came against Buffalo on Nov. 5, when he finished with 23 points and 21 rebounds.
Sumler is averaging 14.3 points per game after scoring 26 in Sunday’s 82-76 win over Penn State. He logged 39 minutes in that game, and coach Jeff Capel made it clear what the Panthers are getting from him.
“He’s not a point guard, he’s a combo guard,” Capel said about Sumler, who played 39 minutes. “One of the best things he does is he scores. He puts pressure on the defense by his ability to shoot the basketball and to get to spots.”
Butler is 2-1 under Ronald Nored, with the Bulldogs starting his tenure by rolling past Lafayette and FDU at home. They’re now in the first of five non-conference games against power conference teams after a 100-81 loss at Boise State on Sunday.
The Bulldogs have been scoring in bunches, averaging 92 points through three games. Asim Djulovic led them in scoring in each of the first two contests, but he was held to eight points at Boise State. Jalen Jackson followed with 19 points in that game and is averaging 17.7 points after being limited to six games last season because of an ankle injury.
Nored said the loss should sharpen his team’s focus.
“I think it’s important for our guys to be able to feel that and see, when you don’t play at the level defensively that you need to, what’s possible,” Nored told the Indianapolis Star. “And it needs to be a wake-up call for our guys. And so that wake-up call has got to drive us over the course of a couple practices and get us ready to play on Friday.”
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