Pitt Take 5: Pitt plays host to Stanford, seeking 1st 12-2 start in 9 years

When Pitt plays Stanford on Saturday at Petersen Events Center, the Panthers (11-2, 2-0 ACC) have a chance for the program’s best start after 14 games since 2015-2016, when the Panthers opened 14-1 in Jamie Dixon’s last season as coach.

The formula for success includes Pitt’s ability to score (84.2 points per game, third in the conference) with a four-pack of guards good enough to create hyperbole trying to describe them.

For now, let’s stick to the facts:

Ishmael Leggett is averaging 17.50 points, a hair ahead of his running mate, Jaland Lowe (17.46). Damian Dunn was at 11.1 after seven games before his hand injury, and freshman Brandin Cummings sits at 8.2 for the season, 13.8 in the past five games.

Leggett missed the California game Wednesday with a foot injury that is not considered serious. Coach Jeff Capel was noncommital when asked about Leggett’s availability Saturday.

Dunn’s return has been anticipated for early- to mid-January, which is about now. So, it could be Saturday, Tuesday at Duke or Jan. 11 at home against Louisville.

Capel revealed Thursday on his radio show on 93.7 FM that Lowe played the first 12 games with a minor injury after dislocating the ring finger on his shooting hand in a preseason scrimmage against Cincinnati. Lowe’s fingers had been wrapped, but the wrap came off before the Cal game and he responded with 27 points.

There is a feeling among the team that with the wrap off, Lowe’s shooting percentages (38.7 overall, 27.1 from 3-point range) will improve.

Meanwhile, here are five thoughts after the first few ACC games:

1. One after another

The rapid-fire nature of the games to start the month — only two days between tipoffs — means there’s no rest for Capel and his staff after games. He said Wednesday that he planned to spend that evening studying Stanford video.

The Cardinal (9-4, 1-1) look like a better team than Cal, having defeated the Golden Bears, 89-81, on the road. Stanford is in the midst of a two-game East Coast swing after losing at Clemson on Wednesday, 85-71.

“I know a little bit (about Stanford) because I watched them play Cal,” Capel said before he immersed himself in serious video study. “That big kid (7-foot-1, 245-pound Parisian Maxime Raynaud) is really, really freaking good. I was really impressed with him in that Cal game. I heard a lot about him, but that was my first time seeing him play. He’s as good a player as I’ve seen this year.”

Raynaud leads the ACC and is 10th in the nation in scoring (20.8 points per game). He also tops the conference with 11.9 rebounds and is shooting 50% from the field and has made 21 3-pointers. With his scoring and rebounding skills, it’s no surprise he is No. 1 in the nation with 11 double-doubles.

He is supported by Duke transfer Jaylen Blakes (15.2 points) and USC transfer Oziyah Sellers (14.2).

2. The confusing NET

If the Panthers defeat Stanford, they should be ranked in the Associated Press poll before they visit No. 4 Duke on Tuesday. But after Pitt’s rousing comeback from a 16-point deficit against California, the Panthers dropped from No. 10 to No. 13 in the NCAA NET rankings.

Explanation: Defeating Cal at the Pete is only a Quad 3 victory because the Golden Bears are ranked 122nd. Stanford is 85th, another Quad 3 opponent.

Duke (No. 3 in the NET), Louisville (No. 50) and Clemson (No. 32) in the next two weeks will provide stiffer tests and a more accurate gauge. The football team’s journey from 7-0 to 7-6 should have taught everyone to wait before making any definitive statements.

3. Next men up

Pitt dominated Cal so thoroughly in the second half Wednesday that it was difficult to believe they trailed by 11 in the final 100 seconds before halftime. Yet the Panthers went into the locker room at the break down only four.

Big props to backups Papa Kante and Amsel Delalic, who were on the floor at that time.

Kante registered a block, rebound and assist on Zack Austin’s 3-pointer. Delalic snatched two key rebounds and assisted on Guillermo Diaz Graham’s breakaway dunk.

Pitt’s bench may be stronger than expected, and Capel will need it with the ACC grind just beginning.

4. See the USA

Some may consider coast-to-coast travel for regular-season games strange, but nothing is out of bounds anymore in college athletics.

Pitt is in the midst of its initial connection with the ACC’s California teams after Cal and Stanford joined the league last year.

From Pitt’s point of view, there is little history with those schools. The Panthers’ 86-74 victory against Cal was the teams’ fourth all-time meeting and only the second since 1950. The series stands 2-2, with Pitt defeating the Golden Bears in the 2002 NCAA Tournament at the Civic Arena, 63-50.

The first scheduled game was canceled Dec. 28, 1932, because of a snowstorm. And there is a bit of a story that goes with it.

Pitt had lost at Northwestern, 31-22, on Dec. 18, and doubled back to Butler in Indianapolis — the next day — to win, 38-30. Then, the team got back on the train for an intended trip to the West Coast but traveled only as far as Colorado before weather conditions intervened and the train turned back to Pittsburgh.

Those types of excursions were not unusual for the Panthers of Dr. H.C. “Doc” Carlson, the most successful Pitt coach of all-time (367 victories and two national championships from 1922-1953).

“Doc Carlson wanted the team to see the country,” Pitt historian and author Sam Sciullo Jr. said, “let them be exposed to different cultures and places.”

Sciullo said Carlson used to walk up and down the train’s aisle, and if any player was asleep, resting his head on a window, he woke him and demanded he use that window to see the countryside.

5. Stanford/Pitt history

The game with Stanford likewise will only be the fourth in the teams’ series.

Carlson dragged his team to the West Coast in 1931 (a 22-11 victory) and 1949 (a 55-37 loss in San Francisco). Dixon’s Panthers defeated Stanford, 88-67, on a neutral court in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2013.

Sidebar: Dixon coached Pitt for 13 seasons and is the second-winningest coach in the school’s hoops history (328 victories), but he would have needed to stick around at least another two years beyond 2016 to catch Carlson.