Pitt Take 5: Mouhamadou Gueye shows he can shoot it and swat it

It’s not every day you see a 6-foot-10 forward shooting 3-pointers at a success rate better than one in every three.

Mouhamadou Gueye fits that profile — he leads Pitt with 19 3s and is second in percentage at 34.5% — but he knows of another 6-10 guy who is even better at it.

“I think that (distinction) belongs to Kevin Durant,” Gueye said with a smile. Sure enough, the 6-10 Durant has a career 3-point success rate of 38.3.

But does Durant lead the Brooklyn Nets in blocks? He is only third, whereas Gueye leads the Panthers with 30. Gueye is the only player in the ACC to lead his team in both categories.

Shot blocks can juice the crowd, and Gueye knows it.

“I like what it does for our team, and I like what it does just for the atmosphere in the arena, especially if we get a block and get a transition bucket,” he said. “The fans get more involved into it. For me, it’s more of an energy play than a stat.”

Gueye will get a chance to show off both skills Saturday when Pitt visits Clemson.

Here are few thought to contemplate before the 6 p.m. tipoff on the ACC Network:

1. A big loss

If everyone with eligibility returns to Pitt next season, that would include Pitt’s two most important players — John Hugley and Jamarius Burton — plus all but one scholarship athlete on the roster.

The only player who will exhaust his eligibility at the end of the season is the 23-year-old Gueye.

“He’s a really unique young man,” coach Jeff Capel said. “It’s been an honor to have him in our program. He’s a worker. He’s gotten so much better in his time here. I wish we had him for longer. … Normally, when you work, especially if you have talent — and he’s been blessed with some unique physical attributes — and you’re consistent in your work, good things are going to happen. That’s what we’ve seen with Mo as the season’s gone on.”

2. No outside threat

Despite Gueye’s best efforts, Pitt is last in the ACC in 3-point field goals (84) and percentage (30.1%, 84 of 279). Only Boston College (278) has attempted fewer shots beyond the arc. Among the 350 schools the NCAA lists on its stats page, Pitt is 323rd in successful shots and 311th in percentage.

Those numbers can be tied to the loss of Nike Sibande for the season and Ithiel Horton for a majority of it. A year ago, they were Pitt’s best long-range threats, combining to make 60 of 155 (38.7%).

Pitt’s lack of a reliable outside game does no favors for John Hugley, who is leading the team in scoring (15.3 points per game) and starters in shooting percentage (46.3%).

Virginia coach Tony Bennett suggested Wednesday night that he felt comfortable increasing the pressure on Hugley in the paint. “When the shots aren’t going, you can jam him a little more,” he said.

Despite the additional attention, interior scoring and foul shots have accounted for 65.3% of Pitt’s points. Pitt and Manhattan are the only NCAA schools to score more than 25% of their points from the foul line. Pitt’s rate stands at 25.7%, with 289 hits in 421 attempts (68.6%).

3. Long road ahead

So far this season, Pitt’s schedule has been heavy with home games. It’s been away from Petersen Events Center for only five (1-4), with the lone victory coming against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.

Pitt will play five of its next seven games away from home, a daunting stretch considering the Panthers have an eight-game losing streak in ACC road games.

4. What to expect

The Clemson game looks like it might become one of those close encounters that Pitt (7-11, 2-5) typically plays. Nine of the past 12 games have been decided by five points or fewer.

Clemson (10-8, 2-5) is 6-8 since a season-opening four-game winning streak and has lost four of its past five.

The Tigers played Virginia in consecutive games two weeks apart, winning on the road, 67-50, and losing at home, 75-65. They also lost at Syracuse by 13 and Boston College at home by two. Pitt beat BC by two at the Pete and lost at Syracuse by 16.

Pitt will be especially wary of P.J. Hall, a 6-foot-10 forward who is 15th in the ACC in scoring (14.7 per game) and 11th in shooting percentage (48.6).

5. Value the basketball

Pitt is last in the ACC in scoring (62.4 points per game), turnover margin (minus-3.1) and assist-to-turnover margin (.8). Simply speaking — with 199 assists (11.1 per game) and 239 turnovers (13.2) — Pitt is throwing the ball to the wrong guy.

“We talk all the time about valuing the basketball, and we didn’t do that (against Virginia),” Capel said.