Pittsburgh relies on depth this season

What sticks out for senior Cameron Wright as he enters his final season with the Pittsburgh basketball team is the last-second shot from Tyler Ennis to give then-No. 1 Syracuse a 58-56 win in front of a shocked Panther crowd.

“I didn’t think it was real, honestly,” Wright said, remembering the moment. “I didn’t know what had happened, we were winning the entire game it felt like.”

That loss still haunts Wright but was just one of 13 games that were decided by five points or fewer in the Panthers’ inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season.

This year Coach Jamie Dixon and a veteran Panthers team — which returns 59 percent of its scoring from last year and three key starters — look to improve in those games without Lamar Patterson, last year’s leading scorer and an All-ACC selection.

“We lost some close games, and we lost some games we shouldn’t have, to be honest,” Dixon said, “If you want to win the conference, you’ve got to win your home games.”

Dixon was pleased with finishing 7-2 on the road, but the 4-5 record at home will be an area for improvement moving forward.

The Panthers will call upon a veteran backcourt of Wright and James Robinson to help guide this team in taking its game to the next level.

Wright is the top returning scorer for the Panthers, averaging just over 10 points per game. He also finished in double digits in 20 games last year.

But an injury will keep him out at least the first five games, which will include Pittsburgh’s trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.

Robinson will join Wright as the 2-guard, where he looks to build off a stellar season which included finishing sixth in the nation in the assist per turnover department and was a finalist for the Bob Cousy award for the nation’s top point guard, with 148 assists.

“Playing with Cam, he really makes the game easy for me,” Robinson said. “I know where he’s going to be at on the court, he knows where I’m going to be.”

The friendship and experience between these two guards will be the foundation of the roster, but Wright noted that the team has been growing stronger as a unit.

“I’ve never been a part of a team that has been so close in all my life,” Wright said.

“I’m really looking forward to getting out there on the floor with these guys.”

The frontcourt will be more of a rotating cast for Pittsburgh, with Durand Johnson and Joseph Uchebo headlining the group who will see minutes for the Panthers.

Johnson is coming off a gruesome ACL tear from last season and looks to build upon his hot start in the 2013-14 campaign, when he averaged 8.8 points and three rebounds per game in 16 games.

And with a home schedule that features North Carolina, Louisville and Syracuse again, Johnson and the Panthers will have plenty of chances for Tyler Ennis-redemption.

“We’re still a team that’s finding our identity, finding our rotation, as are all teams at this point,” Dixon said.

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