Jamel Artis took home the Panther of the Week award from the ACC Tournament with a solid showing in a victory and then a loss. Tuesday night Artis came up one rebound short of a double-double in a win over Georgia Tech. The following night, while Pitt came up short, Artis almost hit for 20 points to keep the Panthers in the game against Virginia well into the second half.
Though Artis didn’t shoot particularly well against the Yellow Jackets, he still finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. The following night did see the senior step up his shooting as he contributed 18 points, three rebounds, and one assist. Artis shot 43% from the floor. That’s not impressive, but it is when you consider he only hit 3/12 on Tuesday evening. Artis also hit 86% of his free throws in the two games Pitt played in the conference tournament.
While this senior season was one that Artis and his fellow seniors would like to forget, the Baltimore native certainly did his part on the offensive side of the ball. He finished the season with 18.2 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per contest. Artis also dished out over three assists per game, while also having over two turnovers per game. Those aren’t the numbers you’d like to see from a person handling the point, but considering Pitt didn’t have a true point guard, it makes Artis’ year even better, when you take that into account.
People have been saying Pitt lacked a true point guard all year and they are not wrong. It makes you wonder how much better this team could have been with someone else running the point and players like Artis concentrating more on other parts of his game. One can only wonder, as he will move on after this season while a couple of true point guards come into the program.
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