Hugley potentially a force in low post
For the briefest of moments earlier this year, John Hugley thought about a life away from the Pitt men’s basketball program.
Back in January, barely two months into his freshman season, Hugley was suspended indefinitely after being charged with three felony counts related to a car theft near campus. It appeared, in that moment, that a Pitt career that once held so much promise would be over just seven games after it began.
While Hugley admitted that the idea of a fresh start elsewhere crossed his mind, it was fleeting.
“I had a thought, but it was like ‘why would I give up on them and they didn’t give up on me?’ ” Hugley said.
Where he finds himself now isn’t nearly as dire, vulnerable or uncertain.
Heading into his sophomore season, and following his reinstatement to the roster after the charges were withdrawn in May, Hugley is one of the more recognizable and hopeful faces on a team cloaked in mystery and doubt. A former top-100 recruit, the 6-foot-9 forward offered encouraging glimpses at his skills and potential last season before his freshman campaign abruptly ended.
Now, on a team replacing its top three scorers and four of its five starters, he’s in a position to take the next step for a squad in need of some top-line production.
“He’s a wide body, he is getting in better shape, and he’s got really good hands. He has a really good feel,” coach Jeff Capel said in late September. “He is a willing and capable passer, and he gives us something that we haven’t had in the three years I have been here.”
Indeed, it has been some time since Pitt had a player quite like Hugley, a big-bodied frontcourt presence who gobbles up rebounds and uses his size to impose his will. Such athletes used to define the program, but it has been years — going back to Talib Zanna in 2014 — that the Panthers have had such a force down low.
From the time of his commitment in 2019, Hugley certainly provided that hope. At 6-9 and 280 pounds, he’s armed with sheer force to position himself under the basket for rebounds and high-percentage scoring opportunities.
With that came other skills that aren’t often attached to a player his size — excellent court vision and passing, a solid 3- point stroke. When it was all put together, he was the No. 80
player in the 2020 class, making him the highestrated signee of Capel’s tenure at Pitt.
In seven games last season, he showed flashes of the player he might one day become. In not even 15 minutes a game, he averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds, including nine points in 13 minutes in his ACC debut against Miami.
The charges filed against him, though, put his future with the program in doubt.
While he was away from the team, Hugley said he focused on academics while working to maintain his body however he could, even if it was just doing pushups in his dorm room. He split time between Pittsburgh and his native Cleveland, where he leaned heavily on his mother, Marquette Washington, and his high school coach, Chet Mason. He maintained a GPA
just over 3.0.
During that stretch, even before he was reinstated, he learned lessons, namely making smarter decisions and being mindful of the company he keeps (the person who stole the car, according to a criminal complaint, was an unidentified friend of Hugley’s).
“Last year, that made me stronger, actually,” Hugley said. “It made me more accountable for my actions.”
Even though he was physically away from the team, Hugley regularly kept in touch with teammates like Noah Collier, Femi Odukale and Xavier Johnson, the last of whom is now at Indiana. He talked nearly every day with Capel, strengthening the bond that previously existed between the two of them.
“Honestly, Coach Cape kept his word,” Hugley said. “He kept his promise to me.
He made sure he was there for me. He never turned his back on me.”
Developmentally, Hugley doesn’t believe his suspension altered his progress. He has worked at getting in better shape, something Capel cited last season before the suspension as a notable area of improvement.
On a team that doesn’t return a player who averaged more than 8.9 points per game last season, there’s a void Hugley can realistically fill. In a 72-56 loss to Maryland in an Oct. 16 scrimmage, Hugley led all Panthers players with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, along with six rebounds.
“I think he’ll have a tremendous impact,” forward Chris Payton said. “He’s still growing as a basketball player. I just feel like he has a lot of different things he can do to help this team out. I feel like he does a great job of knowing he has a lot of things he can do to help this team out.”
There’s hope within the program that Hugley and graduate transfer Mouhamadou Gueye can form a viable frontcourt, with both players standing at least 6-9 while providing different skill sets and physiques.
It’s a pairing Hugley’s excited about, which is one reason he believes his team will be better than its projected 14th-place finish in the 15-team ACC.
“It’s going to be a matchup nightmare with me and Mo down there,” Hugley said. “He’s got that long wingspan. He can go up and get blocks. I just wall people up. It’s going to be scary.”