At the turn of this century, Pitt basketball players intensely and physically patrolled the floors of the Petersen Events Center and Fitzgerald Field House. If a little blood appears on someone’s jersey at practice, keep playing. You can think about it later in the locker room.

No wonder Pitt made 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2001-02 through 2010-11, averaging 27.3 wins per season.

No one is comparing this season’s Panthers to those teams, but there was an encouraging sign at practice on Friday. Some blood was visible on redshirt freshman forward Papa Kante’s jersey.

Sophomore guard Jaland Lowe spoke to reporters about it, comparing Kante’s bloody jersey to a badge of honor. Lowe said there was nothing unusual. “It gets pretty intense,” he said of a typical practice.

“My father was being a father. Being loud, being present, being physical, doing all the dirty stuff.

“It’s all about love, but when we get between those boundaries, it’s a war,” he said of the team’s camaraderie.

Coach Jeff Capel’s seventh season at Pitt begins Monday in St. Pete when the Panthers face Radford of the Big South Conference in the first of 11 non-conference games. Tip-off at 19.00

The team has been together since the early days of the summer, but Lowe said the 71-62 win against Cincinnati in the last game reminded everyone to always play physical.

“I throw the first punch,” he said. “This is part of our existence. “We are proud of it.”

Capel liked what he saw in the Cincinnati matchup, especially how his players handled opposing physicality.

“It was a chance for me and for us to play against a really physical team,” he said. “This is something we couldn’t simulate in practice. We handled it well. Then we didn’t handle it well. And we handled it well again.”

Senior guard Ishmael Leggett said the toughness he saw among his teammates was “on another level.”

“Pittsburgh tough is something that comes to mind.”

But there is a problem. “We need to collectively get the basketball together better as a team,” Capel said.

Pitt will have a different look this season, with leading scorers Blake Hinson and Bub Carrington pursuing NBA careers. However, Pitt still has a strong backcourt that has been indispensable the last two seasons, but there is also a welcome development. This time, the backcourt starts with experience.

“What’s immediately different is we have some returning guards,” Capel said.

Two years ago, he completely reshaped the backfield, with newcomers Nelly Cummings and Greg Elliott joining returning veteran Jamarius Burton. Nike Sibande was coming off an injury from the previous season.

Then last year, there was another new backcourt featuring freshman guards Carrington and Lowe and transfers Leggett and Zack Austin. All four players were new to the ACC.

Lowe, Leggett and Austin bring experience. Graduate guard Damian Dunn, a 6-5 transfer from Houston, has been playing college basketball since 2019.

Dunn is a native of Kinston, N.C., and Capel, a native of North Carolina, knows players from that part of the country.

“If you’re a basketball player, the only thing you have to come from is tough,” he said. “He got better last year (in Houston after signing from Temple) without even realizing it because it didn’t translate the way he thought it would translate in points.”

Dunn went from averaging 15.3 points per game at Temple in 2022-2023 to 6.4 at Houston, where four other players scored between 9.5 and 15.5 points.

Capel likes that Dunn brings with him the culture of Houston, which he says is one of the best in college basketball.

“This will make him a better basketball player for us this year.”

Also included in the mix is ​​freshman guard Brandin Cummings (Lincoln Park).

“There are a couple of older guys who can really help him with that,” Capel said.

Hinson and Carrington are gone, but Capel still has the same confidence in his players to take and make good shots. Four of the top six scorers from a year ago return; among them is young forward Guillermo Diaz Graham.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a player like Blake who can make 110 (3-pointers),” he said, “but we can do as much or more than we did last year (when Pitt led the ACC with 317).

“We have guys all over the court who can do those things. Not only can he shoot them, he can make them. I don’t think we have a scholarship player on our roster that I don’t trust to make good three-point shots. As long as we produce those, I want our guys to have confidence taking them.”

Seven players shot from behind the arc in the contest against Cincinnati, led by Lowe’s three 3-pointers.

Capel hopes to get more offensive shots in the paint with Florida State transfer Cam Corhen replacing Federiko Federiko, who transferred to Texas Tech. Corhen averaged 9.4 points per game for the Seminoles last season and scored 25 points against Pitt. He scored 14 points in the Cincinnati offense.

“When you throw the ball to someone and they play with their back to the basket, it may not be traditional (low post scoring),” he said. He’ll expect his points in the paint to come in a variety of ways, including rebounds off the offensive glass and passes from guards. Additionally, Dunn, Leggett and Lowe showed their ability to score around the basket.

Meanwhile, players say they will be motivated this season by the perceived snub if they are not invited to the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Lowe called this “the gasoline we throw on the fire and the fire gets bigger and bigger.”

“We want to leave no doubt.”