Ithiel Horton stole the show in Pitt's 56-51 win over Florida State on Wednesday night. The junior guard poured in 25 points to help lead Pitt to a conference road victory, and snapped a four-game losing streak in the process.

For Horton’s part, it had to feel good on many levels. It was only his sixth game of the season, after he served a lengthy suspension due to an off-the-court incident prior to the start of the season.

“It felt really good,” Horton told reporters after scoring a season-high 25 points. “It felt really good to be in some type of rhythm. It felt really good to have confidence out there on the floor. It felt really good to be back to myself. I had a really tough year this year, it just felt really good to come out and just breakout.”

Horton totaled just eight points over Pitt’s last three games, and made just one three-pointer during that stretch. On Wednesday, the junior guard connected on seven shots from behind the arc and his two free-throws at the end helped seal the victory for his team.

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel must have sensed a big game coming, as he inserted Horton into the starting lineup for the first time all season, a spot he likely would have had if his incident in the preseason never occurred.

“If nothing would have happened and we would have been whole, Ithiel would have most likely been a starter from the beginning of the year,” Capel said of his junior guard. “I just felt like it was time to go back to what I felt like would be our best lineup and our best guys on the court.”

Pitt guard Jamarius Burton had been rooming with Horton during the team’s recent road trip, and he too could sense his teammate was due for a big game.

“We were roommates so I could tell he was locked-in and focused and he was listening to the right things and I just knew that tonight he was going to have a big night,” Burton said of Horton’s big game.

Listening to the right things proved to be the theme in Horton’s road back to contributing to the team's win on Wednesday. Horton’s situation was a frustrating one on a personal level, as he was reinstated for one game earlier this year back on January 5th, only to go back on suspension for an additional six games. Horton admitted he carried some ill will with him at first with the legal process playing out how it did.

“When I came back it was still lingering and I was still just angry at the whole situation,” he said.

Horton said he leaned on his coaches and teammates for support. He had been reading some books as well to keep his positivity up, and also looked to his parents for guidance.

“She’s my spiritual anchor,” Horton said of his mother. "Just listening to her and my dad just telling me to keep going, just to put that whole situation behind.”

On Wednesday, Horton looked like himself again. He is a career 39% shooter from behind the arc, and showed his marksmanship throughout the game. In the early stages of the second half, Horton connected on four shots from deep to help Pitt build up the lead over the Seminoles.

“He’s capable of doing that,” Burton said. “He’s a dangerous catch and shoot three-point shooter and he did that tonight.”

Horton believed in Jeff Capel’s pregame message of, ‘Throw your fastball’ and that’s exactly what he did. The junior guard knows his role is to be the team’s best outside shooter and he delivered.

“My fastball is my shot,” he explained. “That and my fastball is my passion and aggression on defense, so I’m going to keep throwing and continue throwing that and put myself in the team.”

“With him he wasn’t surprised,” Burton said of Horton’s 25-point outburst. “Why wasn’t he surprised? Because he put the work in.”

“My role on this team is to shoot and make shots,” Horton said.

In the Panthers win of Florida State, he played his role perfectly.