Jeffress hoping to show more assertiveness this season
William Jeffress is kind of the in-between man on the Pitt basketball roster for the upcoming 2023-24 season. Jeffress is not a newcomer, but he also was not on the floor at all during Pitt’s 24-win campaign a season ago. The Panthers had their most successful season under Jeff Capel, a year in which they made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Jeffress was there for every step along the way, except not in a playing capacity.
“It was tough to not be a part of it on the court, but through the entire journey I felt a part of it through just our team atmosphere and being together,” Jeffress told reporters after practice earlier this week. “When I went down the guys were always there for me and I was at every practice, I was present every day. It was difficult to be on the sidelines because you know every player wants to play, but I’m glad I got to be part of it and enjoy it.”
Pitt is hoping to carry over that success into this season. The Panthers will lean on returning starters Blake Hinson and Federiko Federiko, plus the Diaz Graham twins to bridge that successful run into a new campaign, but even though Jeffress was not on the floor, he feels he can still bring some of that same mindset as the other returnees to are doing to a new season.
In today’s college basketball environment, it could have been easy for Jeffress to look into a potential transfer. He was once a heralded four-star recruit who reclassified and left high school a year early to get to Pittsburgh, but he never made the significant impact you would have expected a top-100 recruit make, but part of it could have been due to growing pains and being younger than everyone else.
Jeffress appeared in 47 games over his first two seasons and made 20 starts. He averaged just 3 points per game and 2.9 rebounds in those contests. Then factoring in a missed season, he probably had other opportunities to explore a new situation to get more playing time.
“A lot of people think that the grass is greener on the other side, but it’s greener where you water it,” he explained of his decision to stick with Pitt. “Some people transfer out and they do better. Some people transfer and you never hear from them again. You can never guarantee where you’re going to end up at.”
Jeffress is hoping to be more of a contributor this season and should have an opportunity to carve out a role. Given the season-ending injury to Papa Amadou Kante and the dismissal of Dior Johnson, Pitt’s depth for the season is a little less than it was expected to be before practice started.
Jeffress has always found a role in that 17-20 minutes per game space and has done so by bringing rebounding and energy to the court. Jeffress, however, has lacked being an offensive threat for the most part. He is a career 27% shooter from the field and just 19% from three, an area he said he worked on a good bit.
“I’m on the court to make plays just like any other player on the court,” he explained.
Part of Jeffress’ struggles on offense always seemed to be due to a lack of assertiveness, a self-admitted flaw. He wanted to work on being more decisive with the ball this season and that also seemed to be the emphasis from the coaching staff.
“We need Will to keep everything simple,” Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said at his season-opening press conference. “We think he can be a really, really good defender, a great cutter and being able to make a shot. He has shot the ball very well, but he’s got to do it in games. He’s got to be able to do it when the lights come on.”
Jeffress knows its an area he had to work on and expects that to translate to on the court this season.
“I would think the last time you saw me on the court I was a lot more hesitant,” the Erie native explained. “I think I am taking that out of my game to become more quick and more decisive within my decisions and like I said trusting myself and trusting my teammates to make the right plays and putting the work in enough to trust those skills and make them instincts.”