Pitt cruised to an easy 82-56 win over North Florida on Saturday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center. The win moved Pitt’s record to 8-4 on the year and closed the book on non-conference play for the season.

Sophomore big man Federiko Federiko posted a career high 22 points and 8 rebounds to lead the way for the Panthers. Federiko’s size proved difficult for the much smaller Ospreys, as he was 10-14 from the field with many of his buckets coming right at the rim.

Blake Hinson chipped in with 18 points himself. He and Federiko combined for 24 points in the second half as North Florida did not have an answer for either. Jamarius Burton also reached double figures yet again, as he provided 13 points. Burton missed last week’s game against Sacred Heart, but has now reached double figure scoring in all ten of the games he has played this season.

Greg Elliott also had a strong afternoon. The Marquette transfer posted his first double-double in a Pitt uniform with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and also a season-high 4 assists.

The Panthers seemed sluggish out of the gate, opening the game just 3-of-10 from the field. North Florida took advantage of that and cut Pitt’s lead to 19-14 at the 7:43 mark of the first half on a Jose Placer three-pointer, but the game never really got any closer after that. Pitt was able to take that four-point lead and make it 39-25 at halftime.

Pitt managed to carry that momentum into the early stages of the second half with a quick 14-5 spurt out of the break to get the lead over 20 points. From there it was mostly smooth sailing for the Panthers, as the closest North Florida got was 63-48 with 9:45 remaining.

Pitt played Saturday’s game without starting center John Hugley, who was out due to ‘personal reasons’ although he sat on the bench for the entire game with the team. Jeff Capel confirmed in the postgame the reason for sitting out was not injury, academic, or disciplinary related. It was the fourth game Hugley has missed this season.

Pitt collected its eighth win of the season on Saturday, December 17th. The Panthers did not reach eight wins until January 25th last season. Jeff Capel’s team will return to action on Tuesday against rival Syracuse in New York for a 9:00 p.m. tip. That game will start 19 straight conference games to close out the season.