Jeff Capel boosts Pitt’s depth, adds grad transfer guard Michael Hueitt

A week after guard Dior Johnson left school, Pitt basketball coach Jeff Capel moved to bolster his depth at the position by adding graduate transfer Michael Hueitt Jr. to the roster.

Pitt will be Hueitt’s fourth school since finishing his high school career at Northwood Temple Academy in Fayetteville, N.C., in 2017. He has attended Old Dominion (2017-18), UNC Greensboro (2019-20) and Division II Catawba College (2021-22).

In two seasons at Old Dominion and UNC Greensboro, Hueitt averaged 4.7 points per game while shooting 37.5% (57 of 152) from 3-point range. At UNCG in 2019-20, he averaged 5.8 points per game and shot 36.1% from beyond the 3-point line (48 of 133).

At Catawba during the 2021-22 season, Hueitt (6-foot-3) averaged 7.3 points, with 24 3-point field goals in 15 games. Injuries have plagued Hueitt throughout his collegiate career and forced him to sit out the 2022-23 season. But he arrives at Pitt healthy for his final season of eligibility, according to university officials.

He was an all-North Carolina guard at Northwood Temple Academy in 2017 after averaging 27.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. He totaled the most points scored in a season in conference history, broke the North Carolina record for 3-pointers in a game (16) and recorded 2,300 career points.

Capel was remaking Pitt’s backcourt even before Johnson’s departure, and Hueitt will join Rhode Island transfer guard Ishmael Leggett, freshmen Carlton Carrington and Jaland Lowe and senior walk-on KJ Marshall. Pitt is one short of the NCAA-mandated 13 scholarship limit.