PITTSBURGH — Trey Zeigler had options — lots of them — when he decided to leave Central Michigan last spring after his father Ernie was let go as head coach last spring.

UCLA called. Duke too. Only one place felt like home, however, to the talented guard who averaged 15.6 points as a sophomore last season: Pittsburgh.

Maybe because that’s in a way, it was.

Zeigler spent part of his childhood in Pittsburgh while his dad served as an assistant under coach Jamie Dixon a decade ago. Standing in the airport after his official visit, Zeigler called Dixon and told him his mind was made up.

“I felt like I could trust him,” Zeigler said.

Dixon responded by petitioning the NCAA to waive the usual one-year waiting period for transfers so Zeigler could play right away. The NCAA gave its approval over the summer, and Zeigler thrust himself right into the thick of things as the latest in a line of talented Pitt shooting guards that includes Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker.

The Panthers struggled a year ago after point guard Tray Woodall went down with a lingering abdominal injury that sidelined him nine games and limited him in several others. With their only real ballhandler sidelined, Pitt floundered to its worst season under Dixon. The Panthers went 22-17 and missed the NCAA tournament, though it did rally to win the College Basketball Invitational.

It was a nice moment at the end of a frustrating winter, but don’t expect to see a banner in the Peterson Events Center, not after Pitt let teams like Wagner and Big East also-rans Rutgers and South Florida push the Panthers around on their own floor.

“It was embarrassing basically, losing at home as much as we did and losing to teams that we shouldn’t have lost to,” forward Lamar Patterson said. “We know every game we go into this season, we’re not going to want to have the same feeling. It’s definitely pushing us to be better.”

Dixon remains typically tight-lipped about his team’s potential, though the addition of Zeigler and freshman point guard James Robinson should take some of the pressure off Woodall to do all the playmaking.

Woodall, who says he wasn’t fully recovered from the abdominal injury until August, intends to lead the nation in assists but no longer feels the burden to do everything.

“We’ve got a bunch of creators on this team now,” he said. “We don’t have a bunch of guys just waiting for somebody to create for them.”

The Panthers shot a miserable 42 percent last year. Pitt struggled to score, finishing with less than 50 points in losses to Rutgers, West Virginia and South Florida.