Roman Siulepa is having quite the freshman year for the Pitt Panthers

Pitt's men's basketball team has had its struggles this season but one bright spot on the team is freshman Roman Siulepa.

Roman Siulepa is having quite the freshman year for the Pitt Panthers, averaging 10 points and five rebounds per game.

He's powerful and aggressive down low and it's because his playing style is a little different. 

Born and raised in Australia, Siulepa was dominant both on the court and in scrums.

"I wouldn't say internationally ranked, I'd just say I was pretty good in high school," Siulepa said.

A pretty well known rugby player in high school, Siulepa has a clear passion for the sport but made the tough decision to choose basketball last year.

"I think more just the situation," Siulepa said. "I think challenging myself and stepping out of the country is a big step in my life in terms of developing as a person."

Siulepa never even visited Pittsburgh before committing to the Panthers.

In fact, his first day in the city was in August when he was moving to Pittsburgh.

He had a teammate on his semi-professional team in Australia that once played for Pitt, Lamar Patterson, who convinced Siulepa to come to Pitt.

"He's like an uncle to me," Siulepa said. "He's like big bro and he kept telling me to come to Pitt and it happened so I'm grateful."

Siulepa had a team-high 19 points in Tuesday night's loss to Duke, finishing the game with four rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block. 

After the game. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer had some nice things to say about Siulepa, saying he loves his tenacity and is a "big fan of his."

"You grow up wanting to play for those schools," Siulepa said. "Coming from Australia, I didn't know much. Didn't even know Pitt was a school until a couple years ago when I started playing with one of the former players from here but you always grow up wanting to play for them. UCLA, Duke, big teams like that. So it was definitely a privilege to hear."

Siulepa and Pitt face another blue blood this weekend as they hit the road to face No. 11 ranked North Carolina on Saturday in Chapel Hill.