Slumping Panthers still being burned by inability to contain long-range shooters
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pitt’s unexpected February slump is easy to understand: Three months into the season, the No. 18 Panthers still can’t shut down a strong outside shooting team. What coach Jamie Dixon is finding more difficult to explain is why two of his biggest defenders often are on the bench while it’s occurring.
Despite being dominant at times at both ends of the court, 6-foot-11 Chris Taft and 7-footer Aaron Gray played only 35 minutes combined in the Panthers’ second upset loss of the season Wednesday to rival West Virginia. Both were on the bench most of the time as the Mountaineers rallied from 14 points down with just over nine minutes to play to win 70-66, holding Pitt without a field goal in the final 7:26.
Dixon’s reasoning: While it was the 6-11 Kevin Pittsnogle who kept putting in 3-pointers – four in the second half alone – the Panthers wanted smaller defenders to try to contain West Virginia’s outside shooting. The Mountaineers were 11-of-26 from 3-point range and hit 24 3s in their two victories over Pitt.
“We wanted to have the defense out there,” said Dixon, who seemed to be excluding Taft from that equation despite his game-high 13 rebounds. “We’ve gone smaller at the end of a game, especially with a team that shoots the ball well from the 3-point line. It didn’t work tonight because they continued to hit shots.”
Pitt (18-6, 8-5 in Big East) suddenly doesn’t look like a team that figures to do much damage in the postseason.
The Panthers have dropped two in a row and three of six this month, with games left against No. 17 Connecticut (Saturday), No. 3 Boston College (Monday) and dangerous Notre Dame (March 5). After winning or sharing the last three Big East regular-season championships, the Panthers aren’t even assured of a first-round bye in the Big East tournament.
Blame it on the 3s. No. 23 Villanova went 12-of-23 from 3-point range in an 80-72 victory Sunday over Pitt, which has allowed 58 3-pointers in its last six games. Four of those six opponents made at least 11 3-pointers.
“We’re 18-6,” said Dixon, as if to say the season still isn’t lost. “We’ve come up short in the past couple of games when teams have hit 3s.
“When a team shoots the ball well, it makes it hard to guard them.”
Especially since going with a smaller lineup takes away from Pitt’s strength – its ability to wear down opponents with the physical play of the 6-7 Chevon Troutman, Gray and Taft.
Pitt did not make Taft available for a post-game news conference Wednesday. He later told a Pittsburgh newspaper he should have been in at the end, but didn’t want to make an issue of his benching with five minutes to play.
Pittsnogle did it for him, saying it becomes easier to play Pitt when Taft and Gray are on the bench.
Pittsnogle scored 17 of his 22 points during West Virginia’s game-ending 28-10 run, giving him 49 points in two games against Pitt this season.
“I was kind of happy when they were out of the game,” Pittsnogle said.
The Panthers have also lost the sense of invincibility they had while losing only once during their first two seasons at the Petersen Events Center. They’ve lost three times in 16 home games this season, all to teams they were expected to beat easily – Bucknell, Georgetown and West Virginia.
This isn’t the way they wanted to be playing with the postseason tournaments so near.
“Our backs are against the wall,” guard Antonio Graves said.