As the old saying goes when it rains it pours and NC State made it thunder storm in the Peterson Events Center. The Wolfpack were winless in ACC play before this game, but after a dominating 78-61 the Pitt looks like the team searching for answers.
Recap:
The start of this game had a lot of promise, as Michael Young converted the first jumper of the game. After that NC State quickly tore through the Panther defense taking a 12-4 lead and forcing Dixon to call a timeout. The timeout did no help, as the Wolfpack proceeded to go on an 18-5 run. Maverick Rowan was the key guy for NC State on the run, hitting three three-pointers. With less than eight minutes in the half, Pitt had a chance to stop some of the bleeding before the intermission. Instead it felt more like Dixon and company were trying plug a breaking dam with a band-aid. Another huge run by the Wolfpack brought Pitt’s deficit all the way up to 28 at one point before the halftime score settled at 44-19.
Pitt came out fighting in the second half, led by the aggressive play of Young and Artis. However, defensive breakdowns kept them from significantly cutting the NC State lead. On several occasions the Panthers did reduce the deficit to just 14, but each time NC State responded with a run of their own. The lead ballooned back up to 20 with only two minutes remaining to put the final nail in the coffin of Pitt’s comeback. Ultimately NC State walked away with a commanding 17 point win, their first in ACC Play. Pitt will now drop to 5th with their 4-2 record in league play.
There were no real stars in the game for Pitt, but Young and Artis did both score over double figures with 14 and 16 respectively.
Positives:
Nothing of Value- It is hard to find any kind of real positive from this game. Much like the Louisville debacle, this one was ugly. At least in that game the excuse of maybe it was just an off night could be used. Now after a night like this, only one game removed from that Louisville contest it feels more like a trend than a fluke. Sure the Panthers did keep fighting, but ultimately that fight was too little too late.
Negatives:
Anything and Everything- The Panthers were completely and utterly dominated at home. It is hard to limit the negatives to just five key areas. The offense was stagnant, leading to poor shot selections, while the defense could not have slowed down Kat Barber even if he had been forced to play with one hand behind his back. It was an all-around negative night, so just look at the offensive and defensive grades to truly understand how bad it truly was.
Offensive Grade: F
The offense seems like it is a mirage. In the three losses Pitt has scored 59, 41, and 61 points, which equates to a 53.7 points per game. While during their 15 wins their averages climbs to 87. That has a lot to do with the fact that all their wins have come against inferior opponents. The true ability of this offense is probably somewhere in the middle, but against NC State it was brutal to watch. Pitt regularly settled for bad shots and even when the Panthers got good ones they were not converting them for points. Their lack of playmakers on the offensive side of the court is going to hurt this team moving forward.
Defensive Grade: F
This might be one of the worst defensive units Dixon has ever coached. They are slow on rotations and lose their man way too often. Add in the fact that every scorer they face has a career day and there is not a whole lot to like about Pitt’s defense. Against NC State Kat Barber was able to get any shot he wanted en route to a game high 31 points. The Pittsburgh native, Rowan, also torched the Panthers with his four threes and 14 points. Pitt players knew he is a shooter and still they lost track of him.
Coaching Grade: F
It was a failure from top to bottom in this game. Dixon’s offense has a lot of movement without purpose and athletic teams like NC State and Louisville had easy times defending it. That was bad, but what is worse was that Dixon played Chris Jones for 20 minutes. On offense he could not buy a bucket and on defense he was the one who kept losing Rowan. Finally, a home beat down like this is just unacceptable. The Pete used to be a place opponents hated playing in, now that aura feels long gone.
Up Next:
Pitt looks to bounce back at Florida State on Saturday January