The Panthers suffered their first lost of the season at the hands of the Purdue Boilermakers. The final score of 72-59 does not represent how close the game actually was.
Recap-
To say Pitt started the game slow is an understatement. After the first six minutes of play they trailed 18-3 and looked completely lost. They would trail by as much as 17 in the first half. Dixon was able to make a solid adjustment by switching to zone. From that point on Pitt got back into the game only trailing 29-26 at the break.
The second half was a back and forth affair, which saw the Panthers take the lead at one point. However, after Robinson made the two-point jumper to take the 44-43 lead the wheels seemed to come off. Pitt went on a four-minute stretch from around eight to four minutes to play where they did not manage a single field goal. In the end Purdue was guided big man A.J. Hammons and Ryan Cline who sealed the deal as they outscored the Panthers by 14 after trailing briefly.
Positives-
I would like to start with the positives that came from Tuesday night’s contest. For starters the Panthers shot well from the line once again. In the game they were 15-20(75%) at the line, which is a step up from years past. Too many times has poor free throw shooting hurt Pitt teams, so it is good to see that trend not continuing so far this year. Also, the mental stability of the team showed strong. After starting so poorly and with the crowd taken out of it they could of given up, instead they kept on fighting. There will be times when things are not going the team’s way, which is why it was good to see they continued to fight no matter the obstacle. Finally, Michael Young was a huge positive. On the game he had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists. At times it seemed like he was the only playmaker of offense. Dixon will continue to need that kind of performance out of Young in order for this team to be successful.
Negatives-
This game produced quite a bit of negatives. For starters the team looked lethargic out of the gate. It was as if they had never been in a big game before and on the opposite side a team with majority sophomores and freshman playing looked like they were seasoned veterans. The type of experience the Panthers have should not lead them to starting games that slow. Another huge negative from the game was lack of defense. It started with letting Purdue players get wide open looks from three, but after switching to a zone it seemed like Pitt’s defense might be turning the corner. Then they fell back to reality as Hammons had his way with the zone, scoring 24 points and hauling in 12 rebounds. Not only was Hammons killing them, but also after doing such a good job with perimeter defense when they switched to zone it all went down the tubes as they let Ryan Cline open possession after possession, which pretty much ended the game. Finally, untimely rebounding and turnover errors were also killers. Pitt only had 10 turnovers and was only outrebounded by five, but the turnovers were just mental mistakes. As for the rebounding Purdue was able to seal the deal with effective rebounding to finish.
Offensive Grade: D
The offense that exploded against Cornell and Kent State looked like some kind of distant memory. The motion looked stagnant and their shot selection was poor throughout much of the game. Purdue never respected Pitt’s three-point shooting and Pitt gave them no reason to. They went 4-19 from deep, which is nowhere near as good as they were shooting the last two games. Purdue’s defense is the real deal, but too often did it look like the Panthers were just settling for poor shots. This grade is where it is also because Dixon played an offensive lineup throughout much of the second half. Both Sheldon Jeter and Ryan Luther played down low and did not provide much in the way of offensive output.
Defensive Grade: C-
The defense was only slightly better than the offense. In reality the defense was the primary reason Pitt was able to make it back into the game. Before the switch to zone the man-to-man defense was brutal, as they consistently left shooters open. However, after Dixon made the change the defense looked as stingy as ever. When Purdue’s coach, Matt Painter, finally made the adjustment to throw it inside to Hammons against the zone it effectively ended the Panthers’ defense. Hammons had his way on the inside and it led to shooters being wide open. This grade gets some considerable knocks down after how poorly the defense did to prevent Ryan Cline from getting clean looks. It was like they forgot who he was in the middle of the play.
Coaching Grade: D+
Dixon did not have his team ready to play at all. They came out flap and that reflects negatively on the coaching. Dixon did make a nice adjustment by switching to zone, but once Painter adjusted to that Dixon did nothing to counter. Instead he went with the offensive lineup utilizing Luther and Jeter more, which ended up putting the nail in the coffin. Pitt may not have many bigs, but they do have Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and he barely played in the second half. This game was not unwinnable and because of that the coach bares a lot of the blame.
Up Next:
Pitt will play inner city rival the Duquesne Dukes on Friday at 7:00 P.M.