Pitt Panther Prowl

Bad Coaching, Bad Play to Blame for Pitt Loss

In the past 2 months we have seen bad calls, blown calls, an unfortunate turnover as time expired, a blocked shot as time expired, lack of effort, poor shooting, and flat out cheating referees cost the Pitt Panthers games. Oh if only we could lament such things. This game was lost by Pitt, and Pitt alone. Much credit goes to Marquette who ran a good game plan and abused Pitt all night. But even with that, I am not sure Marquette is the better team. They were, however, the better coached and better executed team last night.

“We just really got beat in every facet,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said [espn.com]. “It really got away from us at about the 15 minute mark in the first half.”

There wasn’t a single area of the game that Pitt did better than Marquette. I am not talking statistically. I am talking about how they looked on the floor. At one point, a graphic was flashed showing Pitt was leading by 3 in rebounds. I couldn’t believe it because Marquette had 2 guys to every loose ball before Pitt was even near it. Pitt did finish with less rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals, and had more turnovers and fouls. So there really wasn’t a bright spot.

This game wasn’t about laziness or lack of effort. In the first half, Pitt was in the game. They were running hard and looking like they could take the lead if they could just get a few shots to fall. But they never played defense. The entire game Marquette did whatever they wanted offensively to Pitt.

I blame coaching first and foremost. This might be a surprise being that I think Jamie Dixon is an amazing coach. But how many times can a team pick and roll/back door a defensive oriented team and get wide open layups? The answer, as many as the wanted last night. It is the coaches job to make sure his players are aware of where they are being exploited. It is the coaches job to make the adjustments. And it is the coaches job to make sure that when subs enter the game, they are told to watch for what the starters are missing on the floor. But no defensive adjustment every seemed to come.

Beyond that, one of my biggest criticisms of Dixon is that he makes mass substitutions at the under 16 timeout, no matter the situation. He did it again last night, but Pitt wasn’t in a good position for it to happen. Luckily, he did quickly get DeJuan Blair back into the game. Don’t get me wrong, Gary McGhee’s play was probably the only real bright spot in the game. But he isn’t ready to be on the floor in a game where Pitt was one possession from taking the lead, but also one three pointer from losing control of the game. It is the coaches job to assess these situations and to make substitutions accordingly. But Dixon doesn’t seem to see where momentum is early in a game and try to keep/change it. He just makes the substitution for 3 starters around 4 minutes into every single game, no matter what.

Of course, that isn’t the only reason for the Pitt loss. Pitt shot just over 37% for the game. It wasn’t their worst shooting night in history. But it sure wasn’t a good one. And it will never be enough to beat a team that is shooting almost 50% that is getting most of its points off of wide open looks inside the paint.

Beyond that, the fact that Pitt scored 1 field goal and 2 free throws in the first 8 minutes of the second half didn’t really help. I kept thinking, “One of these is going to go in and it will spark something.” That never happened. In the last 12 minutes of the game, the officiating got very shaky. I have never seen one team get called for so many charges in a row. And I am honestly not sure that a single one of them was a charge. Then at the other end, even when there was a charge, Pitt couldn’t get the call. But the officiating didn’t cost Pitt the game in any way, shape, or form. All it did was kept them from cutting into the 25 point lead earlier and building confidence.

Sadly, it took until there were 5 minutes left in the game for Pitt to start playing. If they had played the entire game like they did the last 5 minutes, they would have either won, or lost a close game. Instead, they threw away 15 minutes of the second half, making it all but impossible to even have a chance to win. That is not something championship teams do. Yet Pitt is famous for games where no one on the floor seems like they can make a single shot.

All around, this game was poorly coached and poorly played by Pitt. They did nothing to deserve to win, and Marquette did everything right. I didn’t talk about any individual stats because, frankly, no one did anything worthy of being singled out for their good job. This was the kind of game that you just hope was an anomaly, and that it doesn’t continue, or Pitt will have a very short lived post season run.

This picture sums up the Marquette game.