Pitt Panther Prowl

A Must-win Must-win Game

Pitt may have set a school record for must-win games this season. Wednesday’s game against Cincinnati is the third straight must-win game for a reeling Pitt team that once looked like a final four caliber team. This isn’t a situation that Pitt has found itself in much in recent years. Pitt is coming off of three straight losses, all to ranked teams and two (Notre Dame and Louisville) against teams tied for first place in the Big East. In and of itself, this three game losing streak isn’t so bad, especially given the caliber of the opponents they have played. But for a team struggling to find its identity, there are multiple reasons that this streak is bad and needs to come to an end against Cincinnati.

The first reason they need a win is to right the ship going into the Big East Tournament and while trying to make sure they get a seventh straight NCAA Tournament invitation. In terms of the BE tourney, seeding isn’t as big of an issue as momentum. Pitt is capable of beating anyone in this conference but they need to have a head of steam heading into the tournament. They have made five of the last six BE championship games and absolutely have the talent to do it again this season. If they don’t get a string of wins here in these last four games, beginning with Providence, the chances of making any kind of BE tourney run will be virtually impossible. They must right the ship now to get that winning swagger back.

Secondly, this team needs to get its confidence back, not just for tournament time, but for their own well being. The worst thing that can happen to a team giving significant playing time to four freshmen is that they can end the season on a terrible skid. That gives the media, the “fans”, and themselves plenty of time to beat up on the team, to point out all of their flaws and failures, and to convince them that they will never achieve. This isn’t something these guys need. Players like DeJuan Blair have so much talent and potential that it would be awful if they had to end the season on such a bad skid that they had nothing better to do than to think about their failures for months. Since Pittsburgh fans (not Pitt Panther fans specifically, but all sports fans in Pittsburgh) are so fickle and will turn on their team if they have a less than championship caliber year (unless it is the Pirates, whom no one expects anything from), Pitt really needs to give them something positive to talk about. And it isn’t impossible. Just look it how positive things have been about Pitt football after an awful season that ended on a positive note.

Before they can get things in order, Pitt needs to address a serious issue. The shooting and guard play need to improve, but they have been getting better progressively the last few games. They need to stop the scoring droughts that kill their in game momentum. But the one glaring issue that MUST be fixed if they are going to make any kind of run in either tournament is their defense. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a story about the team’s defensive woes. In the article, Jamie Dixon addresses the fact that this team hasn’t been where they want to be all season defensively.

“We need to get better,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “That was not something we found out on Sunday. That’s something we’ve known from the beginning. We’re never satisfied with where we are defensively. We’re always trying to improve.”

Keith Benjamin put the responsibility for the defensive problems on himself and the rest of the guards.

“It’s definitely on us,” Benjamin said. “It’s time for us to strap up. We knew both of those teams penetrated well. Marquette has a bunch of quick guards. Louisville had some quick guys. Now it’s time to strap up. You can’t ask for anything else. W can’t put it on the big guys. We have to step up, point blank, period. That’s what we have to do. Guards win games, guards win championships. We’ll go as far as we can take us.”

It is good that they understand the problem. But the next step is to do something about it. Defense is about hard work. This team needs to work hard and dig deep if they are going to turn around the defense. They have to want it. Defense is about pride. They need to have that pride that says, “No one is scoring on me.” In recent years Pitt has been famous for shutting down the star on other teams. It was an issue of great pride for them. They have made games against good teams very ugly, making the opponent look like they don’t know how to run their offense. If this team can’t find that pride, that desire, that drive, then they are in big trouble.

The defensive woes are about more than just a lack of pride or hard work though. I hate to keep coming back to the injuries this team has faced this year, but for the last two months (prior to Levance Fields’ return) Pitt couldn’t field a 10 man practice. How are they supposed to run game speed five on five practices to work on issues such as defensive responsibilities if they can’t even get ten bodies on the court? Asking the team to make all of their adjustments based on game film, games, and half speed walk-throughs is a lot to ask, especially of freshmen who seem to be more spectators than players at times on defense.

Dixon is a good coach who prides his teams on defense. He has some athletes who can make plays, even if they aren’t making as many as needed right now. They need to get it all together and figure things out, especially on the defensive end. It has to start now. The Cincinnati game is an absolute MUST win. As Benjamin said, “We’ll go as far as we can take us.” It is time to show just how far that is.