Before the season began, a 7-1 record was the most logical assumption for Pitt after eight games. After all, the Panthers had one Bowl Championship Series conference foe on the schedule -- No. 2 Texas -- with the rest of the games against middle- and lower-tier Division I teams.

How Pitt has achieved its 7-1 record, however, could not have been predicted. The Panthers have struggled mightily in some of their victories and had to come back from double-digit, second-half deficits in two of them. They are coming off a performance in which their offense only scored 47 points against a team from the America East Conference.

The good news for coach Jamie Dixon is that help might be on the way for the undermanned Panthers, who could add a significant piece to the puzzle tonight when they play Indiana in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Jermaine Dixon, who has not played this season because of a foot injury, might be ready to play. Dixon practiced with the team the past two days and will be a game-time decision for the nationally televised game against the Hoosiers.

The other player missing from the first eight games is junior small forward Gilbert Brown, who is serving an academic suspension until Dec. 20. He will miss three more games and will be eligible to return for Pitt's final non-conference game Dec. 22 against Ohio University.

"It's really nice to start getting people back," junior center Gary McGhee said. "It was good seeing Jermaine back out there [in practice]. He's a senior and probably our emotional leader. It's really good getting these guys back. It's going to help us out."

The Panthers have done a nice job of weathering the storm without Dixon and Brown, but it has not been easy. Since losing to Texas Nov. 24, the Panthers were tied with Youngstown State with 12 minutes remaining before pulling away for that victory. They trailed Duquesne by 16 points with 17 minutes remaining and needed two overtime periods to defeat their city rival. And they only scored 15 points in the first half against New Hampshire Friday.

"It's been something we talked about," coach Jamie Dixon said of the inconsistency. "In spurts, we've played well. We haven't really put together a whole game of playing well. I think that's pretty common. Every team strives for that. We're trying to do that every year. Maybe it's more so this year. I still feel like we have our best basketball ahead of us."

The biggest problem has been a stagnant offense. The Panthers were good enough to hang with the Texas for 35 minutes before the Longhorns pulled away. In the second half of that game, the Longhorns outscored the Panthers, 46-28, to erase a halftime deficit.

Against Duquesne, the Panthers shot a meager 26 percent in the first half before shooting 39 percent in the second half and two overtime periods. And against New Hampshire, the Panthers rebounded from another 26 percent first-half shooting performance before shooting 50 percent in the second half to put away the Wildcats.

"Coach always tells us we have to put two halves together," McGhee said. "We still haven't done that this year. That's what we want to do [today]. We want to be consistent and sustain it the whole game."

The inconsistencies have produced some eye-opening offensive statistics. The Panthers are second-to-last in the Big East Conference in scoring offense, averaging 65.1 points per game. They are 11th in field-goal percentage (44.7 percent) and 14th in free-throw percentage (63.4 percent).

Point guard Travon Woodall said he and his teammates have to stop being passive and start being more assertive on offense.

"If you look to be more aggressive you can probably get someone a better shot," Woodall said. "In the first eight games we were looking to find out exactly what we can do. For most of us, it's new. We're playing a lot more than we ever have. Now, from the first eight games, we're figuring out what we can and cannot do. We've figured it out now, so we're going to show more consistency."

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