Jermaine Dixon received a clean bill of health from the Pitt medical team last week, meaning the senior guard could practice with the men's basketball team every day for the first time this season.

Big deal, you say?

Well, it is to coach Jamie Dixon, who sees a correlation between Jermaine Dixon's improved play and Pitt's recent surge. The Panthers are 18-6, 7-4 in the Big East.

"There was a two-week stretch there when he didn't practice, didn't play," Jamie Dixon said. "The foot was acting up. He practiced the last couple of days. He's a different player and we're a different team when he practices. That's clear. Him practicing makes us a better team. It makes him better. It makes us better."

Injuries have plagued Jermaine Dixon all season. He has had foot, ankle and finger injuries that have forced him to miss practice time.

Dixon had surgery in September to repair the fractured fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot. When he returned to the lineup in mid-December after missing the first eight games, he was allowed to practice occasionally with the team. He would practice one day and take the next day off as a precaution.

Pitt took the same precautions with Levance Fields when he had the same injury two years ago. Last week, doctors determined that the bone had healed well enough that it could withstand a more rigorous practice schedule, which pleased Pitt's coach.

"It's not a good situation to play once or twice a week and not practice," Jamie Dixon said. "We made the determination before the Seton Hall game that we need him to practice. And the doctors felt like it had improved enough that he could do that. And he's a better player because of it."

When Jermaine Dixon could not practice, the coach noted that the team had some "slippage" in its preparation. Jermaine Dixon is Pitt's leader, and his absences from practice coincided with the team's four losses in a five-game stretch. But now that the Panthers' only returning senior is as healthy as he has been all season, the team's fortunes figure to improve.

Since Dixon began practicing with the team every day, Pitt is 2-0 and he has played his best basketball of the season. He scored 15 points in Pitt's victory Saturday against Seton Hall and 18 in the victory Monday against Robert Morris.

Dixon had only made 7 of his first 30 3-point attempts. But in the past two games, he has made 4 of 7 from behind the arc. The constant repetition of shooting in practice has carried over into games.

"It felt good to get some shots," he said. "I think I was taking some bad ones throughout the course of the year. I had more open 3s [Monday]. When I get open 3s and get some lift on my shot, I can knock them down."

And when a shooting guard can knock down shots from the outside, it can open up different avenues for the rest of the team to score. Robert Morris coach Mike Rice was one of many coaches in recent weeks who made the decision to leave Dixon open at the 3-point line and guard his drive rather than his outside shot.

If Dixon can continue to make a decent percentage from behind the arc, it should open up driving lanes and others on the team will benefit.

"When teams knock down 3s it makes the defense extend out more," he said. "We get more driving lanes or we can dump in down to Gary [McGhee] or Dante [Taylor] more. If we're knocking down 3s, it keeps teams honest. Threes could be a big part of our success.

"It's definitely important. We're a team that likes to slash. Making shots makes it a lot easier for us. It makes people stay honest in the way they guard. They have to play the 3 or the drive. It's definitely big when we're making shots."

In the past two games, Pitt has made 46 percent of its 3-point attempts (16 for 35). Those two outings produced two of the Panthers' highest-scoring games of the season. In the previous five games, when the Panthers were averaging just 60 points per game, they shot 20 percent (13 for 65) from behind the arc.

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