Blame for loss solely on Panthers
Share with others:
Blame the Providence loss on foul trouble and some whistle-happy referees?
Not a chance. Pitt's problems with fouls against the Friars paled in comparison to its offensive and defensive inefficiencies.
Blame it on playing another elite team on the road?
No way. Providence had lost five of its previous seven games and was coming off a 19-point home loss to Notre Dame.
The Panthers lost Tuesday to the unranked Friars because they didn't bring their usual mind-set to the game.
"I learned that if you're selfish and don't play defense and don't play hard, then you'll [lose]," sophomore center DeJuan Blair said.
The 81-73 setback was unlike the first two losses of the season at Louisville and Villanova. Pitt played well in those two games and led before foul trouble forced the Panthers to play in a different manner.
Pitt never had a lead against Providence. For the first time this season there were no easy excuses to explain away the outcome. Foul trouble had nothing to do with Pitt trailing by 18 points at halftime. The officials had nothing to do with Providence easily solving Pitt's defense or the Panthers' carelessness on offense that led to 18 uncharacteristic turnovers.
Riding high after ascending to No. 1 in the polls for the second time this season, the Panthers were delivered a wake-up call from the Friars. A loud and authoritative wake-up call.
"Hopefully, this is the loss we needed going into March," Blair said.
From start to finish it was a thorough beating, and the only finger-pointing by the Panthers afterward was inward.
"We didn't play well and they did," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "As I told our guys, the score was very indicative of that. We got beat. It was on us. We take responsibility."
The Providence game was like the Louisville and Villanova games in one sense. The common theme in Pitt's three losses has been an inability to stop penetration. The Friars dribbled into the lane against the Panthers and got easy basket after easy basket.
Louisville and Villanova were able to do the same. With high percentage shots created by their penetrating guards and forwards, the Friars shot 49 percent from the field, continuing a recent trend of opponents shooting a high percentage against the Panthers.
"They penetrated and kicked to the open man a lot," freshman guard Ashton Gibbs said. "They got too many layups. That gave them momentum and gave the crowd more energy, and that's what led to the loss. We played hard, but we should have played smarter."
Providence was the sixth opponent in the past nine games to shoot 44 percent or more from the field against Pitt. The Panthers have not held an opponent to under 40 percent since the Jan. 17 loss at Louisville.
"As you go further in the postseason defense is what counts," Gibbs said. "We have to lock down more. Defense will take us to the promised land. If we want to go to Detroit [site of the Final Four], it has to start at the defensive end."
Dixon acknowledged that the defense has not been up to Pitt's usual standards, but he said the Friars shot a high percentage because of the way the Panthers played on offense.
"We're never satisfied with our defense," he said. "We're one of the best in the country with our field-goal percentage defense. We have high standards and we didn't live up to them. It was obvious. It caught up with us.
"But when you turn it over 18 times, you give up transition baskets. There is no defense for breakaway layups."
Pitt has some time to regroup before its next game. The Panthers don't play again until Saturday night at Seton Hall. They have two days to correct the many problems that plagued them against Providence.
Chief among them will be the mental approach to the game.
"We just have to bounce back," Blair said. "It's motivation. This team is still excellent. We just didn't play as a team and it showed."
First Published February 26, 2009 12:00 am
