Pitt Beats Virginia Tech: News and Notes

Pitt 90, Virginia Tech 71

Jamie Dixon made a big change in the starting lineup and it worked out and it is one that probably should remain in place the rest of the season because I think it gives the Panthers a better chance to get out of the gates fast.

Sheldon Jeter was inserted into starting lineup instead of Rafael Maia and it paid big dividends as Jeter scored 11 of the Panthers first 15 points and he scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

This move is long overdue and makes sense from this standpoint – the Panthers best lineup, no matter how you cut it, includes Jeter and the next guy off the bench at that spot should be Ryan Luther.

And here is why – because they are the best two OFFENSIVE players at that spot.

This team is an offensive team and while the other two centers/posts are a little better defensively, the bottom line is neither is a high-impact defensive player (i.e. rim protector, high level rebounder, lock down post defender) and as a result, no matter which of the four is in there, the Panthers are not going to be a great defensive team.

But in Jeter and Luther, you have two guys who can flat out score. Jeter scores in more ways than Luther, but both give you a matchup advantage against bigger, slower centers.

In other words, starting Jeter allows you to start the game with a mismatch on offense because most teams that want to play a traditional center don’t have one who can guard all the way out to the perimeter. Luther provides the same kind of mismatch, to a little lesser degree.

The thing is – if the other team has a competent big man, who is legit 6-9, 6-10, athletic and physical (Clemson had one, N.C. State had several, Louisville had one) it is going to be a mismatch over Pitt on the defensive end no matter which of the four centers starts.

That’s why starting Jeter makes sense – it evens the score in terms of the mismatch at that position and also it acknowledges that the team is an offensive team that will win with offense and establishes the right mindset for this team to win games.

There have been times in recent weeks that it appeared as if Pitt was sliding back into trying to slug it out with teams and play old-style Big East basketball – and as we saw down at Clemson, the Panthers just aren’t good at that any more.

It is a new team with a lot of skill, it needs to be as offensive-minded as possible.

And starting Jeter accomplishes that….

OK let’s go to news and notes:

*** First, as always, from the Pitt SID: Pitt is 69-35 under Jamie Dixon after a loss and 220-33 at the Petersen Events Center. …Pitt is tied with Kansas for the most home wins since 2002-03 with 220. …Dixon has 324 wins and that is the 4th most in NCAA history through 13 years. …Pitt had 30 assists in this game – most since last year in a win over North Carolina. …Pitt’s bench outscored Virginia Tech’s bench 29-2. …Pitt forced 20 turnovers and had a season-high 33 points off turnovers. …James Robinson had 11 assists and no turnovers in this game. That is the second time this season and third time in his career that he had double-digit assists and no turnovers. …Jeter made his first start of the season and 10th of his career. …Jeter also scored in double figures for the 9th time this season and the 20th time in his career.

*** Pitt was fantastic offensively from the standpoint of they had 30 assists for 36 field goals. They shared the ball and they protected the ball – they forced 20 turnovers and had only 9 turnovers. They outscored Virginia Tech 33-4 in points off turnovers. Obviously Jeter scoring 23 points in his first start – and the fact that he is likely going to be the starter from this point forward – are the big story of the night but I think the Panthers ball movement and getting back to not turning it over were huge as well. Let’s make no mistake, Virginia Tech is not good and I think the Hokies are maybe two more recruiting classes from reloading and having enough talent to compete night in and night out in the ACC, but they have been competitive every night out for the most part and the Panthers buried them.

Dixon said after the game that the Panthers spent the week working on fundamentals, on passing, on ballhandling, on setting screens, on taking charges --- he said their turnover numbers were heading in a bad direction and their shooting was off so he felt like they needed to emphasize these things. And it showed in the game, they were sharper, crisper and the ball moved from player to player.

“Whatever you want to write would probably suffice,” Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said when he was asked why Pitt was able to have so much success on offense against the Hokies defense. “They shredded us in every way.”

*** Jeter said that he learned of his start before the game at the shoot around. He has been the ‘energy’ guy off the bench so when Brandin Knight approached him he asked him “can you bring energy if you start the game.” Jeter obviously said he could and then Dixon told him he was going to get the start. Now, the thing is this was a move that needed to be made but Dixon was a little cryptic as to when the decision was made to start Jeter. He said that Maia injured his groin Saturday but when he was asked about whether that means Maia will be back in the starting lineup when he is healthy. Dixon said basically it was “wait and see”. And then the natural follow up was “would Jeter have started if Maia was healthy” and the answer was that a “combination of things” led to Jeter getting the start.

Interestingly enough Jeter said he prefers to start, not because he wants to hear his name called or that it means more minutes (he played about the same amount of time in this game as usual) – he prefers it because he hates to warm-up then sit back down and wait until he is put in the game. He said he gets tight and then if he comes in and doesn’t play well he could be right back out and that could mean extended minutes on the bench. He said he likes to stretch out, warm up and then get right into the flow of the game – and considering he scored 11 of the first 15 points – this theory may hold some water…

*** The fact that Jeter might be the starter and Luther is playing well won’t be the end for Maia and/or Nelson-Ododa. This team has been a team of different guys stepping up and different guys emerging to help win games. I would imagine both will continue to get opportunities to play and both have ability and do some things differently than Luther and Jeter. There will be some games where these two will have to provide some defense, some physicality or there will be foul trouble or an injury. Unfortunately Dixon can’t play all 11 at the same time so he has to ride the hot hand from night to night. These are two guys who are veteran and play hard and work extremely hard, so though it looks like right now they are behind the other two --- if we have learned anything from this team it is that they all have a little bit of something to offer.

*** Cam Johnson is another player who is slowly but surely starting to expand on what he is able to contribute. At the start of the year, he was a guy who could hit 3’s and did very little else. That’s still a lot of his game – hitting 3-pointers – but he is starting to defend a little, offer a little bit of rebounding, getting a few deflections here and there. If he can continue to improve on the defensive end – and thus earn the trust of his coaches – he could become a valuable weapon down the stretch because of his ability to shoot it. I think what we are seeing is that Johnson – and freshman guard Damon Wilson – are improving enough that Dixon can put them both on the floor together at times and give Sterling Smith and James Robinson a blow. The player who has fallen a little bit behind at that spot is Chris Jones, but I think that is more injury related than anything else because he had the knee-calf-shoulder-elbow-wrist injury a few weeks ago and missed some practice time.

*** The Panthers were pushed around by Clemson in that ugly loss last week and they have been pushed around by a lot of teams that have bigger, more athletic and stronger guys in the post. Jeter said that Dixon challenged the Panthers at practice to become more physical and had a few tough practices to, um, send a message. I can tell you this – I have never witnessed one of these kinds of practices but this has been a common practice by Dixon during his time. He basically has intense, physical, competitive practices with a lot of mental toughness drills, a lot of physicality and blocking out – and some of them have become legendary in terms of guys fist fighting and all out brawls breaking out. That is why the Panthers were the big bullies on the block in the Big East for so long – and it is what Jamie would like to see a little more of. Jeter laughed and said that the games are easy in terms of being physical considering they are trying to guard each other and stop each other from scoring in drills where no fouls are being called. Some would argue with the new foul rules it isn’t smart to have these kinds of practices – but Dixon believes in it from time to time when he thinks his team isn’t rebounding enough or is getting pushed around. I’d love to witness one of these practices because I’m sure it would be a lot of fun to watch these guys knock each other around and try to score through contact with no whistle.

*** Pitt (17-4, 6-3 in ACC) needs some “signature wins” or wins over ranked teams or whatever you want to call them. Guess what? Five of the Panthers next seven games are against ranked opponents, starting next Saturday against No. 11 Virginia. Pitt needs to win a couple of these games and I think they can, starting with the Cavaliers, who haven’t been very good on the road. Yeah, I know, I know they just crushed Louisville at Louisville, but they also lost at Virginia Tech. Pitt could also have an opportunity to play the top-ranked team depending on what happens the next two weeks with North Carolina. And Louisville is still ranked and a brand name team and Miami would be a huge road win for the Panthers. In short, anybody that tells you they know this team is or isn’t an NCAA Tournament team is lying to you and to themselves. Tell them to stop. Seven games from now, we will know, right now, we do not.