Pitt Loses to Virginia: News and Notes

No. 9 Virginia 64, Pitt 50

Pitt - 29 Rebs (9 off), 11 TOs, 39.1 FG pct., 15.4 3-pt pct, 85.7 FT pct.

UVA - 29 Rebs (9 off), 7 TOs, 48 FG pct, 56.3 3-pt pct, 58.3 FT pct.

UVA 28, Pitt 14 Pts in Paint; UVA 20. Pitt 6 Pts off TO

Let’s make this one simple – Virginia is a better team than Pitt. Period.

I don’t think that is going out on a limb but sometimes we get caught up in analysis and refuse to start with the simple and obvious and in this case, the Cavaliers are just a better team than the Panthers.

And then you go from there and add this fact – they not only are a better team, they played better and that’s a recipe for getting blown out on your home court.

Pitt needs to regroup quick as they have Miami and North Carolina on the horizon but here is the thing – if they don’t start playing better they won’t even give themselves a chance to win against anybody that is any good.

The Cavaliers were very good offensively, their execution and their ability to move the ball was impressive and their ability to make shots was a direct reflection of their ability to get open shots.

Actually, Virginia today put on a clinic for young players who don’t seem to understand that jacking a million shots doesn’t make you a good shooter and that taking an open shot gives you a much better chance to make it.

Like I always say to young players – If you want to improve your shooting percentages you can do it without actually becoming a better shooter, you just have to take better shots.

But enough about that – even though Pitt was only down two points at the half, I knew it was going to be a long shot for the Panthers to actually win the game.

And that’s because the Cavaliers dictated the tempo, the pace and the way the game was going to be played the entire first half and Pitt was powerless to change that.

So even though it was only a two-point game, the most important thing that happened in the first half was the game was played the way Virginia wanted to play it.

The thing about the Cavaliers is their execution on offense and their patience on offense can frustrate opponents and I thought at times the Panthers got frustrated and allowed too many good shots at the end of the shot clock.

Virginia’s defense is good but Pitt didn’t run good offense at times in the second half and then they got frustrated and started throwing the ball around.

The one thing that needs to be clear – Virginia does to teams what Pitt used to do to teams and that is to say because the Cavaliers are so deliberate and execute so well and defend so well, it is easy to get frustrated against them.

They just sort of wear you down, maybe not so much physically – although it is tough to have to defend for 28 seconds every possession – but mentally because they are methodical.

So while I understand why people are struggling to handle a loss like this, it also needs to be said that the Cavaliers do this to just about everyone – especially now that they are rolling a bit.

Also, I don’t know if Malcolm Brogdon is an NBA player – he is a 5th-year senior because the NBA hasn’t been sure either – but there aren’t five better players in the country than him.

Again, I’m not talking about NBA potential and prospects, I’m talking about players who right not affect winning and losing college basketball games.

He is an extremely good shooter, he has a lot of shots from a lot of angles and he can finish with both his right hand and left hand. And while he doesn’t have that quick burst -- like that Marial Shayok who blew past the Panthers a few times – Brogdon knows how to use his strength and has a good enough first step to get to the hoop and score.

But the other thing about him is his basketball IQ is off the charts, he makes good passes, doesn’t force anything, doesn’t try to do anything he can’t and he really is good at finding the open man.

The Panthers have a lot of issues right now but they have a few opportunities to get it right in the next week so it isn’t time yet to panic.

There is, however, a bad trend that has developed when the Panthers have played good teams and it s that they have been outplayed in every one of them.

That needs to change or this is going to be yet another year where they play in a three-letter postseason tournament as opposed to the four-letter postseason tournament.

Here are today’s news and notes:

** First, as always, here are the notes from the Pitt SID: The Panthers fell to 220-34 at the Petersen Events Center and Dixon is now 324-116. Pitt also fell to 14-4 against Top 10 teams at the Pete and they are 0-3 this year against Top 25 teams. …Is 1-5 when trailing at the half this season and is now 0-3 this season and 27-48 under Dixon when scoring 59 points or less. …Pitt had the largest student turnout in Petersen Events Center history.

** Like it or not, this game continues a troubling trend that the Panthers are not the program that they once were. Pitt is 7-24 against ranked opponents and 3-12 against Top Ten teams in the past five seasons. Pitt has also lost 22 home games in the past five seasons, which is remarkable when you consider how dominant the Panthers used to be at the Petersen Center.

I know that there was a change in leagues and a couple of recruiting classes that got away and it looked like the program was back on the upswing early in this season. But the reality is these numbers have to rebound before it is safe to say that Jamie Dixon has the program back to where it once was or even heading back in that direction.

I’m not suggesting that Dixon needs to go or any of that stuff that swirls around Twitter or in talk radio land, I’m saying that the program may not quite be out of the wilderness yet and maybe it will take another recruiting class or two to get it back to the point where it wins at home and beats ranked opponents regularly.

I will say this – perhaps the most eye-popping note from today’s postgame notes in my mind is that this is the first sellout of the season for the Panthers at the Petersen Center.

Think about that – it is February – and this is the first time the building has been sold out this season, which speaks volumes about the slippage in fan support over the past few years.

*** One big difference between the two teams today? The play of their veteran point guards…

James Robinson did not play well today, he didn’t shoot well today, he didn’t create a lot for his teammates and here is the best part about Robinson – he’d be the first to tell you he didn’t play well.

I think sometimes we forget that these guys are all competitors and for the most part, they get it, they know when they just don’t bring their A game and Robinson was off of his today.

He was 0-of-7 from the field and didn’t score and while he had six assists and zero turnovers, there were a few times he struggled to get the ball into the hands of his teammates in good position to score.

Contrast that to London Perrantes, who is a junior, who was 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the 3-point line and he had 14 points and three assists.

That’s a huge problem for Pitt, the Panthers need Robinson to play well and he has for the most part this season but this team cannot survive two road games against ranked opponents if Robinson doesn’t play much, much better.

By the way, he is now second on Pitt’s all-time list in terms of career starts – he is tied Sean Miller – as he has 124. Presumably he will break the record by the end of the season as Pitt’s career leader in starts is Julius Page, who started 128 games.

*** Robinson wasn’t alone, though, Mike Young and Jamel Artis scored points but I didn’t think they were aggressive enough offensively (although Young was double teamed a lot). Also, the rest of the team was a no show offensively but again, some of that was due to Virginia’s defense and the Cavaliers positioning.

That defense they play is designed to take away drives and protect the lane – but the one thing you can get is good looks at 3-pointers if you move the ball well and I didn’t think Pitt executed very well on offense as a whole.

And the other thing is – the Panthers settled for too many mid-range jumpers and that’s a horrible shot against that defense. If you step back a few feet, you can get that extra point which, if you look at it from an analytics perspective – it is better to give yourself the chance at three points over the course of a lot of jumpers.

Once you start settling for mid-range jumpers, Virginia has you where it wants you as you are taking lower percentage shots but they only count for two points each.

*** Pitt got 10 points and six rebounds from their four centers – Sheldon Jeter, Ryan Luther, Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and Rafaiel Maia – and they combined to play 46 minutes. That’s just not enough production from that spot. Jeter had the huge game against Virginia Tech Sunday, but the Panthers need more from this group in these ACC games or they won’t survive.

I’m not sure what the plan is here, I thought I did after Sunday, but now I am confused by the rotation again. It seemed like Dixon was committing to more offense with Jeter and Luther but then today Luther only played 10 minutes.

This is one of those things that, after a loss, there are lots of areas to pick apart but the reality is this – the center rotation and what Dixon is looking to get from it - is something that needs to get settled for the final eight games.

There just seems to be a lack of an identity with the Panthers and it starts with the fact that it is tough to figure out what Dixon wants this position to be. Pitt isn’t big enough, we know that, but the Panthers need to play to their strengths and like I said, I used to know what their strengths are and they seemed to be playing to them but now, I’m not so sure on either point.

*** This was a tough loss because, with two road games on the horizon, Pitt (17-5, 6-4 in the ACC) went from being in the top three in the ACC and within shouting distance of first place to staring a 6-6 start square in the face and then having to fight just to finish in the top half of the conference.

I’m not saying it is time to start worrying about postseason positioning and the Panthers just need to focus on winning games but they are making their road to the ACC Tournament championship game a little tougher with every game they lose.