Men’s basketball: Pitt looks for answers as it prepares for No. 19 Georgetown

The Pitt men’s basketball team travels to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., Tuesday night to do battle with Big East foe Georgetown, as each squad continues to pursue its first win in conference play.

The Panthers (12-3, 0-2 Big East) carry two consecutive conference losses into the matchup, the most recent being a disappointing performance on the road at Rutgers. Likewise, the No. 19 Hoyas (10-2, 0-1 Big East) came up short in their last outing, which resulted in a one-point loss to Marquette on Saturday.

The Panthers allowed 67 and 70 points against Rutgers and Cincinnati, respectively — something that didn’t go unnoticed by head coach Jamie Dixon.

“We’re just not getting it done, and our defense is the thing that stands out,” Dixon said Saturday after the game.

Additionally, Pitt will need to improve on the glass after both Rutgers and Cincinnati out-rebounded the Panthers. Dixon called Pitt’s rebounding struggles “a hard thing to comprehend.” The Scarlet Knights tallied a 31-21 advantage over Pitt on the boards, while Cincinnati finished at 30-27. Redshirt junior big man Talib Zanna couldn’t explain the difficulty the players have experienced.

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Zanna said. “We have to keep trying.”

Their fortunes might improve against a Georgetown team ranked 255th nationally in rebounds per game, with 33.2. Pitt averages 34.9.

Although Georgetown ranks No. 235 in the nation scoring-wise at 65.1 points per game, Pitt will still face a challenge in the talented Hoyas trio of Otto Porter Jr., Greg Whittington and Markel Starks.

Whittington and Porter will provide the interior presence for Georgetown, while Starks will provide scoring from the perimeter. Whittington currently averages 12.6 points per game along with 7.4 rebounds. Starks ranks third on the team with 11.7 points per game.

Starks will require the focus of Pitt’s perimeter defenders and will likely see himself matched up with Pitt’s best perimeter defender, freshman James Robinson. In both Big East games thus far, the opposition’s guards burned the Panthers, with Cincinnati’s Cashmere Wright scoring 18 points and Rutgers’ Eli Carter notching 23 on Saturday.

Porter, a projected NBA Draft pick come April, has been a jack-of-all trades for Georgetown thus far. Porter leads the team in points (13.2), rebounds (7.5), steals (2), and blocks (1.3).

A key for Pitt will be to limit the effectiveness of Porter and Whittington, while keeping players like Zanna and Steven Adams involved in the offensive flow. Against Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights held Zanna — Pitt’s leading scorer — to only nine points and Adams to eight while keeping the two players off the glass.

On the offensive end, Travon Woodall’s play will likely dictate how the Panthers will perform. So far in Big East play, the redshirt senior is averaging 10 points per game, but shooting only 30 percent from the field. The rest of Pitt’s offense also stagnated for long stretches against Cincinnati and Rutgers.

And of course, it will help if the Panthers can prevent the Hoyas from jumping out to an early lead as Rutgers did Saturday, when the Scarlet Knights held a 15-5 advantage before Pitt knew what hit it.