Men’s Basketball: Pitt struggles early in first exhibition game, pulls away from IUP

In the Pitt men’s basketball team’s first game against an opponent besides itself, the Panthers overcame a slow start in the first half to defeat the Crimson Hawks from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in an exhibition contest, 69-54.

For the Panthers, redshirt senior point guard Tray Woodall led the team in scoring with 16 points and added a game-high seven assists. Off the bench, junior small forward J.J. Moore tallied 14 points as the only other player to reach double digits for Pitt.

Getting the start alongside Woodall was true freshman point guard James Robinson, who finished the game with three points, four assists and four rebounds. The reason for his start, according to head coach Jamie Dixon, was primarily based off his defensive abilities exhibited in the team’s 11 days of practice.

“We are trying to get our best defenders out there,” Dixon said. “Right now, I think they are the best two on the perimeter.”

Woodall noted that he and Robinson have been working together on the court at the same time during practice.

“We’ve been practicing together since last week, and we’re comfortable with each other playing both the one and two,” Woodall said.

As for Robinson, he also acknowledged the level at which the two guards work together.

“I’m really comfortable with him out there,” Robinson said. “He’s a senior, he’s been through the battles. We play off each other a lot, and he can help me let the game come to me a little bit easier.”

Even though the starting backcourt of Woodall and Robinson was an interesting wrinkle at the beginning of the game, that did not play too heavily in the game’s proceedings overall. Dixon gave 11 different Panthers playing time in the contest, with eight players seeing action on the floor for 14 minutes or more as the Pitt head coach tested a variety of lineups to prepare for the regular season.

The constant squad rotation seemed to hurt Pitt’s rhythm offensively as the Panthers scored just 21 points on 9-for-25 shooting in the first half. Dixon attributed the Crimson Hawks’ defensive success to their strategy of playing a “man-switch,” and that he had yet to prepare Pitt to play against a scheme such as that.

“We didn’t adapt to [their defense] as well as we should have,” Dixon said. “We haven’t practiced against the switch in the man-to-man, and I knew that’s what they were going to do. It’s hard to get everything done in 11 practices.”

The Panthers made obvious adjustments at halftime and found their groove against IUP’s switching look, scoring 43 points on 16-for-31 shooting in the second half to pull away.

Senior forward Dante Taylor played especially well in the second half, displaying energy, defense and rebounding. He finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

“I thought he played really well the whole game,” Dixon said of Taylor. “I told the guys afterwards, he was probably our best player on the floor. He really played well defensively. Offensively, he was in the right spots.”

The starter at the center spot, talented 7-foot freshman Steven Adams, did not stuff the stat sheet as many would have expected, but he still showed his potential. Adams got the Panthers on the board with a one-handed flush in transition, and each of his two blocks on the night brought the Oakland Zoo and collective crowd of 5,325 to its feet.

The freshman from New Zealand finished the game with six points, six rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes of action with five of his six rebounds coming on the offensive end.

Pitt will play one more exhibition game against Hawai’i-Hilo on Nov. 2 at the Petersen Events Center before the Panthers begin the regular season a week later against Mount St. Mary’s at home.