Men’s Basketball: A look back on Pitt’s season

This year, the Pitt men’s basketball team played its longest season in school history.

If the… This year, the Pitt men’s basketball team played its longest season in school history.

If the Panthers had their usual regular season success, they would have likely advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four. Instead, Pitt struggled through its worst season since 2000-2001, finishing the year 22-17.

In a season marked by injuries and long losing streaks, the Panthers’ 10-year NCAA Tournament bid streak came to an end as they were even passed over for the National Invitation Tournament and played in the College Basketball Invitational.

A Good Start

The season opened on Nov. 11 with the No. 10-ranked Panthers drubbing Albany 89-56. Guards Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs combined for 46 points, and it looked like the junior-senior combination would drive Pitt all season.

But just five days later, head coach Jamie Dixon’s team suffered a 10-point loss to Long Beach State, 86-76, showing the first signs of defensive trouble for the team.

“Our transition defense is not good enough, it hasn’t been good enough, and so that was the key,” Dixon said. “Guys who are supposed to be back on the shot aren’t doing that when they are supposed to be, but the same guys aren’t doing it in practice either.”

The 49ers shot 59 percent and never trailed after taking the lead eight minutes into the game. Long Beach State dominated, and a blueprint was set for beating the Panthers.

The offense didn’t seem to struggle, however, with Gibbs scoring 20 points and Nasir Robinson finishing with 19. Woodall and Lamar Patterson added 17 and 16, respectively.

Four games later, the now-No. 17 Panthers headed to the Consol Energy Center to take on Duquesne in the annual City Game. Pitt took down the Dukes 80-69, its 10th-straight win over Duquesne. But the Panthers suffered an important loss.

Costly Losses

Point guard Woodall suffered an abdomen injury in the final minutes of the Nov. 11 game and, except for a comeback attempt at Notre Dame, didn’t play for 12 games.

In the midst of a nine-game winning streak, Dixon also lost his starting center.

Highly touted freshman Khem Birch replaced Dante Taylor as the starter on Nov. 25 in a win over Penn.

It was the freshman’s breakout game as he earned a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. He began to show his natural ability that made Rivals.com rank him the ninth best player in the 2011 recruiting class.

“He’s got a good feel, so there are things that you can grow with and build with,” Dixon said. “That’s something you can’t teach.”

In January, Birch left Pitt fans confused when he announced his transfer to UNLV.

Pitt hosted Wagner in the last home game of the nonconference schedule on Dec. 23. The Panthers lost their second game of the season at home and fell to a team from the Northeast Conference for the first time ever. It was just the third nonconference loss in Petersen Events Center history.

With Woodall out, Wagner’s head coach Danny Hurley imposed a defense that made the Panthers struggle to advance the ball up the court without their point guard.

“We felt like them not having Travon would be a big advantage for us,” Hurley said. “They were kind of laboring getting the ball up the court. Even on possessions where we weren’t really rattling them, we wanted them to have a short clock.”

The Big East

Four days later, Pitt began its Big East schedule with a trip to Notre Dame. Woodall attempted to come back, but the Panthers fell by 13 points.

The skid continued as Pitt lost eight straight games to begin the Big East schedule, its worst start to conference play in school history.

The streak included embarrassing losses to perennial Big East bottom feeders DePaul and Rutgers and was capped off when Pitt hosted ESPN’s College Gameday for a Jan. 21 matchup with Louisville.

The Cardinals, who advanced to the Final Four this season, defeated Pitt by 11, despite the home crowd’s excitement.

“I was very impressed,” Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said. “It’s not easy to do, but I think that speaks to their great tradition. They have an injury, and every team has an off year. That’s what great tradition is about when the fans come regardless of their team.”

Dixon got his point guard back against Louisville, and the season appeared to turn around with Woodall in the next game when Pitt finally got its first Big East win, defeating Providence.

Woodall Returns

Four days later, with Woodall back at the point, the Panthers defended their home court against a top 10 team, No. 9 Georgetown, extending the record to 12-0 at the Petersen Events Center against top 10 teams.

The Panthers picked up two more wins, including a gutsy performance at rival West Virginia.

The national media began to hype the Panthers as a tournament team. With Woodall back, they played much better, but the solid play wouldn’t last.

Dixon’s squad fell in six of its final seven games, with the sole win coming over St. Johns, before heading to New York City for the conference tournament.

At Madison Square Garden, the Panthers cruised past St. Johns the first day but fell to Georgetown in their second game of the tournament ending the 10-year NCAA Tournament streak — the highest in the Big East.

College Basketball Invitational

Pitt was not invited to the National Invitational Tournament and accepted a bid to the College Basketball Invitational instead.

In the CBI, the Panthers won their first two games easily over Wofford and Princeton.

“We anticipated getting into the NIT, and then when we weren’t, we found ourselves in the situation we’re in,” Dixon said. “It’s been a different year for us, there’s no question. It’s been tough on our guys, but they wanted to play, and I was eager to see how they would come out.”

A 68-62 overtime victory over Butler sent Pitt to the three-game final series with Washington State. Against Butler, the Panthers showed a comeback ability that had been missing for most of the season, but the loss didn’t heal the wounds from last year’s third-round NCAA Tournament loss to the Bulldogs.

“It feels good, but they got the most important win,” Woodall said. “We didn’t look at this as some type of redemption. We just wanted to come out and get a win.”

Taking it to three games, Pitt defeated Washington State in front of less than 4,000 fans to earn the CBI title. The team gained valuable experience in the tournament, which allowed for a better ending to the season than a loss.

“I am very happy for our guys, and I’m real happy for them sticking together, fighting through and coming out together playing their best basketball as the year progressed,” Dixon said. “We had a tough stretch, that’s something you can’t recover from, but we did our best, we tried our best and kept working. I’m proud of them for that.”