Column: Pitt basketball has little time to turn it around

Two weeks ago, the Pitt men’s basketball team rode a four-game winning streak into Tampa,… Two weeks ago, the Pitt men’s basketball team rode a four-game winning streak into Tampa, Fla., for a matchup against the University of South Florida. The game resulted in a 63-51 loss. On Sunday, the Panthers lost to the same South Florida team, but this time it was their fourth consecutive loss..

The Panthers’ two most recent outings have been home losses against West Virginia and South Florida — both precise demonstrations of the team’s struggle to find the offensive rhythm and efficiency that has sporadically eluded it since mid-December.

The Panthers suffered a 66-48 loss against West Virginia in the last scheduled Backyard Brawl – a game that faces an uncertain future with West Virginia set to join the Big 12 next season. In the loss, the Panthers gave up 23 points on 17 turnovers, a statistic that proved to be insurmountable.

Following the game, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said that his team came in with a different defensive strategy than in its previous matchup with Pitt. The revised defense likely contributed to the high number of turnovers committed by the Panthers, he said.

“We told our guys to extend [the passing lanes] more to see if we couldn’t make them a little more uncomfortable handling the ball,” Huggins said. “We also tried running a little more zone defense tonight, which got better over the course of the game.”

Pitt guard Travon Woodall acknowledged the difficulty his team had with the Mountaineers’ defense. “They were denying every pass, and we weren’t doing a good job of getting open,” Woodall said. “They had nine steals, and they turned our turnovers into baskets. That was definitely the key.”

Pitt struggled with handling the ball for most of the game, but the team managed to offset the fumbles by shooting almost 46 percent from the floor to West Virginia’s 42 percent in the first half. Still, the Panthers went into the locker room trailing 26-25.  The turnovers caught up in the second half as Pitt’s shooting dropped to just 29 percent. Woodall shouldered much of the blame for his team’s offensive struggles in the game, shooting just 5 of 16 from the floor, in addition to his four turnovers.

“Once again, I didn’t control the ball, and I put that on myself,” Woodall said. “We got a bunch of open looks that we normally knock down, but for some reason we didn’t tonight.”

Ashton Gibbs, Pitt’s other starting guard and season scoring leader, followed the poor shooting trend, finishing just 2-11 from the floor. Woodall and Gibbs’ struggles highlight the importance of Pitt’s guard play in winning games. As the team’s floor leaders and primary ball handlers, they have much of the team’s success riding on their nightly performances.

When the teams met in Morgantown at the end of January, Gibbs and Woodall combined for 39 points on 12-20 shooting and helped keep the turnovers to just 10, which boosted the team to a 72-66 victory. But on Thursday night, the opposite occurred — and the final score reflected that.

In Sunday’s loss to South Florida, Pitt’s offensive woes continued. The team showed statistical improvement from the West Virginia game in terms of turnovers, giving the ball up just nine times, but several turnovers down the stretch closed the door on the team’s chance for a late comeback.

Pitt’s shooting struggles from the second half of the West Virginia game carried over to the game against USF. The Panthers were plagued by subpar shooting performances for the whole game, finishing 18 of 52 from the floor, connecting on a mere 35 percent of their attempts.

Sophomore forward J.J. Moore was the only Panther to reach double digits in scoring for the game, hitting a career high of 21. Gibbs and Woodall combined for just four points on 2-11 shooting.

The Panthers now have a week off before they face off against Louisville in what should be another tough matchup on the road. The Cardinals are 21-6 on the year and are vying for a top five position in Big East conference standings.

Pitt will need to address its offensive troubles in the next seven days if it expects to put a halt to the four-game skid. Head coach Jamie Dixon understands the value of downtime when it comes to making adjustments and improving.

“We need to fix the things that have been hurting us all year,” Dixon said.

Expect the Panthers to come out next week with better focus and a stronger emphasis on offensive efficiency as they look to build some momentum going into the Big East tournament.