Men’s Basketball: Pitt drops fourth consecutive game

Even a career day from sophomore J.J. Moore couldn’t offset the Pitt men’s basketball… Even a career day from sophomore J.J. Moore couldn’t offset the Pitt men’s basketball team’s offensive woes as the Panthers lost their fourth-straight game on Sunday night.

Moore was the only Pitt (15-13, 4-11 Big East) player to reach double figures in the 56-47 loss to South Florida at the Petersen Events Center, setting a new career high with 21 points and tying his career mark in minutes with 31. But the Panthers scored just 20 points in the second half and shot a dismal 34 percent from the field, including 25 percent from behind the arc.

South Florida (17-10, 10-4 Big East) held the Panthers without a field goal for over five minutes late in the second half, turning a 49-41 lead into a 56-45 advantage.

“I tried to build up a lot of energy off the bench to get the win,” Moore said, “But we came up short.”

Moore’s recent improvement on both sides of the ball has caught the attention of head coach Jamie Dixon.

“His shot is looking real nice,” Dixon said. “It’s exciting that he’s made this improvement in his sophomore season.”

South Florida freshman guard Anthony Collins scored 22 points, a new career high.

Ashton Gibbs, who was honored with Nasir Robinson during the senior night ceremony before the game, wasn’t a factor against South Florida’s defense. Gibbs went 1-7 for a season-low two points.

“It’s my job to knock down shots, but at the same time they played good defense,” Gibbs said. He scored just six points in two games against the Bulls.

South Florida started out the game impressively, going off on a 10-1 run early in the first half to build a lead as large as 11 points. The Bulls worked the ball into the paint efficiently as a team. South Florida’s early charge was led by Collins, who scored eight points and three assists in the first half.

“The addition of Collins has made them a team in every sense,” Dixon said. “You got to give them a lot of credit.”

With Hugh Robertson playing effective defense against Gibbs, the Panthers wouldn’t get a spark offensively until Moore checked in for the second time at the 6:46 mark.

The Panthers clawed their way back into the game. Freshman guard John Johnson knocked down his second 3-pointer of the game to start a 10-2 scoring run for Pitt. Moore — who electrified the crowd with five dunks — slammed two dunks back-to-back off turnovers to tie the game at 22 with 4:15 to go in the half.

Moore hit a 3-point jumper to raise his first half total to 11 points and give the Panthers their first lead of the game with under a minute to go. The Panthers entered the locker room down by just one point.

“They had a couple runs against us, but we rebounded very well,” South Florida head coach Stan Heath said.

South Florida started the second half like it started the first, quickly scoring eight points to keep Pitt in the rearview for the rest of the game. The Bulls’ Victor Rudd — who scored 11 points of his own in the match-up  scored a layup with 2:46 left in the game to put the Bulls’ lead back into double digits and effectively end any chance of a Pitt comeback.

The Bulls hope to build their NCAA Tournament resume against the Big East-leading Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night. Heath said he’s confident in his team, noting that 10 conference wins should bring them into the national discussion.

Meanwhile, Pitt will work toward ending its losing streak in the weeklong break before its match-up with Louisville.

“It’s the first time we can really practice all year,” Dixon said. “We need to fix the things that have been hurting us all year.”