Takeaways | Adjustments in rotation, defensive strategy can turn Pitt men’s basketball season around

No. 11 Duke (12-3, 3-1 ACC) was unstoppable against Pitt (10-6, 1-4 ACC) in its 75-53 victory on Tuesday night. The Blue Devils held the Panthers to their lowest scoring total of the season while also scoring at will against the Panthers. The Blue Devils eclipsed 48 points in the first half. 

For Panthers fans, Tuesday night was a painful night, and I have a few takeaways from the less-than-ideal game. 

Pitt misses Jamarius Burton dearly

Last season, Pitt rarely had any scoring droughts that lasted longer than four minutes. This season, the Panthers have accomplished this feat regularly and it happened multiple times against the Blue Devils.

In the first half, redshirt junior forward Zach Austin converted a dunk to cut Duke’s lead to 15-9 with 13:23 left. The Panthers’ next basket came from junior guard Ishmael Leggett with 8:43 left in the first half. Pitt’s failure to convert for this 4:40 allowed the Blue Devils to go on a 7-0 run.

In the second half, with the game fully out of grasp, the Panthers went on a longer drought. This time, the Panthers’ scoreless drought went from the 17:06 mark to the 11:35 mark, allowing Duke to go on an easy 10-0 run.

In the 2022-2023 season, the Panthers didn’t have this issue as often and could rely on guard Jamarius Burton, who could get Pitt a bucket at the direst of times. 

Most memorably, Burton showed his ability to get the Panthers a basket when it was most needed against Mississippi State in the First Four. 

This season, head coach Jeff Capel has yet to find a player on this roster that has the same ability as Burton. Capel needs to find someone soon, or the season could get even worse for the Panthers. 

For Capel, the players that could fill this role for Pitt are Leggett or first-year guard Carlton “Bub” Carrington. Both guards have shown the ability to make space for themselves, find an open shot and drive to the basket.

If the Panthers want to get back on track, one of these guards has to step up when the Panthers offense is faltering. Leggett or Carrington need to step up and become the Burton of this season.

Guillermo Diaz Graham deserves more minutes

Pitt was expecting to see a step up from junior center Federiko Federiko after training with the Finnish national team in the summer, but that hasn’t happened. 

Sophomore forward Guillermo Diaz Graham has developed into the player the Panthers expected when they recruited him out of Spain. Diaz Graham’s statistics weren’t the prettiest on Tuesday night, finishing with seven points while shooting 1-6 from the field, but he looked far better than Federiko. 

Offensively, Diaz Graham can stretch the floor, drive to the basket, make free throws and convert alley-oops. Federiko has only shown the ability to threaten teams as a lob threat.

Last season, Federiko was one of the best defensive big men in the ACC and he finished third in the ACC in blocks per game with 1.7. This season, Federiko’s shot-blocking has fallen off. And against Duke, when the Panthers needed his shot-blocking against sophomore center Kyle Filipowski, he had zero blocks. 

Unlike Federiko, Diaz Graham’s defense has only improved since last season. Diaz Graham’s block-per-game numbers have jumped from .8 last season to 1.1 so far this season. Against Duke, he failed to slow down Filipowski with zero blocks, but the Spanish forward finished the contest with five steals.

With Diaz Graham only improving, Capel needs to give the sophomore even more playing time.

Zone defense is ineffective

Capel needs to stop running the 3-2 zone. It was ineffective against the Blue Devils. When Pitt ran the 3-2 zone out of the under eight-minute media timeout in the first half, Duke beat it easily with three straight wide-open three-point field goals. 

Typically, when a team switches from a man-to-man to a zone defense, it is when they want to confuse the opponent, but it looks like Pitt confused its own players more than the opponent.

Pitt should only run the 3-2 zone when sophomore guard/forward Jorge Diaz Graham is at the top of the zone, which proved effective against Louisville in Saturday’s matchup. Otherwise, the Panthers shouldn’t consider the 3-2 zone. 

Jaland Lowe slowly finding his way

Fans need to trust the process with first-year guard Jaland Lowe. Tuesday night was rough for the first-year guard, with him shooting 3-10 from the field and earning only nine points. 

But Lowe’s seven misses against Duke came on good shot attempts. Lowe had multiple open shots from midrange after breaking down a Duke defender, but he just couldn’t convert. 

But when Lowe’s shot gets more consistent, the ACC needs to watch out. The first-year guard has shown the capabilities of an All-ACC caliber player and someone who could eventually fill the role that Burton had. 

The Panthers are off this weekend, but are back in action next Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. against Syracuse (11-4, ACC 2-2) in the Petersen Events Center, where Pitt hopes to bounce back against a team they fell to in late December.