Lieberman: Sloppy play of late not Panther basketball we’re used to seeing

This is not the Pitt basketball we are used to seeing.

Whiffed rebounds, uncontested… This is not the Pitt basketball we are used to seeing.

Whiffed rebounds, uncontested shots on defense and maddeningly inconsistent scoring are inexcusable mistakes from the Panthers.

A 70-51 shellacking Wednesday night against West Virginia, no matter how close the game was in the second half, is still an unacceptable 19-point loss.

“They played harder than us, that’s why they won the game,” guard Jermaine Dixon said after the game.

The Panthers were out-worked, lacked hustle throughout the game and folded from competition when the game mattered most. West Virginia scored 20 second-chance points off of 19 offensive rebounds and won the rebounding battle 45-31.

“They deserved to win,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “[The score was] 43-41 and it seemed like we didn’t get a rebound after that, and that’s where we got beat.”

As exaggerated as that sounds, Dixon has a point. Pitt grabbed six more rebounds after freshman J.J. Richardson’s tip-in brought the Panthers within two points at the 12:50 mark in the second half.

The problem was, it took Pitt five-and-a-half minutes to get another one, and West Virginia grabbed 22 rebounds the rest of the way.

Through the past four losses in a brutal five-game span — Pitt’s worst since 2001 — Pitt has plummeted from a resilient, tough-minded team to a lackadaisical, mediocre squad relying on jump-shooting and poor rebounding to erase early deficits.

That’s not good enough. That’s not Pitt basketball. Despite how this hopeful season started, it might be a rebuilding season after all. Those “N.I.T” chants at the end of the game from the West Virginia-faithful might become a haunting reality with each disappointing loss.

Jamie Dixon is always quick to blame his own inadequate coaching for a loss.

“We’ve got to execute better. I’ve got to do a better job and take responsibilities for our failure,” Dixon said.

But that’s not good enough either. It’s all about rebounding.

“They simply killed us on the defensive end, and that started with offensive rebounding,” sophomore Ashton Gibbs said. “I think that was the real key to the game, the rebounding aspect of it.”

“I don’t know if we had effort in the first half and not in the second half,” Dixon said. “They’re a good offensive rebounding team, we’re a pretty good rebounding team. But we haven’t done it two games in a row so that’s a concern. We need to block out better, we need to finish plays better.”

But there’s much more working against the Panthers through their struggles.

In fact, right now I could blame most of the team, individually, as to why the Panthers are sputtering.

Don’t think so? Watch me.

Nasir Robinson, will you ever make a free throw? I could pull a random Oakland Zoo member out of the crowd to shoot your free throws during a game, and Pitt would be better off than the dismal 37.5 percent mark you put up.

Gary McGhee, boy Pitt fans could go on and on about your play Wednesday night. I’ll stick to Jermaine Dixon’s comment after the game, which couldn’t be more true in your case: “Height has nothing to do with rebounding. I think it’s effort. If you box them out and drive them out, then they’re not going to get that rebound.”

It’s apparent that your 6-foot-10 height isn’t an advantage in rebounding, so boxing out would be where I’d start.

Another tip, the box on the backboard is a nice place to aim a layup.

Travon Woodall, you’re the second most frustrating player to watch next to McGhee. With the God-given quickness you have, sometimes you show flashes of brilliance, but other times there are head-scratching gaffes. One day, Pitt will need a true point guard to run this offense. It’s your job to lose.

Dante Taylor, the team suffered most with you at center. Pitt basketball clicks with a presence in the paint on the offensive and defensive side, and you provided neither. You made West Virginia freshman Deniz Kilicli look like Hedo Turkoglu, allowing Kilicli to score six points in a minute and a half. It says something about your lack of defense when little-used J.J. Richardson has to play significant minutes.

Gilbert Brown, another model of inconsistency. Your point totals in the last five games: 20, seven, nine, 25 and zero.

Brad Wanamaker, zero points on the night is tough, but so are two travels and allowing Devin Ebanks to have his way with you in the first half. Pitt desperately needs you to score on a consistent basis, but the team also needs leadership. Judging by how Pitt immediately responded to the McGhee-Robinson referee tripping and technical foul incident Wednesday night, allowing a 12-4 WVU run until a timeout late in the game, this team lacks proper leadership.

Ashton Gibbs, simply put, 2-13 shooting won’t get it done.

Jermaine Dixon, finally someone to praise. Even after missing a game with an ankle injury, you often looked like the best player on the court Wednesday night.

Each of these players’ struggles add up to one thing: a must-win game on Saturday against Seton Hall, even if the Panthers don’t believe it.

“Definitely not, definitely not a must-win, it’s just another game,” Jermaine Dixon said.

But just think, if the Panthers lose Saturday, they could fall to eighth place in the conference with a 6-5 in-conference record. Remaining on Pitt’s schedule are games against West Virginia, at Marquette, Villanova and at Notre Dame.

The Panthers need to get back to what we are all used to seeing from them. If they can’t, time might run out on the season.