Men’s Basketball: Streaking Panthers host Louisville on Saturday

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year. The Pitt men’s basketball team was supposed to… This was supposed to be a rebuilding year. The Pitt men’s basketball team was supposed to struggle through its first four Big East games, particularly the three-game road stretch.

Somebody forgot to tell the Panthers that.

As it is, No. 20 Pitt (14-2, 4-0 Big East) and No. 4 Villanova are the only remaining undefeated teams in Big East conference play, and the Panthers have won three straight games on the road, including victories against top-10 Syracuse and top-25 Connecticut.

“We just battled,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said following the Connecticut game.

While that statement has become a recurring theme for this year’s Panthers, the squad learned the quality from its predecessors.

Despite the disappearance of familiar faces from last year’s Elite Eight team, the new Panthers seemed to have grasped an important lesson about Pitt basketball’s focus: strength and defense.

“Last year, we were more of an offensive team,” senior Jermaine Dixon said. “Sam [Young] could score anytime, DeJuan [Blair] dominated the paint and Levance [Fields] got the ball wherever he wanted it. This year, we knew defensively we had to pick it up in order to compete in the Big East.”

Pitt returns home Saturday at noon to take on Louisville (12-5, 3-1 Big East), the team that handed the Panthers their first loss last season and a team that has adapted to playing without key standouts from last year.

Louisville, however, has struggled in the absence of three starters from last season’s team, which won the Big East regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the Elite Eight.

In fact, Pitt and Louisville took nearly opposite paths this season. The Panthers have overachieved, but the Cardinals have underperformed.

The Panthers began the year unranked before entering the rankings the week of Jan. 4 after their upset of Syracuse. This week, Pitt jumped to No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll.

Jermaine Dixon said that although Pitt received recent media praise, the Panthers remain the same team that onlookers doubted at the beginning of the year. The team has kept its mindset as underdogs, Dixon said, despite its climb into the polls.

Louisville dropped out of the polls the week of Dec. 7 after climbing as high as No. 16. The Cardinals were upset three times in four games earlier this season, falling to UNLV on the road and Charlotte and Western Carolina at home.

Louisville dropped from the ranks of the conference unbeaten when it fell to Villanova 92-84 Jan. 11.

Not only have the teams taken reverse paths in the polls, but the Panthers and Cardinals find themselves at opposite ends of Big East statistics, offensively and defensively.

While Pitt locks down opponents with their defense, allowing a Big East low of 58 points per game, Louisville is 12th in the conference, giving up 68.5 points per game.

However, the Cardinals score 81.1 points per game, putting them sixth in the conference. The Panthers are second to last, putting up 67.8 points per game. Defense prevailed for the Panthers in the Big East so far this season, including their last game when they limited fast-paced, transition-oriented Connecticut to 57 points.

Against Connecticut, Pitt was once again led by leading scorers Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker. The pair combined for 38 of the Panthers’ 67 points.

Gary McGhee proved important on the inside, scoring eight points and pulling down nine rebounds as he dominated the glass against the Huskies’ frontcourt.

McGhee and the rest of the Panther squad must continue their solid rebounding against Louisville, as Jamie Dixon commented on the Cardinals’ exceptional rebounding abilities.

“Their numbers are very good and that’s what we focused on with our guys,” Dixon said. “They are rebounding at a high level, [and have] high numbers, especially in conference play. That’s our emphasis.”

Louisville leads the conference in rebounding margin, grabbing 11.2 more boards per game than its opponents. They also grab a league leading 43.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore Samardo Samuels, at 6 foot 9, leads the Cardinals in rebounding, with 7.9 per game. He’s also the team’s leading scorer with 15.8 points per game, followed by guard Edgar Sosa, who adds 13.9 points a game.

Beyond rebounding, one of the most well-known features of a Louisville basketball team is its full court press, with which the Panthers struggled in the past.

The Cardinals sped the Panthers up using the press in last season’s loss, Jermaine Dixon said, and this year Pitt wants to space the floor and get the ball to Gibbs.

“When you press, you’re going to cause some turnovers, but you have to limit them,” Jamie Dixon said. “At the other end, you have to score, attack and take advantage of the press, too.”