Men’s basketball: Despite 7-1 record, turnovers and poor shooting plague Panthers

When Pitt’s offense clicks, call it efficient and well executed, one of the best-run schemes… When Pitt’s offense clicks, call it efficient and well executed, one of the best-run schemes in the nation.

When it struggles, though, call it sloppy and stagnant — an offense that reeks of a team with five new starters.

And boy did the offense struggle in the first half of the team’s 47-32 win over New Hampshire.

“We just didn’t hit shots,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said, attributing some of the struggles to “poor shooting and bad execution.”

Pitt shot 5 for 19 from the floor and 0 for 6 from behind the arc in a first half that ended with the Panthers up, 15-7.

“We were out of sync,” guard Brad Wanamaker said. “We were playing good defense, but on the offensive end we just weren’t there.”

Pitt had 10 turnovers and made five field goals at the end of the lowest-scoring first half of the college shot-clock era. The Panthers ended the night with 16 turnovers.

“Sixteen doesn’t look like a horrible number, but in a low possession game it stands out a little bit more,” Dixon said. “We fumbled away some balls away that we just normally don’t do.”

Players share the blame for the sloppy play. Seven different Panthers turned the ball over in the first half, and no player did more than twice.

“Turnovers are always going to affect how you play on offense,” Ashton Gibbs said. “For some reason we just kept dropping balls today, and they led to turnovers.”

Pitt’s offense looked listless early against New Hampshire. Without a returning starter on the court, the team might lack leadership as players find their roles.

Wanamaker and Gibbs, though, could step into that leadership role. In close games against Wofford, Duquesne and New Hampshire, the two guards ultimately gave Pitt the win.

Gibbs’ 10 straight points against the Wildcats to close out the first half and start the second half changed the momentum of the game, New Hampshire coach Bill Herrion said.

Pitt, might actually rely on the promising young backcourt too much at the moment, however. In the team’s lone loss, Texas focused on shutting down the Panthers in the post, and Pitt struggled to sustain anything on offense outside of two 3-pointers from Lamar Patterson.

Gibbs and Wanamaker accounted for 42 of Pitt’s 47 points against New Hampshire. The other three starters did not score.

“We were just taking what they gave us,” Gibbs said. “We weren’t trying to be selfish with it at all. Our teammates did a great job getting us the ball.”

There’s talent in the backcourt and talent underneath the rim, but eight games into the season, it hasn’t gelled together just yet. Many passes inside the paint slipped off fingertips or landed just out of reach.

But while Pitt struggles on offense, the team can always count on its defensive play to keep it in games, Dixon said. Though the Panthers scored only 15 points against the Wildcats by halftime, they held New Hampshire to 3 for 25 from the floor.

With the defense fortifying the Panthers, Dixon can take time to develop the offensive side of the ball. As poorly as Pitt played in the first half, the team shot 52.2 percent from the floor in the second half, racking up 32 points.

“I thought we played a good second half,” Dixon said. “We didn’t play a good first half, but I guess I’d rather have it that way than the other way around.”

Dixon said limiting turnovers played a role in turning the offense around.

“We had six in the second half and 10 in the first half,” he said. “And you can see we had a better second half offensively.”

In the future, Pitt will succeed offensively as long as it keeps with its plan, Dixon said.

“If you stick with your stuff and you continue to believe in what you’re doing,” Dixon said, “you end up finishing strong, and that’s what we did [against New Hampshire].”

The long stretches of poor play against Duquesne and New Hampshire might still worry some, however.

“You have to kind of be concerned,” Wanamaker said. “But I’m not so much. Soon we’ll put it all together and play a full 40 minutes.”