Men’s basketball: Pitt dominates Ohio en route to their 10th non-conference win of the season

The Pitt men’s basketball team (10-2) never trailed against Ohio (7-4) — a feat that can be… The Pitt men’s basketball team (10-2) never trailed against Ohio (7-4) — a feat that can be attributed to a wide distribution of scoring, despite a flurry of late turnovers — in their 74-49 victory tonight.

Ashton Gibbs and Jermaine Dixon finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Nasir Robinson and Gilbert Brown also contributed double-digit performances.

Dixon turned in his best effort of the season, as he made only his second start of the year after recovering from a foot injury.

The Panthers also welcomed back Brown from academic suspension in this his first game of the season. With 11 points, Brown finished the contest with a perfect shooting percentage.

Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon was pleased with the return of Brown and Dixon, as they are “two of the most experienced players on the team.”

Team depth has been a goal for Jamie Dixon from the on-set of the season.

“More depth means that our guys are getting fewer minutes,” he said. “And fewer minutes correlates to more productivity from the team.”

The Pitt offense dominated Ohio’s defense, especially inside the paint, where Ohio was out-scored 20-4 in the first half.

Ohio head coach John Groce noted that the toughness of Pitt prevented his team from playing to their potential.

“We were entirely too soft and did not make enough toughness plays,” Groce said. “The strength of Pitt just wore us down over the course of 40 minutes.”

Dixon, however, was less hesitant to offer only praise of his defense.

“Our defensive play is headed in the right direction, but towards the end of the second half, we got careless with the ball when we had a big lead,” he said.

Despite the Panthers’ 21 turnovers — 14 in the second half — they were successful in holding Ohio to a 23.9 shooting percentage, while limiting the scoring opportunities of guard D.J. Cooper, a significant scoring threat.

“Dixon played great defense off the dribble tonight, especially on Cooper,” Dixon said. “And [Brad] Wanamaker was effective defensively as well, something that we have been working on with him.”

Both Dixon and Brown expressed their desire to improve, now that they have returned to the Panther’s lineup.

“In practice, my foot was starting to feel a lot better,” Dixon said. “It really feels like I am getting my step back, along with my confidence.”

Brown, who was unable to practice with the team during his suspension time, looks forward to joining the practices in order to continue his improvement.

“I put in a lot of hard work to try to come back in shape,” he said. “But practices are so intense that within a few weeks, I should be back and up to speed.”

With the victory over Ohio, Pitt earned its 10th non-conference victory, an accomplishment achieved in the past nine seasons.

The Panthers will return to action after the holiday break on Dec. 28, when they host DePaul at 7 p.m. in the first Big East matchup of the season.