Men win another ugly one

Glancing at the box score of Pitt’s 65-61 win over Washington on Saturday, minus the outcome… Glancing at the box score of Pitt’s 65-61 win over Washington on Saturday, minus the outcome itself, would lead most Pitt fans to believe the Panthers lost.

Pitt, after all, got only five points from big man Aaron Gray, shot only 21-for-58 from the floor and was out-rebounded 42-32, leading to 24 Washington points in the paint.

For all of these things that Pitt didn’t do, though, it wound up being another thing the Panthers didn’t do that gave them a chance – they didn’t turn the ball over, quite the contrast from Monday’s 19-turnover performance in a loss to Louisville.

“It was definitely a response to how we played against Louisville,” starting point guard Levance Fields said. “No disrespect, but I thought a lot of those turnovers were us making mistakes, which we knew we could correct. We were anxious to come out and prove we could do better.”

Pitt’s response was one most would expect from a team that has boasted the nation’s best assist-to-turnover ratio for most of the year. Jamie Dixon’s bunch only committed six turnovers, with only two coming after the game’s first eight minutes. Compare that to the 15 turnovers Pitt committed in just the first half of the loss to the Cardinals, and it became evident that the Panthers were ready to redeem themselves both offensively and defensively.

“Pitt dictates the pace of the game that they play,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said after the loss. “They’re a very solid team. Last game, they had 15 turnovers in the first half alone, and today that was not the case at all.”

Not only was that not the case, but the Pitt defense forced 16 Washington turnovers of its own, leading to 21 Pitt points. The pressure was a point of emphasis coming in for the Pitt players.

“Coming in, we wanted to pressure them, particularly their big men when they had the ball,” Fields said. “Our goal was to turn up the intensity on defense, and the plan worked.”

“We knew going into today’s game that [Pitt’s] guards are very physical and very athletic. Some of our play reflected that, and I think that our performance reflected that as well,” Romar said. “Unfortunately we didn’t take care of the ball like we need to. We had some turnovers that made us swing in a negative way.”

The turnovers appeared to be the only negative the Huskies had to face on this day. Washington came into the game as the nation’s fifth-best rebounding team, and the Huskies only helped their statistic on Saturday. Freshman Spencer Hawes recorded a double-double, getting 12 rebounds to go along with his 12 points while frontcourt teammate Jon Brockman grabbed nine boards himself. In all, the Huskies grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, but those only led to 10 second-chance points.

“They’re one of the best in the country at [rebounding], so that was our focus coming in,” Dixon said afterwards. “Obviously when you have two big guys like that, it’s a good place to start, but I thought their guards coming into the lane were a key. We didn’t box them out like we’re capable of, and they got a lot of loose balls on tip-outs and deflections. I think that’s where the real difference in the total came.”

“It’s no secret they’re a very solid, very physical team,” Cook said. “They have all five guys crashing the boards, attacking the ball, looking to at least get a hand on it, so it’s not a surprise that they rebound so well. I give them a lot of credit there.”

It was the second game in a week where Pitt got out-rebounded by a visiting team. Providence out-rebounded Pitt (23-4 overall, 10-2 Big East) a week before to the day, but the Panthers found ways to get the win anyway. The Panthers also managed to get to the free throw line 25 times to the Huskies’ eight, a discrepancy that bothered Romar.

“They scored 19 [points] at the line and 21 [points] off turnovers,” he said looking at the stat sheet. “That’s, what, two-thirds of their points? We just gave up too many big turnovers. This was such a physical game. It was almost like arm wrestling at times, and sometimes you get the calls, and sometimes you don’t.”

Washington made up for the difference at the line by hitting its 3s. The Huskies hit seven of 11 3-point attempts, many of them from well behind the 3-point line. Pitt, meanwhile, only hit four of its 15 3-point shots, consistent with the team’s recent struggles (the Panthers were only three-for-21 against the Cardinals). Dixon cited Louisville’s pressing zone as a factor in his team’s poor shooting on Monday.

That’s why many were surprised that the Huskies (16-10, 6-8 Pac-10) didn’t try to put on a full court press, which gave Pitt all kinds of fits on Monday, until late in the game when the Panthers were already in an offensive groove.

“[Pitt] took the time to take care of the ball today,” Romar said afterward. “Louisville plays the way Louisville plays, and we play the way that we play. We’re set in our ways and don’t need to adapt the ways of another team. We can usually force a team to turn the ball over a lot, but that just wasn’t the case today.

“They just really took care of the ball.”

“It was a one-game thing,” Dixon said of Pitt’s Monday struggles. “I think when you look at what we’ve done, you have to assess it over the long haul, not a one-game thing.”