No. 2 Panthers need to finish games stronger

The consensus-No.2 team in the country is 9-0. It has won handily in all but one of those… The consensus-No.2 team in the country is 9-0. It has won handily in all but one of those contests, and that one did not adequately reflect the game’s momentum.

Yet something continues to wedge itself between 15- and 30-point wins. The Auburn Tigers picked up on it in the second half Sunday, cutting leads as big as 14 to just three in the waning moments of the contest.

Wednesday night, it was more of the same. Pitt jumped out to a 24-7 lead, needing just more than two minutes to score its first 10 points.

The Panthers’ 17-point lead lit up the scoreboard with 12 minutes left in the first half. Pitt won the game, 73-56.

But, the final 32 minutes of the contest yielded a 49-49 draw.

Duquesne cut Pitt’s lead to 10 with 13 minutes remaining, using full-court pressure and high-percentage shots to regain momentum. And while the Dukes hit nine of their 17 shots with just one turnover during that stretch, the Panthers went four of 12 and turned the ball over five times.

Are Pitt fans witnessing a lack of killer instinct?

“We need to improve on getting big leads and holding them,” Pitt senior center Aaron Gray said.

And the Panthers need to do what got them the big leads – get it to the big guy.

When Aaron Gray is in the game, there is an immediate need for the defense to focus inside. Once Gray catches any entry pass, help-defenses and zones collapse on the 7-footer, leaving shooters wide open in numerous spots.

But for some reason, when the Panthers prowl to big first half leads, the foot comes off the gas pedal and the cruise control comes on.

Guard play is always a key factor in advancing teams deeper into the NCAA tournament, but if the main cog in the offense is the Preseason Big East Player of the Year and All-America candidate Gray, then why work away from the game plan?

“We got a little relaxed [against Duquesne],” senior forward Levon Kendall said. “[Duquesne] was out-hustling us. We got caught on our heels.”

Nothing could have been more apparent Wednesday, as the Panthers fired up 3-pointer after 3-pointer before regaining composure and closing out a 17-point win thanks to Sam Young’s proclivity for garbage-time points.

Don’t get me wrong – this team has the potential to cut down the nets at the Final Four in Atlanta. The fact that nine players played double-digit minutes and ready-to-contribute freshman Gilbert Brown got some time should worry any Big East coach.

No one has better quality off the bench in the conference, and no one has the firepower both defensively and offensively to match Pitt at this point in the season.

But, if a team possesses the full-court pressure, half-court trap or desire to come back against a sleeping Pitt team, it could conceivably do it.

“We need to close out games better,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon told the media after Sunday’s 74-66 win over Auburn.

If it weren’t for a fortuitous bounce with a little more than one minute left against the Tigers, who knows how Pitt’s three-point lead would’ve held up.

But in all negative things, there are positive foundations upon which Pitt can build. That bounce, while it certainly came off the rim perfectly, was still gobbled up and put back by the 7-footer, draped by two defenders.

Still, against tougher and tougher opponents, missing six foul shots in the final two minutes or turning the ball over five times in 17 possessions will create problems. Did anyone else see the Syracuse comeback against Oklahoma State? Or should I ask if anyone saw the Oklahoma State team we play later this month?

Nine games into the season, Pitt is clearly one of the top-five teams in the nation, but if the Panthers keep coasting and losing sight of their game plans in the toughest conference in all of basketball, that shiny record might tarnish a bit.

Pessimism makes for a depressing bedmate, but a little suggestion to tweak a high quality product isn’t so bad. And if Jamie Dixon is anything like we think he is, he will have his team playing consistent basketball from now until March.

Whatever happens beyond there is up to the Panthers.