Pitt’s defensive strategy changing with new foul rules

The Panthers’ No. 207 spot in national strength of schedule proves that the Pitt men’s basketball team has yet to face dominant teams this season. 

However, it has cruised to a 9-0 record despite encountering talented point guards, many of whom have taken advantage of the NCAA’s new foul rules.

The rules, implemented by NCAA officials this past offseason, were enacted to cut down on hand-checking and to solidify block and charge calls near the basket.

Using an offensive style that plays into the hands of the new rules, Penn State point guard Tim Frazier proved last Tuesday night that he is single-handedly capable of shredding a defense in Pitt’s 78-69 victory. On most possessions, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound speedster dribbled around the perimeter, feeding off his teammates’ screens until he found an opening in the defense that he could penetrate.

Loyola Marymount touted the same threat in 5-foot-10 Anthony Ireland on Friday, who scored 20 of the Nittany Lions’ 68 points, with six free throws. The shifty floor general and his Lions were not able to top the Panthers, who scored 85.

“The game is called different,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s an advantage to the guy that can put it on the floor and put his head down, and that’s what Frazier does, and I think this is the same thing that Ireland does as well.”

Teams scored an average of just 67.5 points per game last season, the lowest average since 1981-1982, and this year scoring has already seen an increase of 4.5 points per game. Teams are being called for three more fouls per game, resulting in four more free throws attempted per team. Pitt has averaged 26 free-throw attempts per game, up from its 20.2 average last season, and although conference play hasn’t begun, the Panthers have scored 82 points per game compared to last year’s 69.

“Free throws are up for obvious reasons, and you’ve got to keep guys in front without fouling them,” Dixon said. “It’s not a one-man job, it’s a team job. You’ve got to use five guys, and you’ve got to get back on defense.”

“I think every coach is saying that now. The way guys are playing now it’s put your head down and hope you get the call,” he added.

The left-handed Ireland averaged more than 20 points per game last season, shooting 38 percent from the 3-point line. The senior has made a more willful effort this year to get to the basket and to the foul line, the source of a good chunk of his points. Many scoring guards have adopted the same approach.

“Oftentimes it comes to other guys guarding them in transition too,” Dixon said of speedy point guards. “So it’s not solely one guy guarding them. Oftentimes it’s transition. One-on-one with the whole side of the floor to go, anybody can go by anybody, so you don’t want to get in those situations.”

Youngstown State, which comes into Oakland to play the Panthers on Saturday, stands in the way of Pitt’s tenth win of the season. The Penguins’ leading scorer, Kendrick Perry, is a combo guard who will try hurting the Panthers in many of the same ways Frazier and Ireland did.

“We’re better equipped this year than in recent years at guarding the dribble. We’ve got a lot of guys who can do it,” Dixon said. “We should not have trouble guarding the dribble.”

Dixon has shown some 2-3 zone this season, insisting after the first game of the season that this year should be a coming-out party for the 2-3 in Pittsburgh.

Opposing teams are scoring just more than 60 points per game against Dixon’s squad this year. By Dixon’s logic, if that number rises by midseason, Pitt fans should see more zone defense being thrown at teams.

“We will be playing more zone. If the fouls continue, I think that’s what’s going to end up happening,” he said.

Pitt opens up conference play Jan. 4 at North Carolina State. As Pitt’s season progresses, the size, strength, speed and scoring totals of opposing guards will increase. 

Once the team enters ACC play, Pitt will have its hands full several times a week, especially when it faces Duke’s Quinn Cook, Notre Dame’s Eric Atkins and North Carolina’s Marcus Paige.

Dixon contested the NCAA’s intentions regarding the new foul rules. He thinks that if all coaches defend players like Frazier, Ireland, Cook, Atkins and Paige in the correct ways, the rule will take reverse-effect.

“Just like putting the 3-point line farther back, they thought that would open up the game. No, that just means people are going to play more zone,” Dixon said. “Unintended consequences are headed this way, and it’s not going to help in higher scoring. Zone takes more time and uses up more clock.”