ShareThisIf anyone knows that great defense can't overcome stagnant offense in the NCAA tournament, it's Pitt coach Jamie Dixon.
Dixon's five previous teams that advanced to the tournament were among the best in the country defensively, but the Panthers were sent home because the offense failed to produce in crunch time.
That's why Pitt fans are hoping the team's late-season shooting slump won't last much longer.
Pitt is averaging more points than at any other time under Dixon, but the offense has not been efficient in recent games. The Panthers posted their two lowest consecutive point totals of the season in their final two games -- a 70-60 victory against Connecticut and a 74-60 loss to West Virginia.
In the Big East tournament quarterfinal loss to West Virginia, the Panthers failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time all season and shot 34 percent from the field in the second half against a 1-3-1 zone.
"I'm not really concerned at all," senior forward Sam Young said of the way the offense is playing. "That was one game. We just shot the ball really bad. We didn't do that all year. We had some times when we played bad, but I don't think we looked that bad offensively all year. I'm not too concerned about our offense. Things like that come once in a blue moon."
But it hasn't been just a one-game aberration for Pitt's outside shooters. While Pitt's overall field-goal percentage has been solid over the past six games, the team's 3-point shooters are slumping. The Panthers are shooting 30.4 percent from 3-point range in that span. That's a low percentage for a team that had led the Big East in 3-point shooting percentage for much of the season.
Jermaine Dixon, who had been one of the hottest shooters on the team, has failed to make a 3-pointer in four of the past five games. He is 2 for 11 from behind the arc in that span. Senior point guard Levance Fields is 6 for 24 from 3-point range in the past six contests. Young is 6 for 20 from behind the arc in that time. Even freshman sharpshooter Ashton Gibbs, the top 3-point shooter on the team, has hit a dry spell. He is 1 for 8 in the past four games.
Low 3-point percentages were a common thread in most of the Panthers' losses in recent NCAA tournaments: Pitt was 2 for 17 in a 65-54 loss to Michigan State last year; 7 for 16 in the 64-55 loss to UCLA in 2007; 6 for 20 in the 72-66 loss to Bradley in 2006; 8 for 23 in the 79-71 loss to Pacific in 2005; and 3 for 17 in the 63-51 loss to Oklahoma State in 2004.
Pitt likely will face a lot of zone defenses in the tournament because teams have a hard time matching up with the Panthers across the board. The Panthers are so effective against man-to-man defenses that opposing coaches might choose a zone defense as the lesser of two evils.
In that case, the Panthers must rediscover their outside shooting touch. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, a staunch advocate of man-to-man defense, switched to a 1-3-1 zone in the second half of the game last week, and it stymied the Panthers. He said he made the switch because the Mountaineers couldn't physically match the Panthers. Huggins joked that he doesn't know how to coach a zone.
After the offensive debacle against West Virginia, the Panthers will be prepared for all manner of defenses in the tournament. One remedy, Gibbs said, is having the guards penetrate the zone instead of passing the ball around the perimeter.
That will force defenders to collapse around the basket and leave shooters open around the perimeter.
"As you go deeper into the season, teams scout you more and more," Gibbs said. "Teams start to know what your strengths and weaknesses are."
Outside shooting hasn't been the only reason for Pitt's shortcomings in the NCAA tournament. The Panthers inexplicably missed several layups in the Michigan State game last season. They also missed their fair share of easy shots the year before against UCLA.
Whether the shots missed are 3-pointers, mid-range jumpers or layups, the offense has been at the root of the team's failures.
But this team seems to be different from the previous five that Jamie Dixon coached to the postseason. This team is averaging 78.4 points per game and has the ability to score inside and outside with a variety of players.
The late-season slump and the prospect of facing more zone defenses in the coming days and weeks ahead don't have many of the players concerned. They are brimming with confidence based on the team's offensive efficiency over the course of the entire season.
"Offensively, we'll be able to score," Jermaine Dixon said. "It shouldn't be a problem for us. It hasn't really been all year. We're not worried at all. We know we're good, and we're going to be ready to play."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
