No, those are not the measurements for some anime chick. That’s 36 points off of 3-pointers, 17 points from free throws, and 27 points inside the arc from the Villanova game.
The issue of perimeter defense has once more reared its ugly head.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon talked about how his team needed to do a “better job defending,” how it had “some breakdowns” and how it “came up short in a few areas” after an 80-72 loss at Villanova two days ago.
It was revealing stuff for a guy who rarely criticizes his team in public. But it might have also been necessary for a coach who is trying to keep his 17th-ranked Panthers (18-5, 8-4 Big East) in check as they get closer to tournament play.
The Big East tourney tips off at Madison Square Garden in 15 days; the NCAAs open in 23.
That means Dixon has precious little time to shore up his areas of concern, most notably a perimeter defense that has yielded far too many 3-point baskets in recent weeks.
Villanova was the latest opponent to victimize the Panthers from the outside, going 12 of 23 from 3-point range for a 52.2-percent success rate. It should be noted that the Wildcats rank third in the Big East in 3-point shooting percentage (37.4) and have won six of seven games when they’ve produced 10 3-pointers or more, but that doesn’t mean Dixon let his team off the hook easily.
“We have to be better,” he said.
In the past five games, three Pitt opponents have hit for double-digit 3-pointers. West Virginia, which plays at Pitt on Wednesday night, went 13 of 40 in an 83-78 overtime upset of the Panthers on Feb. 5, and Notre Dame went 14 of 29 from long range in a down-to-the-wire 68-66 loss at Pitt on Feb. 12.
What’s more, in three of the Panthers’ four Big East losses, they’ve yielded at least 11 3-pointers. Georgetown went 11 of 21 in a 67-64 win at Petersen Events Center on Jan. 5.
Pitt with its defense, forces teams to take a lot of outside shots. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but as Ken Pomeroy points out with yet more stats, Pitt’s opponents to get over 30% of their points from 3-point shots. Out of 330 teams, Pitt is 279th in amount of % of points scored from 3s (and the stats don’t reflect on the Villanova game).
As far as what that means for the last 4 games, BC and UConn are teams more like Pitt, in that they like to get the ball inside. UConn, especially as Rashard Anderson is out, is definitely going to be going inside more than they did last time. ND and WVU, as we all know are teams that will and can make 3s. Those two games will be the ones to watch with regards to what Pitt does to shore up the perimeter defense.
A notebook piece, observes that Levon Kendall hasn’t been shooting much, or particularly well in recent games.
Aaron Gray comes in for another puff piece (I think this is his 3rd or 4th this season). This one focuses on his improvement during the season. The biggest thing I’ve seen on offense, is he is getting much better about catching the ball and going right up for the basket. Earlier he would either re-grip the ball or put it on the floor before jumping. This allowed a defender an extra second to either try and block, foul or get in position where Gray had to give up what should have been an easy 2. It really showed against ‘Nova when they focused much of their interior defense on Troutman. Gray was left alone for most of his baskets.
