In a good way, for once.
One of those things that has eaten at Pitt fans over the years has been the free throw shooting of Pitt. Coach Dixon, much like every coach of a team that has not shot them well dismissed the concerns publicly. Usually with a, “we make them when we have to” type comment.
Oddly enough Pitt’s free throw shooting has been about the same. At half way through the season and a little less than 1/3 through the Big East schedule Pitt is shooting FTs at about the same rate as last year. Except that the past couple weeks have been driving up the numbers.
“I really don’t know,” said guard Jermaine Dixon. “We practice free throws every practice, before during and after. We did that last year, too. It’s just more of them are going in.”
Last year, Pitt was 67.6 percent from the line. This year, it was 67.4 entering the game. But a further inspection shows that the Panthers were 17 of 20 in a road win at Connecticut last Wednesday, 20 of 27 in a win at Cincinnati and 26 of 36 in a win at Syracuse. Including Saturday, that’s 73.6 percent in an impressive block of four wins and 41 of 50 (82 percent) in their last two games.
Saturday, Pitt shot 24-30 (80%) at the line. And oh my, yes, Pitt made them when they counted.
Wanamaker got advice from a good source before making two game-tying free throws with 1.9 seconds to play. The junior guard talked to Gibbs, who is among the nation’s top free-throw shooters at 92.6 percent.
“Ashton told me to take it like it was practice and nobody around,” he said.
Wanamaker went 11 for 12 from the line against Louisville. Since shooting 48 percent as a freshman, Wanamaker has made 73.1 percent from the line.
And then there is the other side.
But even Pitino had to acknowledge the obvious: Despite its mistakes, UofL did enough to win in a tough Big East Conference venue, had it only made those free throws.
“If you make those free throws, the game’s over,” he said. “It’s mathematically impossible, unless you turn it over, for them to win.”
Sosa’s first big miss came with 1:37 left and the Cards up five. It was the front end of a one-and-one, and Jared Swopshire missed another one of those with the Cards still up five with 42 seconds left. The Cards were up four when Sosa missed a pair with 28.4 seconds left.
You can’t keep missing them without paying, and you can’t make up for missing them by taking the entire game into your hands.
And consequently ignoring Samardo Samuels in the OT to compound things.
