2 pm.

Raycom affiliates (if lucky). Otherwise ACC NE/WatchESPN.

This is a “blackout” game so cue up the outrage over the variant unis.

Two things have gnawed at me the last few of games for Pitt.

1. The fear. You can see it whenever the ball seems to end up in the hands of anyone not named Xavier Johnson or Jared Wilson-Frame. Whether it is fear of having the shot blocked — which admittedly, is something that happens to Pitt more then any other team in the country — or simply being afraid to shoot and miss.

The confidence is lacking.

Trey McGowens has been in a shooting slump. Likely it is part of the whole freshman wall thing. But it has totally affected his confidence. To the point that he only took 3 shots in the last game. Yes, he only played 14 minutes. But in the game before he played 30 minutes and only took 5 shots (and missed them all). And that has filtered down to the rest of the team.

So you see a lot of standing around on the offense. Hesitation on chances to shoot or drive. Then passing out of it.

2. Playing against zone defenses. I could understand teams being flummoxed by it ten or five years ago. It simply wasn’t used as most coaches stubbornly clung to the man-to-man defense only. But times have changed. Now, nearly every program will switch to some variant of the zone defense when needed.

Whether it is to protect a player in foul trouble. To better protect the inside, and stop penetration. It doesn’t matter why. Just that it is now a very common defensive strategy.

And yet, Pitt continues to be flummoxed by it when teams switch to it. It’s like a dog dealing with one of those “invisible fences.” A completely confused and lost expression on their face.