Pittsburgh Panthers
Big East Conference (17-16, 5-13)
The season started in 2011. Things were good for Pittsburgh in 2011. Ashton Gibbs was supposed to vie for conference Player of the Year honors. Coach Jamie Dixon was preparing for another long NCAA Tournament run. The Panthers started with an 11-1 record and were ranked in the top 25. Who knows what the exact reasoning for the subsequent 2012 collapse was. The Big East part of Pitt’s schedule began and the calendar flipped over but it all technically started with a late December loss at home to the Wagner Seahawks oddly enough. Pitt lost eight straight, including their first seven conference games. They didn’t manage a win in 2012 until January 25. Another five game losing streak would be around the bend. Instead of the last game of the year, against Connecticut, being for a one seed in the conference tournament, it was just a battle between two teams in the bottom half of the Big East, neither able to claim a single bye let alone the coveted double bye. 2012 was not Pittsburgh’s year.
Big Wins: 12/3 at Tennessee (61-56), 1/28 Georgetown (72-60), 1/30 at West Virginia (72-66)
Bad Losses: 12/23 Wagner (54-59), 1/5 at DePaul (81-84), 1/11 Rutgers (39-62)
Coach: Jamie Dixon (9 seasons at Pittsburgh)
Why They Can Surprise:
The one thing Pitt Panthers teams are always able to do is bang. Whether under Ben Howland or Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh is a force on the inside, oftentimes with undersized forwards rather than lengthy seven footers. This year’s Pitt team is once again a very good rebounding team, having one of the best rebounding margins in the conference. Led by senior Nasir Robinson, the Panthers have five different players averaging at least 5.0 rebounds per game. More specifically, this team is a tremendous offensive rebounding group. Nearly 40% of their rebounds on the season have come on the offensive end. Lamar Patterson, one of the aforementioned five men, has tallied roughly a third of his rebounds on the offensive glass. Talib Zanna and Robinson, two more of the five, are grabbing offensive boards right around the team’s overall pace. And Dante Taylor has grabbed 166 rebounds during the season: 83 offensive and 83 defensive. Other than rebounding, this team has great veteran leadership from not only Robinson, but also senior Ashton Gibbs and junior Tray Woodall. The three of them are Pitts’ three leading scorers and the only Panthers players averaging double figures.
Why They Can Disappoint:
A tough schedule has tested Pittsburgh this season, but they have not exactly passed the test. Barely finishing the year over .500 leaves the team well short of their goal of advancing far in the NCAA Tournament. Not even making said tournament has to be an even greater disappointment. This Panthers team did not do all the things necessary of winning basketball. They were not great at getting to the free throw line; they were very poor at blocking shots and stealing the ball; the team’s two leading scorers both shot the ball very poorly this season as well. Woodall was never known as a great shooter and really didn’t play that badly this season but Ashton Gibbs really took a step back. Although his points per game are right around his numbers from sophomore and junior year, he did so very inefficiently in his senior season. Expecting to carry Pitt on his back, Gibbs cannot be happy with how his final Panthers season turned out.
Probable Starters:
Ashton Gibbs, Senior, Guard, 15.5 ppg, 2.2 apg
Tray Woodall, Junior, Guard, 11.1 ppg, 5.9 apg
Lamar Patterson, Sophomore Forward, 8.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.4 apg
Dante Taylor, Junior, Forward, 6.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg
Nasir Robinson, Senior, Forward, 11.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg
Key Roleplayers:
Cameron Wright, Freshman, Guard, 2.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg
John Johnson, Freshman, Guard, 4.5 ppg, 1.3 apg
Talib Zanna, Sophomore, Forward, 5.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg
J.J. Moore, Sophomore, Forward, 6.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 69.1 (147th in nation, 10th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 66.5 (157, 12)
Field-Goal Percentage: 45.3 (98, 5)
Field-Goal Defense: 44.6 (241, 15)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.0 (178, 7)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 34.1 (173, 6)
Free-Throw Percentage: 70.6 (110, 4)
Rebound Margin: 7.7 (6, 1)
Assists Per Game: 15.1 (34, 4)
Turnovers Per Game: 13.6 (182, 12)
Last Five Postseason Appearances:
Pittsburgh 2011 NCAA Round of 64 win over NC-Asheville
Pittsburgh 2011 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Butler
Pittsburgh 2010 NCAA Round of 64 win over Oakland
Pittsburgh 2010 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Xavier
Pittsburgh 2009 NCAA Round of 64 win over East Tennessee State
Pittsburgh 2009 NCAA Round of 32 win over Oklahoma State
Pittsburgh 2009 NCAA Regional Semifinal win over Xavier
Pittsburgh 2009 NCAA Regional Final loss to Villanova
Pittsburgh 2008 NCAA Round of 64 win over Oral Roberts
Pittsburgh 2008 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Michigan State
Pittsburgh 2007 NCAA Round of 64 win over Wright State
Pittsburgh 2007 NCAA Round of 32 win over VCU
Pittsburgh 2007 NCAA Regional Semifinal loss to UCLA
*all team stats through 3/4
See All Men’s Basketball Postseason Capsules
