Pitt searches for answers on defense
Some players are questioning team’s focus and effort
Jeff Capel only needed a quick look at the box score placed before him to know what vexed his Pitt team the most defensively in its one-point loss Wednesday to N.C. State “Everything,” he said.
In truth, he didn’t even need a stat sheet to know that. He had seen it play out over 40 minutes that day, sure, but it wasn’t a one-game occurrence, a pothole on an otherwise freshly paved road.
What happened against the Wolfpack — whom they allowed to shoot 56.9% from the field and score 74 points on 64 possessions — was a reflection of what has plagued the Panthers defensively for the better part of the past month.
Heading into a matchup Saturday with No. 16-ranked Florida State, Pitt has gone 1-6 in its past seven games after starting the season 8-2, taking a team with viable NCAA tournament aspirations into one simply trying to stay above .500 and avoid a late-season disintegration for the third time in as many years. The Panthers’ season hasn’t fallen apart with their defense doing the same; if anything, it’s because of it.
What once seemed like a stout group that might forge an identity for a program in need of one has imploded.
“We’re not defending like we were three or four weeks ago,” Capel said. “If you look at the numbers, they’re drastic. Our opponents’ field-goal percentage, 3-point field-goal percentage, it’s drastic. That’s it. We’re not defending at the level that we were defending during that time.”
The numbers Capel referenced are, indeed, drastic.
In Pitt’s first six games against opponents from college basketball’s six major conferences, five of which were against ACC teams, it allowed an average of 0.95 points per possession. In its past seven games, it is giving up 1.16 points per possession.
If that gap seems insignificant, it’s not. Based on the Panthers’ average tempo of 69 possessions per game, it’s the difference between allowing 65.6 and 80 points per game.
That chasm in points per possession is seen in Pitt’s individual opponents in that sevengame stretch. Each of those teams, as poor or stellar as they are offensively, have performed better against the Panthers than they have against other ACC teams this season. (See chart.)
Just as dramatic as those figures have been the shooting splits of Pitt’s opponents.
In their first six major-conference games, the Panthers saw opponents shoot 38.5% from the field, 25.3% from 3-point range and 49% on 2-pointers. In the past seven games, their opponents have shot 50.3% overall, 40.4% from 3 and 57.1% from 2.
“I think it’s just an energy thing,” forward Justin Champagnie said. “I feel like we lack energy a lot of the time. We can’t say we’re young anymore. We’ve shown that we can play and all of that. I just feel like we’ve got to pick up our energy. We can turn it around.”
What has changed?
To start, Pitt’s defense was never as good as its metrics once led it to appear, like when it was 34th among 357 Division I teams in defensive efficiency in mid January. Those numbers were inflated by some 3-point luck. Its opponents were taking 3s at a high rate and were provided a good number of open looks. The shots simply weren’t falling.
While it doesn’t fully explain the dramatic difference, the Panthers also have been playing higher-quality offenses over the past several weeks. Their past seven opponents have an average offensive efficiency ranking of 53rd after the Panthers first six major-conference games came against teams with an average ranking of 70th.
Champagnie pointed out opponents being able to get middle penetration off the dribble against Pitt’s defense, something that allows them to retain more offensive options than they would in other areas of the court.
“You can create for anybody on the floor if you get it to the middle,” Champagnie said. “We’ve got to do a great job of forcing the baseline and just knowing what we’re doing.”
In some instances, it’s a temporary loss of focus. The Panthers will spend the first 20 seconds of the shot clock defending their men tightly only to briefly lapse and give up an easy basket.
Some explanations, though, touch on more concerning issues.
“I just feel like we have a lack of effort,” wing Au’Diese Toney said. “We really haven’t been locked back in on defense as well. I don’t know if it’s because of all the games we’ve been playing and guys don’t have legs, but we haven’t gotten our edge back on defense.”
Unlike previous seasons in which Pitt was extraordinarily young, had little depth or was playing a crammed schedule with virtually no breaks, those factors largely aren’t at play.
Two of its customary starters are juniors in their third years in such a role. The three other starters are sophomores, one of whom started 27 of 33 games last season. There are more options to bring off the bench, with 10 currently eligible players averaging at least 10 minutes per game in ACC play, up from seven last year. And while it’s due in some part to the COVID19 pandemic, the Panthers have played 10 games from Jan. 1-Feb. 19, down from 14 in that span last season, which means they shouldn’t be as fatigued as they were during that season, when they lost eight of their final nine games.
There might be some hope found in Pitt’s remaining
schedule. Only one of its final four opponents, Florida State, is ranked among the top 65 Division I teams in offensive efficiency. Then again, two of those seemingly underwhelming offenses — No. 67 N.C. State and No. 119 Wake Forest — have torched the Panthers in previous matchups this season.
It’s a problem that leaves Pitt in the unnervingly familiar position of desperately searching for answers in mid-February to try to salvage a season that has abruptly derailed.
“If I knew, we’d fix it,” Capel said when asked of possible solutions to the defensive woes. “But we’re trying everything. We’re working on it. We’re practicing it. We just have to be better with it.”