Pitt Basketball’s Loss to Virginia Shows Why It’s ‘Same Old Panthers’ For Now

Feb 2, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Justin Anderson (left) is fouled as he shoots against Pittsburgh Panthers forward Lamar Patterson (21) during the second half at the Petersen Events Center. The Virginia Cavaliers won 48-45. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

For 3:10.6 of the last 3:11 of Sunday’s game against Virginia, the Pitt Panthers kept the Cavaliers scoreless. But in those last four tenths of a second we learned the most about this year’s Pitt basketball team – they are just like any other Pitt team before them.

The basket that Virginia scored with 0.4 left on the clock was a pretty basic play.

Cavaliers guard London Perrantes takes the ball to the right side of the court to create an isolation between himself and Pitt forward Lamar Patterson. On the left side of the court, Virginia’s two big men both set picks to open up the two best shooters on the court at the top of the key.

If this play works to perfection Virginia gets a wide-open shot and it makes sense for them to make the game-winning shot; but here’s the thing, the play didn’t work at all. Both Virginia big men set their picks but no Pitt players ran into them, by the time Cavaliers guard Malcolm Brogdon gets the ball at the top of the key, there are three Pitt defenders who are open to cover him, so how was Brogdon still open?

That’s simple. While no Pitt defenders ran into the screeners Virginia had set up, they didn’t run anywhere else either. At the time Brogdon gets the ball for the last shot those three Panthers (Michael Young, Talib Zanna, and Cameron Wright) are covering nobody.

This obviously isn’t because these three players were confused by the play, because it didn’t even work! This is a mental lapse by three players who got caught up in the moment; it’s also a fine example of the problem that has bothered Pitt teams for years: inability to win close games against good teams.

A Pitt basketball fan is one of the most underrated tortured fans. They’ve been through just as much pain as Browns, Knicks and Islanders fans these last 10 years. Except a Pitt fan’s pain is different from those teams that have just been bad this last decade, because at times the Panthers have been pretty good.

For at least a moment in every big game, they think they have a chance to win. The examples are scattered throughout recent history: ’09 against Villanova, ’09 against West Virginia in the Big East tournament, ’10 against Butler, ’11 against Butler AGAIN. And those are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head!

So maybe one play isn’t enough to convince you that this Pitt team is like those teams of Pitt past, perhaps this will do it. The Panthers are shooting an abysmal 35.6 percent from the field in losses this year. Against ranked teams they are 0-3 and shooting 37 percent.

The team “leader” Patterson is shooting an even-worse 29.5 percent against ranked opponents. They are averaging 2.3 points in the last three minutes of games against ranked opponents. Think about that last one, that’s saying if there are three minutes left in a game against a good team, and the Panthers are only down by three, odds are they have no chance to win. I’ll stop at that one.

The point is, yes, this is possibly the most complete Pitt team since the ’08-’09 team that was ranked second in the country and yes, they are in a new, weaker conference than the Big East, but until further notice, it’s just same old Pitt.

Grant Burgman is a staff writer for City of Champions. Follow him on Twitter @AdultshGrantino.