PITT OFFENSIVE WOES CONTINUE, DEFENSE ALSO RESTS IN LOSS TO IU

The offensive woes of Pittsburgh continued Tuesday night as Indiana Knocks off Pitt in Jimmy V Classic, 74-64, last night in Madison Square Garden. The Panthers shot just 31% from the field and time and time again failed to finish opportunities as IU's Tom Crean Picks Up 200th Career Victory (Indianapolis Star). It was his 10th win at Indiana following 190 as coach of Marquette previously.

Pitt trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half, before rallying down the stretch, including a nine-point spurt in 19 seconds as Freshman Dante Taylor's put-back got the Panthers to within 70-64 with 58 seconds to play. Indiana was able to hold on to hand Pitt only its fourth loss in its past 15 games at Madison Square Garden.

"We got what we really deserved," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said afterwards in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We didn't play well. Indiana did."

Indiana shot 44% against Pitt, but found it easy inside as they scored 40 points in the paint and 25 from the foul line. The Hoosiers had to make just four perimeter shots (one three) to score 74 points and beat Pitt. Not a typical performance on the defensive end of the court by a Dixon coached team.

Senior Jermaine Dixon played 13 minutes for Pittsburgh in his first action of the season recovering from a broken foot. Dixon was noticeably a step behind as he works his way back into game shape.

Sophomore Ashton Gibbs had a career high 25 points and junior Brad Wanamaker added 18 for Pitt. The Panthers return home Saturday to host Kent and they know where they need to improve.


"I'm not concerned about the offense," freshman Dante Taylor, who scored 12 points in the loss said to the Post-Gazette following the game. "I'm more concerned about the defense. We're letting teams score too easily. We're not taking pride in defense. We need to put our foot down, stand up and play defense."