As the Pitt Panthers prepare to host No. 6 Syracuse Saturday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center, head coach Jamie Dixon has to find a way to correct the Panthers biggest weakness- free-throw shooting.
It seems like forever since a Panthers team could knock down their free-throws consistently and one day you knew it would cost them in a big way, which it did in the NCAA Tournament two years ago against Butler when Gilbert Brown missed a free-throw that would have given the Panthers a win.
The ramifications were bigger than just one missed free-throw by Brown as Pitt is probably a Final Four team that year if he makes it.
The Panthers are having the same issues from the charity-stripe this year, as it appears that some things never change.
Poor free-throw shooting has cost this team games on more than one occasion, but the disturbing part is that the problem doesn’t seem to be getting fixed.
It’s nothing that Dixon can do. They practice free-throw shooting a ton and it’s not like he can get out there and shoot them for them.
But it is a huge problem nonetheless.
Currently the Panthers rank 248th among all Division I teams in free-throw shooting, knocking down a paltry 66.1 percent.
This comes from a team that is 12th in the nation in field-goal percentage (48.9 percent).
Looking more closely at how the Panthers have performed from the line this season, you find that they have shot above only 80 percent as a team twice this season, against Delaware (.882) and North Florida (.840).
Only on seven other occasions of their 22 games has this Pitt team shot above 70 percent.
That means in 13 of their 22 games the Panthers have knocked down less than 70 percent of their attempts.
On seven occasions they broke 60 percent, five times they broke 50 percent and one time- Monday against Louisville, they only broke 20 percent, shooting only 25 percent from the line (3-of-12).
That is unacceptable to put it mildly.
You can blame the Louisville loss on poor free-throw shooting, but it also came into play against Marquette where Pitt was only 13-of-26 from the line in a game they lost in overtime.
In their other three losses, they shot 54.5 percent against Michigan and only 60 percent against Cincinnati. Only in the loss against Rutgers did Pitt exceed 70 percent, when they shot 70.6 percent, making 12-of-27.
Pitt has had a chance to win every game they have dropped and while there have been other factors; poor free-throw shooting has played a major role in each loss.
The problem isn’t just one or two guys, it is team wide.
The only good free-throw shooter on the team is J.J. Moore, who is shooting 85.5 percent from the line.
James Robinson (.761),Tray Woodall (.737), Durand Johnson (.722) and Lamar Patterson (.712) are all shooting over 70 percent, which is respectable, but all have missed key free-throws at key times this year.
The rest of the Panthers are miserable from the line. Talib Zanna has been to the line more than any other Pitt player and is shooting only (.674), followed by: Dante Taylor (.667), Trey Zeigler (.525), Cameron Wright (.476) and Steven Adams (.326).
It has been decades and free-throw shooting continues to cost Pitt games.
One day, they will figure out how important of a part of the game that it is.
They can start that Saturday against Syracuse.
Photo Credit: USA Today
