The Pitt Panthers men’s basketball team opened up the season in impressive fashion, with a school record performance from the floor.
As they opened up the Preseason NIT against Fordham, Jamie Dixon’s Panthers weren’t nearly that efficient shooting the ball, but still shot well enough to cruise to an 86-51 victory and advance to the tournament’s next round.
It was the same recipe as the Pitt’s opening win against Mount St. Mary’s.
“I was really pleased with our effort and the results,” said Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon. “I thought everyone played very well.”
The Panthers shared the ball great and were the beneficiaries of plenty of high-percentage looks because of it. But it was the Pitt defense that made the difference early on, limiting the Rams to only 26.1 percent shooting in the first half (6-for-23).
“I like the way we have come out and defended to start the year,” added Dixon. “We are getting some good ball pressure
Pitt turned that defense into offense and once they figured out the Fordham zone, they outscored the Rams 21-5 throughout the final 10 minutes of the half to take a 37-18 lead into the locker room.
Last game it was Talib Zanna who had a career-high 20 points, this time around it was the other power forward in J.J. Moore’s who sparked the Pitt offense.
“We wanted to come out and try and get after them with our zone,” said Fordham head coach Tom Pecora. “Unfortunately for us, Jamie went small and J.J. had a lot of success against us and pretty much forced us out of it.”
Moore came off the bench to finish with a game-high 20 points (12 in the first half), one shy of his career-high, and sparked the Pitt run early on. Dixon has moved Moore to the 4 this year and it creates a lot of matchup problems. It is similar to what Dixon did with Sam Young his junior season and Moore has similar ability and Dixon is hoping to see similar results.
“I like my role coming off the bench,” said Moore. “I think I can come into the game and give us a spark scoring the basketball. Fortunately tonight I got into a good rhythm and had some success.”
Once again, the Panthers had a great deal of success scoring in the paint, outscoring the Rams 42-12 on the night.
Freshman Steven Adams looked more comfortable than a big man playing in his second career game probably should and had his first career double digit scoring game. Adams made all five of his attempts from the floor and finished the night with 13 points.
“I feel pretty comfortable in the offense,” said Adams. “I know all of the plays and I’m starting to read my teammates better. I would say that I am about at 80 percent of where I want to be, but I think it’s coming along pretty well.”
Tray Woodall also finished in double figures and knocked down his jump shot early. The one noticeable difference in this game from the first is the amount of three-point attempts the Panthers took.
After making only 1-of-6 attempts against Mount St. Mary’s, Pitt knocked down 7-of-17 attempts from behind the arc with Moore and Woodall combining to go 5-for-11.
But while Woodall had another nice game both scoring and distrusting the basketball (five assists); it was again his work on defense that drew notice. He had two of Pitt’s 11 steals on the night and Pitt turned 19 Rams’’ turnovers into 28 points, something Woodall says they have been making a focal point of their defense.
“We want to get after other team’s guards and force turnovers,” the senior guard said. “But more importantly, we want to turn those turnovers into points. We don’t have a set number we want going into each game, but we have done pretty well so far.”
With the Panthers set to take on the winner of the Robert Morris-Lehigh matchup that followed their contest, Dixon was able to get a lot of his starters rest as the second unit played much of the second half.
Notes: Pitt outrebounded the Rams 36-24 with Dante Taylor leading the way with nine…Lamar Patterson has only five points through two games but has been the first one Dixon has praised after each game…The Panthers shot 53.1 percent from the floor while holding Fordham to only 36.6 percent…Pitt had 24 assists on 34 made baskets with Patterson leading the team with six…Fordham’s Chris Gaston, who has averaged a double-double for his career was held to only four points and six rebounds…The Pitt bench outscored Fordham’s 42-23.
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