Jamie Dixon’s Pitt Panthers basketball team has been away from home for close to two weeks now, which is a long stretch this early in the season, especially for a young team.
Pitt showed again Tuesday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge that they left their defense back in Pittsburgh in an 81-69 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington.
Indiana (6-1) shot 54.1 percent (33-for-61) from the floor on the night, the fourth time in five games on this trip that Pitt (4-3) has allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent from the floor.
The Hoosiers had their way getting to the rim, scoring on plenty of uncontested drives, but they also showed they could knock down the long-range shot, draining 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) shots from behind the arc.
Freshman Emmit Holt scored a season high 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and had two blocks off the bench in the Indiana win.
Meanwhile Pitt shot a season-low 36.1 percent from the floor, but the difference in the game really came in the paint. Pitt also hit on just 7-of-26 on 3-pointers, 26.9 percent, also a season low.
Pitt held a 44-37 rebounding edge, including 25 offensive rebounds, but they still only scored 14 second-chance points off those 25 offensive rebounds. In fact, Indiana outscore them 17-14 in terms of second-chance points.
But the Hoosiers had a 48-28 scoring advantage in the paint and didn’t have to work hard for many of them.
Pitt fell behind early and fell behind by as many of 13 in the first half, but a three-point barrage from Pitt that saw Chris Jones drain three straight and Cam Thomas drain one got Pitt right back in the game. But a couple of easy Indiana buckets saw Pitt head to the locker room down by eight.
The Panthers cut the deficit to 47-41 early in the second half, but James Blackmon Jr.’s driving layup and Nick Zeisloft’s 3-pointer sparked a 13-4 run that extended the margin to 60-45 and essentially put the game away. Indiana upped their lead to 23 at one point before Pitt started hitting some shots late.
In addition to Holt’s big game, Blackmon (13), Yogi Ferrell (11) and Troy Williams (10) all scored in double figures for Indiana.
Pitt was led in scoring by Jones with 18. Josh Newkirk scored 16 off the bench and leading scorer Michael Young finished with 13 despite being in foul trouble most of the night. Derrick Randall grabbed 12 rebounds for the Panthers.
Up next for Pitt is the City Game against Duquesne on Friday night at Consol Energy Center.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
