Pittsburgh Basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout home loss to Miami

Pittsburgh Basketball can only win one way

The first two concerns – lack of a true point guard and lack of scoring depth, create the third and biggest problem. Once Miami showed that they could get any kind of offense they wanted in the first 10 minutes, the game was all but over. That’s because this Panthers team can’t keep up offensively and come back, even if they score some points in the second half when the opponent lets their feet off the gas pedal, as they have against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech recently.

As I’ve said all season, Pittsburgh’s only way of beating teams is to “muck it up” for 40 minutes. For a lack of a better term, it’s when the game becomes ugly throughout, with the opposing team never getting into a real rhythm and going on multiple scoring runs. And when the game is close, for the Panthers to make key plays at the end to sneak out with a win.

But in order for that strategy to work, it takes a ton of discipline on both sides of the court, especially on defense. Although they played against superior guards in Miami, the poor help-side defense and inability to not get beat off the dribble was a problem.

The Panthers have games against Duke and Notre Dame, two teams with guards that can be just as problematic as Miami. But so was North Carolina, who Pittsburgh Basketball was able to overcome. A four-game losing streak after finally getting some momentum would be a poor way to enter the conference tournament and could put Coach Capel’s status back into question.