In Pitt?s first meeting against Louisville, the Cardinals shot 65 percent from the field an won easily at Petersen Events Center.
The Cardinals got big offensive games from guards Chris Jones and Terry Rozier, who combined to hit five 3-pointers and score 43 points in an 80-68 victory.
Pitt gets a second chance at the Cardinals tonight, only this time it will be at KFC Yum! Center where Louisville has lost only twice this season.
Jamie Dixon said the key will be stopping the guards from duplicating there early outburst.
?We can?t let their guys get going early on some drives to the basket,? he said. ?We have always been a big believer, a couple of open looks early, some layups, makes guys a whole lot better shooters as the game goes on. So we have to defend early. We have to make them take tough shots.?
Louisville (19-4, 7-3 ACC) was in a shooting slump coming into the first meeting, so coach Rick Pitino decided to change gears with his offense and employed a more attacking style.
?We made a lot changes, subtle changes in our offensive schemes,? he said after the game. ?We ran some different offensive sets which helped us a lot. We did a lot of good things by getting to the paint with drives. ? I felt if we could do that, we could shoot a high percentage, and we did.?
Guard James Robinson said the last game got out of control because the Panthers (16-8, 5-5) allowed Rozier and Jones to get hot early.
?From the beginning of the game, we need to make sure we lock down on defense,? Robinson said. ?We can?t let them get anything early. They got early layups in the last game, some uncontested jump shots. So we need to limit those and make them take contested shots.?
Jamel Artis, the ACC player of the week, said stopping Rozier and Jones from driving is going to be the key concern for the Panthers.
?We have to play defense,? Artis said. ?We didn?t play any defense against the two guards and it showed. We lost.?
He said the Panthers also spent a lot of energy trying to keep Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell off the offensive glass and that left them vulnerable in other areas.
Louisville got an offensive boost out of the Jan. 25 win and scored 81 and 78 points in wins against Boston College and No. 12 North Carolina. But the offense went into the tank in a 52-47 loss Saturday at No. 2 Virginia. The Cardinals shot only 37 percent from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line.
Credit the Cavaliers defense for some of that, but the larger problem for the Cardinals was that nobody other than ? Jones, Rozier, Harrell and Wayne Blackshear ? scored.
Dixon would like to see the Panthers duplicate that formula, and that starts with limiting transition opportunities and forcing Louisville to run its offense each possession.
?We have to make sure we don?t let them get going,? Dixon said. ?We don?t want them to get confident. We can?t give them transition baskets. We gave them a few transition baskets and layups when we were pressing. We can?t do that.?
This is the first of a tough four-game stretch for Pitt. North Carolina comes to Petersen Events Center Saturday, then the Panthers will travel to Virginia Monday and Syracuse Feb. 21.
Dixon said the four-game stretch will determine the Panthers? NCAA tournament fate.
?We know where we are at,? he said. ?We are right there in position as are about 45 other teams. There are probably some teams who have done enough at this point but very few. Everybody has to win games down the stretch.?
The Cardinals got big offensive games from guards Chris Jones and Terry Rozier, who combined to hit five 3-pointers and score 43 points in an 80-68 victory.
Pitt gets a second chance at the Cardinals tonight, only this time it will be at KFC Yum! Center where Louisville has lost only twice this season.
Jamie Dixon said the key will be stopping the guards from duplicating there early outburst.
?We can?t let their guys get going early on some drives to the basket,? he said. ?We have always been a big believer, a couple of open looks early, some layups, makes guys a whole lot better shooters as the game goes on. So we have to defend early. We have to make them take tough shots.?
Louisville (19-4, 7-3 ACC) was in a shooting slump coming into the first meeting, so coach Rick Pitino decided to change gears with his offense and employed a more attacking style.
?We made a lot changes, subtle changes in our offensive schemes,? he said after the game. ?We ran some different offensive sets which helped us a lot. We did a lot of good things by getting to the paint with drives. ? I felt if we could do that, we could shoot a high percentage, and we did.?
Guard James Robinson said the last game got out of control because the Panthers (16-8, 5-5) allowed Rozier and Jones to get hot early.
?From the beginning of the game, we need to make sure we lock down on defense,? Robinson said. ?We can?t let them get anything early. They got early layups in the last game, some uncontested jump shots. So we need to limit those and make them take contested shots.?
Jamel Artis, the ACC player of the week, said stopping Rozier and Jones from driving is going to be the key concern for the Panthers.
?We have to play defense,? Artis said. ?We didn?t play any defense against the two guards and it showed. We lost.?
He said the Panthers also spent a lot of energy trying to keep Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell off the offensive glass and that left them vulnerable in other areas.
Louisville got an offensive boost out of the Jan. 25 win and scored 81 and 78 points in wins against Boston College and No. 12 North Carolina. But the offense went into the tank in a 52-47 loss Saturday at No. 2 Virginia. The Cardinals shot only 37 percent from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line.
Credit the Cavaliers defense for some of that, but the larger problem for the Cardinals was that nobody other than ? Jones, Rozier, Harrell and Wayne Blackshear ? scored.
Dixon would like to see the Panthers duplicate that formula, and that starts with limiting transition opportunities and forcing Louisville to run its offense each possession.
?We have to make sure we don?t let them get going,? Dixon said. ?We don?t want them to get confident. We can?t give them transition baskets. We gave them a few transition baskets and layups when we were pressing. We can?t do that.?
This is the first of a tough four-game stretch for Pitt. North Carolina comes to Petersen Events Center Saturday, then the Panthers will travel to Virginia Monday and Syracuse Feb. 21.
Dixon said the four-game stretch will determine the Panthers? NCAA tournament fate.
?We know where we are at,? he said. ?We are right there in position as are about 45 other teams. There are probably some teams who have done enough at this point but very few. Everybody has to win games down the stretch.?
