EMBARRASSED

Wake up Panther fans; it's not a bad dream. This is the pure reality of 2012 Pitt basketball.

After facing the humiliation of dropping four straight games prior, the Panthers (11-6, 0-4) went right back to their losing ways on Wednesday night, dropping a 62-39 decision to Rutgers (10-7, 2-2) at Petersen Events Center.

The 23-point loss marks the worst in Petersen Events Center history, trumping a 13-point loss at the hands of Louisville in 2006.

Pitt shot a miserable 12-of-57 (21.1 percent) from the floor, including a first half that saw the Panthers connect on just 4-of-32 shots.

“We tried to make adjustments. They just played good defense,” said Ashton Gibbs, who finished the game with 8 points. “You have to give them credit. They stopped us from penetrating and getting into the paint. We have to do a better job of handling the ball and doing better in the paint.”

The Panthers, who had just one playerâ€"J.J. Moore with 10 pointsâ€"score in double-figures, scored just 14 points in the paint. They finished with just 2 interior pointsâ€"a Talib Zanna driving and-1 layup with one minute expired in the gameâ€"in the 1st half.

“We have to do a better job in the paint,” Nasir Robinson agreed. “They did a good job of defending us and stopping us from scoring and pulling down rebounds. They just did a good job on us tonight.”

Rutgers out-rebounded the Panthers 51-35, including corralling 19 offensive boards leading to 32 points-in-the-paint.

“This was the No. 1 rebounding team in the country and our guys stepped up to the challenge,” said Rutgers head coach Mike Rice. “Each and every individual on this team took it as a challenge and went and out-rebounded the best rebounding team in the country.”

Rice, who was an assistant coach under Jamie Dixon for one season, and a head coach with Robert Morris before moving on to Rutgers, talked about his knack for knowing what the Panthers were going to run tonight.

“We run half of what they run to be honest with you,” Rice said. “They are good plays, they are good sets. Our switching defenses doesn't allow Ashton to get open looks at all. We did the same thing to Jeremy Lamb (of UConn). It is an effective formula, defensively.”

“Honestly they knew a lot of our plays, because I guess Mike Rice knows us,” said Gibbs. “They switched off a lot on screens when I was coming off screens and different guards were coming off screens. They did a good job scouting us.”

The lock-down defensive pressure of Rutgers forced an awful 4-of-19 shooting performabce from beyond-the-arc for Pitt, with Gibbs finishing the night on just 2 of 11 shooting.

All five starters combined for just 29 points for the Panthers.

“We have a lot of work to do. It starts with the shooting,” said coach Jamie Dixon. “We can't seem to make a shot. The rhythm is just not there and it caught up to other parts of our game. We have a lot of work to do. We realize we are not playing anywhere near where we should be playing. The guys are extremely disappointed. The locker room was silent.

“We're on a stretch here, you know,” continued Dixon about the current five-game losing streak. “What we are shooting now is an incredibly huge differential from where we were shooting before. I don't know if that is confidence or not, but we need to shoot better, or execute better. We need results.”

The Panthers, whose only lead was a one-point difference with 18 minutes left in the 1st half, failed to score a single point in a seven-minute stretch midway through the second half, during which Rutgers excelled to an 11-0 run, putting the final nail in the Panthers.

Eli Carter led all scorers with 14 points, while Dane Miller contributed with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

“We just came out and wanted it,” Carter said. “We were locked in at the beginning and we wanted to come out and prove ourselves, and we did that tonight.”

How Bad Was It?

• The Panthers fell directly into an abyss Wednesday night, setting a plethora of records that no team would ever want to be associated with.
• The 21-point loss marked the worst loss in both the Jamie Dixon and Petersen Events Center era.  
• The point total of 39 marked a team-lowest since a 53-30 loss to Temple in 1969 at the Palestra.
• The 51-35 rebounding deficit marked a team-worst since the 1999-00 season and the worst in Jamie Dixon era.
• The Panthers 4 of 32 (12.5%) shooting performance in the 1st half is the worst shooting performance on record.
• The Panthers scored just 2 points in the paint in the 1st half, marking a worst in both the Jamie Dixon and Ben Howland eras.

Encouraging Words
While most of the night was grim for the Panthers and their fans, Rutgers coach Mike Rice shed some light on the struggles, and in fact predicted Pitt will be back again.

“Everybody goes through this,” the Rutgers coach said. “I told somebody on the radio today, 'it is going to work itself out.' When you have a great coach and good players, these players will figure it out. Everybody has problems. Whether it is injuries, confidence or not buying into the formula. Whatever it is, they will figure it out.”

Still Public Favorites
Over 60 percent of gamblers bet on the Panthers covering what went from an 8-point spread to 9.5-points at most sports books (both off-shore and in Las Vegas). Over 80 percent of bettors took the Panthers to win the game straight-up.

To add to this game, the Panthers have been consensus favorites by over 65 percent in their last three losses (in which they lost against the point spread in all three).

Next Up
The terrain is even more rugged for the Panthers who will travel to Wisconsin for a road conference date with Marquette on Saturday. That game will tip off at 2 PM and can be seen nationally on ESPN-U.