Apparently the coach and players weren’t happy after losing.
Instead, as hard as they tried, these resilient Panthers were not accepting defeat well after they nearly overcame a 10-point second-half deficit. Pitt’s Aaron Gray missed two free throws, and Marquette’s Steve Novak made two in the final 24.7 seconds to determine the outcome.
Afterwards, Dixon appeared distraught, as did Gray, Pitt’s budding superstar center who was forced to sit on the sidelines for nearly half the game with foul difficulties.
If there is any consolation, though, Pitt can realize the final decison went down to the end, as do so many similar Big East matchups.
“It felt like a rivalry game out there. It was a great atmosphere,” Pitt guard Antonio Graves said.
And unlike a previous loss at St. John’s — the Panthers’ first defeat after 15 victories to open the season — it was not a lethargic performance for Pitt, which was facing a Marquette team full of hostility three weeks after being handed a bitter six-point setback by the Panthers at Petersen Events Center.
In this instance, Dixon said “there is such a fine line between a win and a loss.”
I’m glad they weren’t being philosophical after the game. I’m glad they were upset, frustrated and bothered. It was a tough, close game and they lost. As hard as they worked to comeback at the end, they just didn’t finish. They had chances especially down the stretch. Even before the Gray missed free throws.
When Pitt was coming back from its 10 point deficit and Young missed 3 straight free throws. Or with 1:18 remaining and Pitt trailing by one, failing to grab the rebound off of a Marquette missed shot. Allowing the Golden Eagles to run off more than 30 seconds.
On the issue of fouls, Pitt really is limited in its complaints in my view. Gray and Kendall both committed some dumb fouls — especially a couple over the backs — that you can’t blame on the way the game was called. Only that strange technical on Gray made no sense.
“There’s no question it changed the game,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It changed what we wanted to do. But those things are going to happen. You have to deal with it. We’ve done it before.”
It’s not the first time this season — and probably not the last time — Gray was in foul trouble. He was in foul trouble against Wisconsin, Louisville and Rutgers, but Pitt managed to win those games without Gray’s usual presence.
“I don’t know if they were bad fouls on my part or not, but I have to be smarter,” Gray said. “I have to pick my spots on when to be aggressive. It was my fault. The other guys who came in did a great job of keeping us in the game.”
The Panthers have been able to overcome the foul trouble because they have a deep bench. Pitt’s bench outscored Marquette’s bench, 36-22. Freshman guard Levance Fields had 14 points and freshman forward Sam Young and junior guard Antonio Graves added nine points apiece.
The loss of Gray and Kendall was felt more on rebounding and allowing second chance points. Marquette went just as deep as Pitt, and actually committed more fouls — just spreading them out much more. Pitt even had more free throw attempts — even with the intentional fouling at the end. Pitt just didn’t make them (13-22, 59.1%). Pitt had its worst road free throw shooting game since Louisville (14-24, 58.3%).
