Will Pitt be able to get away with hideous 3-point shooting against better teams even when the inside game is going, the defense is fine and the team is still passing the ball? Not likely. Can they get away with it against average teams in the Big East? Well, they have before but you don’t want to make it a habit. Can they get away with it against RMU? Obviously.

Just can’t get too wound about the first bad night of 3-point shooting. Consider that Pitt was 40-85 from the 3 before this game. That just wasn’t going to continue.

At one point, the Panthers missed 12 consecutive 3-pointers spanning nearly 24 minutes. Most of the misses were wide-open looks by Pitt, which entered the game shooting a Big East-leading 47.1 percent from behind the arc this season. It was the worst effort since going 2 for 20 at Connecticut last year.

Antonio Graves, Levance Fields and Keith Benjamin combined to go 0 for 9 from 3-point range. Ramon, who entered the game No. 3 in the Big East in 3-point shooting at 66.7 percent, was 2 for 7.

“We just weren’t shooting the ball well,” Ramon said, “the whole game.”

Pitt was much better from inside the arc, hitting 25 of 36 shots.

While a little more drastic than most would like, consider the RMU game something like a market correction. Coach Dixon still found the good.

“We built this program on defense and rebounding,” Dixon said. “Shooting isn’t there every night. … We took very good shots throughout the game. To win by 15 when you shoot the way we did, that says a lot about the other areas of our game.”

Pitt was sharp in other areas. The Panthers played strong defensively and won the rebounding battle. Forwards Levon Kendall and Tyrell Biggs held A.J. Jackson, Robert Morris’ leading scorer, to six points, 18 below his season average. Robert Morris was held to 22 points below its season average.

The Colonials played a tough game. Maybe they really are better than in years past. It seems likely they will turn out to have been a bigger challenge than the Duquesne Dukes will.

If you want more positives, consider that Aaron Gray really asserted himself when the team was sagging.

With Pitt shooting cold from the floor, Aaron Gray led the final charge as the Panthers took over the game with a 25-11 run in the final 13 minutes. Gray scored seven points, pulled down seven rebounds, and blocked one shot in that span.

“Coach Dixon pulled us back together and we got back to playing Pittsburgh basketball. That’s when we took over the game,” Gray said. “We stayed patient. Coach told us to slow things down and take our time and save the good shot for an even-better shot.”

Gray led all scorers with 21 points and rebounders with 15.

“This was a very good Robert Morris team who played real hard and came out flying with all their ammo and we just kept answering,” Gray said. “We came into the huddle and I told everybody I’m not mad you’re missing the shots. When you keep getting open shots and don’t take them, that’s when I’ll get mad.”

Gray did it on 10-13 shooting, and so far this season is near .700 on shooting. That’s very, very promising — not to mention very good for his NBA draft positioning.

Pitt also purposefully got the ball inside with good passes for the scores. 11 of Pitt’s 13 second half baskets were accompanied by an assist.