Welcome to Pitt Basketball Summer School. A look at individual Panther players and what they need to do to get better — and by extension make Pitt a better team for the 2011-12 season. Brought to you by SilverPanther in NYC.
Intro:
Today we look at 2010-11 First Team All-Big East senior guard Ashton Gibbs, the Panther’s leading scorer for the past two years. Did you know he practices shooting a lot? Also, he’s a snazzy dresser.
What he gave us last year:
Well to begin with, 522 points or about 17 per game. He shot 47% from the field and 49% from beyond the arc. 89% at the line. I’ve heard people call him a 1-trick pony in an almost pejorative sense, but his 1-trick happens to be the ability to shoot accurately from anywhere on the court. Ashton Gibbs is just a flat-out great shooter. He has no preference for a particular spot, can shoot off a pick, flat-footed, or stop and pop. I just don’t recall Jason Mathews having the ability to shoot like this. There were games when Ashton was quiet, when he was off, and when he was just completely marked. But in Pitt’s 28 wins, he was usually a key factor- and often THE factor.
While not a flashy ballhandler, he managed to be a deft one, capable of bringing the ball up the court and pass it off to Wanamaker in Pitt’s slightly unconventional 1-2 guard setup. Occasionally Pitt did run into some problems when teams brought hard or even nominal pressure on Gibbs all the way up the court. He would handle it without turning the ball over, but the offense lost time on the shot clock, and thus, the ability to run more screens or set-up shots. Still, Ashton is typically of steady and deliberate hands. He rarely made a mistake pass or took an ill-advised shot. He’s a shooter, not a gunner. And he rarely forces an issue. Last year he showed more athletic ability than in the past by mostly getting craftier through the use of stutter steps, pump fakes, and occasional lateral slides. He’s not far behind Sam Young’s pantomime ball fake, except that Ashton uses it to get the defender off his feet and then throws himself into it for a shooting foul- whereas Young used it to get by a defender.
