NEW YORK -- No need to summon Dick Vitale or Digger Phelps for a long-winded explanation of this game.
One line will do: Pitt couldn't shoot straight.
The Panthers missed a ton of shots they normally make, and the result was predictable - a 65-42 loss to Georgetown on Saturday night in the Big East Championship game.
Hey, it happens. The tournament still was something to build on for Pitt.
What's disturbing is the prolonged postseason shooting slump of senior center Aaron Gray. He made less than half of his shots in the first two games of the tournament and went 1 for 13 last night, including 0 for 9 in the first half. If he makes four of those, Pitt goes to the intermission down five instead of 13.
This goes back to last season, when Gray, who is fourth on Pitt's all-time field-goal percentage list at nearly 56 percent, made just 42.6 percent of his field-goal attempts (29 for 68) in six postseason games. Most of his misses were from point-blank range, which is where a player his size (he is listed at 7 feet, 270 pounds) almost always shoots from.
After the season, Gray said his low percentage in tournament play could be eradicated with better conditioning. He vowed to whip himself into tip-top shape this season.
He still needs to prove he succeeded.
Though he played only 13 minutes Friday against Louisville, Gray looked dead tired last night. On one sequence, with 3:20 left in the first half, he was standing alone at the rim and didn't attempt a dunk. Instead, he left a shot way short and missed a tip.
Of course, he wasn't alone in firing blanks. Pitt's starting backcourt didn't fare much better (including 0 for 4 in the first half).
But let's face it: Gray is Pitt's meal ticket. He needs to do no worse than break even in matchups against the likes of Georgetown's Roy Hibbert -- and he needs to dominate lesser centers.
Gray's effort isn't in question - he battled hard throughout this tournament - but his execution sure is.
Now, the good news: Pitt broke some new ground this week, toggling between man-to-man defense and a 2-3 zone. Because of that, it could be a tougher out than usual in the NCAA Tournament.
When was the last time you saw the Panthers switch defenses so often?
I asked Louisville coach Rick Pitino if it made Pitt harder to play against.
"I think it makes any team tougher, because you have something else you can go to," Pitino said. "Playing man all the time, if you get in foul trouble, you have to have something else that you can go to defensively, and they have something else they can go to right now."
For most of the Ben Howland/Jamie Dixon era, "zone" has been a dirty word. The program was rebuilt on rugged, half-court man-to-man defense, and the team's success with that style is undeniable.
At times, however, stubbornness prevailed. Pitt would stay in man when the situation cried for zone. Such a time occurred in last year's NCAA Tournament game against Bradley. Gray was in foul trouble, and Pitt's guards were not as quick as Bradley's.
Yet, Pitt stayed in man-to-man and went down in flames.
It seemed as if every time Pitt went to a zone in this tournament -- including last night -- it created a turnover on the opponent's first possession.
The other end of the court is where the Panthers missed their shot at a championship.
