Pitt Basketball
Pitt Looking to ‘Be the Bully First’ to Snap Streak
PITTSBURGH — Pitt basketball is on a skid.
The Panthers have dropped four in a row, and have gone from a projected five-seed in the NCAA Tournament bracketology to a team on the bubble. They have lost to Duke, Louisville, Florida State, and Clemson during the skid, dropping their four-best opportunities so far to make a statement in ACC play. However, Pitt is still in the NCAA Tournament conversation. The season is still young, and the team has 13 games left on the slate to right the ship.
Since the loss to Clemson on Saturday, Pitt has had the week to focus on Syracuse, this Saturday’s opponent. So what are the players focusing on changing to snap the streak?
“I guess the one thing you say is just, be more of a bully,” guard Jaland Lowe said on Thursday. “People come out there and bully us first. We can’t have that, that’s not like us. We’ve got to go out there and be on the attack first instead of waiting, instead of letting leads up, stuff like that. We’ve got to be the bullies first.”
“We’re in a slump right now, the whole world knows it,” Lowe added. “In order to get out of a slump, you need some energy, you need some determination, you need some fight. So, in practice, that’s what we’ve been doing, getting ready for this game on Saturday.”
The week off may prove to be perfectly-timed for the Panthers. The team seems to be as healthy as it has been this year, and a week of competitive practices together may be just what this team needs.
“It definitely gives you an opportunity to reset,” Ishmael Leggett said about the week off. “But, just to get back to competing. This week of competition has been much-needed, it’s gone well. I feel like we are starting to get that back-against-the-wall mentality back that we had, and we’re starting to get that back so that’s a great thing.”
Last year, Pitt began ACC play 1-5, and came back to finish the season 12-8 in league play. This year, after starting 3-0, Pitt now owns a 3-4 record in league play and sits in ninth place in the conference.
Saturday’s game against Syracuse will tip off at 12:30 p.m.
