Jan. 29, 2008

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pitt has averaged 25-plus victories the past six seasons, so the Panthers don't have much experience handling something like this.

That is, an unexpected defeat in which the then-No. 13 Panthers led Rutgers by nine points with about 12 minutes remaining at home, only to lose by 13. It was a bad loss in which the Panthers were visibly outworked by a team with lesser talent, getting outrebounded by 16 in the second half.

Worse still, the Panthers gave the impression they didn't have the wherewithal to stand up to Rutgers' rally. Uncharacteristically, they were constantly beaten for loose balls, rebounds and second-chance attempts.

Losing is one thing. To lose like the No. 18 Panthers (16-4, 4-3 Big East) did, with a surprising lack of defensive commitment, hustle and motivation, certainly surprised coach Jamie Dixon.

Given Rutgers' 1-6 conference record coming in, it was Pitt's most unanticipated Big East loss during Dixon's five seasons as coach.

"We didn't give enough effort, and we can't live with that," guard Ronald Ramon said of Pitt's 77-64 loss on Saturday. "We can lose games, but if we give everything on the court, we can live with that. The last game, it wasn't like that. We went out there and gave up on defense. We weren't playing as hard as we could."

No doubt Dixon doesn't expect a similar effort Wednesday night when the Panthers stay at home to play Villanova (13-5, 3-4), which dropped out of the Top 25 while losing three of its last five. One of the losses was to Rutgers, which has beaten no Big East teams except Pitt and Villanova.

Pitt was 12-4 in the Big East last season yet, with 11 games remaining in an expanded 18-game conference season, already has three conference losses. In its last three games, Pitt has been beaten by Rutgers (10-11) and Cincinnati (9-11, 4-4).

During recent seasons, the Panthers thrived by beating such teams - one reason why they haven't lost more than six Big East games in any season since 2000-01.

Dixon emphasized defense during a 5-on-5 practice Monday that was unusual because the Panthers haven't done much full-squad scrimmaging since starters Levance Fields and Mike Cook were injured last month.

"If we had gone non-contact out there, guys would have been upset," Ramon said. "We wanted to pick it up."

Dixon might be thinking the Panthers' season is at a pivotal point, one in which they can either get back to playing the way they did in upsetting then-No. 5 Georgetown 69-60 on Jan. 14 or continue to regress as they have recently.

Pitt's next seven games are against teams with winning records. Five are currently ahead of or tied with Pitt in the conference standings.

With so many key games upcoming, Dixon went back to a more demanding practice routine even though all of his starters are playing about 30 minutes per night or more. Fields (broken left foot) could return late in the season, but there is no projected return date.

"We are built on intensity and toughness and physicality, and you can't help but lose some of it in the practices," Dixon said. "There's nothing like getting after it in practice. It's what the guys wanted to do."