This article was written by a reader and not the staff of Cardiac Hill

In a loosely called physical contest reminiscent of the 6 foul days our Panthers fell to Louisville by the final of 41-59. Offensively Pitt fans were subjected to a horror show. Defensively, like the Purdue game, the team saw another performance in which the low post play determined the game.

Facing a stifling defense our the team only shot 28.6% from the field. Worse was the 1-11, only 9.1%, from three. The shooting troubles extended to the free throw line with only 12-20, a miserable 60% compared to the mid-80s we are used to. 19 turnovers added to a mix that was hard for fans to watch. I credit the 14 offensive rebounds we collected to the horrid shooting but it is a bright spot we can look at on the stat sheet.

For most of the game our defense played as though they are our defense. Onuaku, he of the granny style free throw, and Lee both were able to score successfully with each contributing 18 points. Outside of the low post the defense was acceptable limiting the rest of the team to only 9-25, 36%. Unfortunately for fans of the only 3 steals we had only Luther's for a dunk was memorable.

With the boring facts out of the way it's time for the gut reactions. Fans on both Card Chronicle and Cardiac Hill noticed that few fouls were being called. Pitt ended up with a total of 19 against Louisville's 17. While, for the most part, the freer play this year has led to a more open offense this game turned into a slug fest. The beauty of player movement turned into a battle for position of players that haven't mastered the art of footwork in the post pretending to arm wrestle.

The adjustments in playing style forced by the nature of the game clearly favored Louisville. Onuaku, who was averaging 5.1 fouls per 40 minutes did end up drawing his 4th foul after the game was decided but was able to force his way to the bucket for most of the contest. Neither Maia or Nelson-Ododa were effective defensive anchors tonight and the switch to Luther arguably led to the run which put the game out of reach. Thanks to the situation Pitino was able to play, along with his normal man, a zone in which players in the sweet spot could be bumped disrupting offensive flow. Instead of floating like a butterfly players tonight bumped like beetles. Young catching the ball in a hole in the zone where 8 arms were tangled above an equal number of intertwined legs is not something I'd ever thought I'd be forced to see.

For the most part this game should be forgotten by everyone. The tendency this year has been to allow teams to bump if it doesn't slow the pace of the game. It is much more likely that, when it matters in the tournament, games will be called to promote offensive flow. That said Dixon needs to come up with a plan in case this situation happens again when it really matters. Luckily we get to face other teams with dominate centers before crunch time giving us time to adjust. BC{1/16) is an obvious trap game but a strong performance will show me that this team will fight back. NCST(1/19) and FSU(1/23) have good post players giving us a chance to improve our low post defense. Tonight was hard but the next three games define where this season will go.