Extra practice time should help Fields
With four more days of practice before Pitt's next game Thursday night at Notre Dame, junior point guard Levance Fields is hoping his game will round into form by the time the Panthers face the Fighting Irish.
In his first game back after being out since a Dec. 29 game against Dayton because of a fractured bone in his left foot, Fields knocked the rust off in a 72-54 setback at Marquette Friday night. He was 1 for 7 from the field and scored four points in 20 minutes.
Fields took his struggles in stride. The Pitt training and coaching staffs had been telling him that it was going to take some time for him to get back to where he was before the injury.
"No matter how long I would have waited, that would have happened because I missed so much time," Fields said. "I would say I was 85 percent. Of course, I wasn't 100 percent. But I knew that going in. I'm not going to make any excuses. I tried to give what I could. Obviously, it wasn't enough, and we got blown out."
Fields got beat a few times on defense and was not his usual confident self on offense. In one sequence, he missed two uncontested layups. He appeared winded at times, but, for a first game back, it went about as well as could be expected.
"We didn't expect him to be 100 percent," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.
"He was a little sluggish," junior forward Sam Young said. "He wasn't like his usual self. He wasn't as bouncy. He wasn't as quick with the ball. He just looked one step off. You can tell he's still getting in shape. When you're off that long and you come back to play a game, it takes a toll on you.
"He's been back with us for only a short period of time. We're still getting used to him being back. Once he's back at full strength, he's going to be a big piece to our puzzle."
Fields was cleared by doctors to begin practicing with the team Feb. 7. But he only went through two full practices before the Marquette game. Dixon said the time between games this week will be beneficial for Fields and the rest of the team as they try to readjust the team chemistry in the wake of Fields' return.
"That's something we have to take advantage of," Dixon said of the practice time. "We have to get the whole group together and practice. That's what we need to do. Levance had practiced twice. It is what it is. He's not going to be 100 percent. Hopefully, he'll get there shortly.
"We need to get after it. We need to practice and improve and get better because this was not a good performance by us and was not indicative of our team."
The Panthers had their struggles on offense and defense against Marquette. The Golden Eagles shot 49 percent from the field and continually beat Pitt's guards to penetrate to the basket.
The offense was not much better. The Panthers shot 37 percent from the field, and Young, who scored 18 points, was the only player to score in double figures. They had two scoring droughts of more than five minutes, including one 61/2-minute stretch when Marquette went on a 17-0 run early in the second half to put the game out of reach.
Fields is hoping that the practices the next few days will help the Panthers get back to the way they were playing in December, when they won their first 11 games.
"Hopefully, by the Notre Dame game, we're back to normal," Fields said. "I practiced about four or five days before this. It is different because I wasn't playing. It is tough.
"With me coming back, we have nine players again. We can do more live contact drills that coach likes to do. We'll be looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to playing as much as possible and playing on this foot.
"We'll definitely have some tough practices. We just have to forget about this one and get ready for Notre Dame."
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