Marquette prolongs Pittsburgh's baffling skid

MILWAUKEE Frustrating doesn't begin to describe Pittsburgh's start to this Big East season.Pittsburgh has been one of the Big East's predominant programs for much of the last decade. The Panthers are the league leader in overall winning percentage (284-77, .787), league winning percentage (124-48, .721), consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (10) and 20-victory, 10-league victory seasons (10).A year ago, the Panthers won the Big East title their sixth in the last ten seasons and landed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before being upset by Butler in the second round.Things are a lot different these days.A 62-57 loss Saturday afternoon to No. 25 Marquette left the Panthers 0-5 in league play for the first time since the 1999-2000 season and and at 11-7 overall this year, surpassing the six losses they recorded all of last season.Overall, the Panthers have lost six in a row, marking their longest losing streak since the 1997-1998 season, which began with a stunning home loss to Wagner in the final non-conference game of the season. Since then, Pitt has lost at Notre Dame by 13, at home to Cincinnati by three, at DePaul by three and on Tuesday, scored just 39 points in a home loss to Rutgers."We're not used to this," Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon said. "Call it what you will, obviously the losses are more than we ever had. Our kids are disappointed because they played hard, they played well but we did not play well enough to win."Pinpointing the specific problem hasnt been an easy task. Dixon can point to any number of issues: scoring, rebounding, decision-making ... but the biggest problem, at least for the time being, is the Panthers penchant for turning the ball over."It's been a couple different things, Dixon said. "Turnovers have been a little bit of a problem. No question about that. We've tried to get better at it. That's really cost us.Making things more difficult for Dixon is the absence of starting point guard Tray Woodall. Woodall has missed the last 11 games with a strained groin and the Panthers have missed him for more than his 12.4 points and 7.5 assists.He's arguably the Panthers' best ball handler and without him, the pressure has fallen on Ashton Gibbs to carry the load. That was evident midway through the second half Saturday, when Marquette applied full court pressure and started to take over the contest.Pittsburgh looked well on its way to snapping the streak Saturday. The Panthers were beating Marquette in just about every aspect of the game, but the Golden Eagles came out much more aggressive in the second half, putting the Panthers in early foul trouble. The switch to the press led to too many turnovers and an inability to rebound down the stretch sealed the Panthers fate.There were some bright spots, despite the outcome. Freshman Isiah Epps looked good defensively, though he finished without any points. Gibbs recovered from an eight-point effort against Rutgers to finish with a game-high 29 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 4 of 8 three point attempts.Dixon moved Gibbs off the point for stretches, allowing the preseason better opportunities and his highest point total of the season."We got some sets that worked for him, Dixon said. "But we've got to have some other guys hit some shots, too. We had a lot of open shots from other guys that obviously their numbers and what they've done lately has really caught up to us.The road doesnt get much easier for Pittsburgh which travels to upstate New York Monday for a nationally televised contest against top-ranked and unbeaten Syracuse.The Panthers, though, insist theyre ready."We had a bad game today, Epps said. "I think were going to do good when we play Syracuse.