DeCourcy: Pitt Doesn't Have Enough Offense Without Johnson

PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- The Pitt Panthers lost 75-71 at North Carolina Saturday for their fourth defeat in six games. It followed a 58-56 loss at home to Syracuse.

Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News told Tab Douglas and Stacy Kauffman that the Syracuse loss hurts more.

"(Saturday) they went down, they gave a great account of themselves on the road. It would have obviously been nice for Panthers fans if they had been able to pull it off, but weren't quite good enough," DeCourcy said. "But, they were good enough for 39:56 on Wednesday (against Syracuse), and just didn't play those final four seconds as they needed to."

DeCourcy said that Pitt fans shouldn't be surprised by the team's struggles in recent games.

"Not having Durand Johnson is destroying this team relative to its potential to be special," DeCourcy said. "They're still playing well in a lot of ways, but you just don't have enough offense without him. You barely had enough with him."

Kauffman asked DeCourcy if Pitt is in trouble of missing the NCAA Tournament.

"They're going to get in unless they lose every game from here 'til the end of the regular season," DeCourcy said. "They're dropping down the seed line because of the lack of high-level achievement. That's going to affect their seed."

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