Much of the focus after Pitt's loss to Villanova in the Big East opener Sunday afternoon has been on senior Ronald Ramon and his struggles with turnovers.

And while Ramon's five turnovers, including one in the waning seconds when Pitt had a chance to win the game, were costly, another problem for coach Jamie Dixon has surfaced since Ramon replaced injured starter Levance Fields in the starting lineup.

How does Dixon get his new point guard, who also happens to be his best outside shooter, more than two 3-point attempts in a game?

Ramon entered the Villanova game averaging 4.4 3-point attempts per game. One of the top 3-point shooters in school history, Ramon was 1 for 5 from the field and 1 for 2 from behind the arc against Villanova. And that basket -- his only points of the game -- came when he made a desperation 3-pointer from the corner with 2:54 remaining as the shot clock was winding down.

"I definitely have to look for my shot," Ramon said. "That's something the team needs me to do, knock down more shots. That will open up the post more for us. That will open the court a lot more. I'm definitely going to have to knock down some shots."

But Dixon said Ramon's first priority is running the offense while Fields is out with a fractured bone in his left foot.

And other than the turnover problem that plagued Ramon and the rest of the team against Villanova, the offense was productive. The Panthers shot 45.5 percent from the field.

"Our offense was pretty good," Dixon said. "We were taking pretty good shots. He's always been a guy who's going to get more shots in some games than other games. He's not going to force shots. He's going to take good ones. We're looking for other things [from Ramon]. He has to get us into the offense."

Pitt had no problem getting scoring from the point guard position when Fields was healthy. Fields averaged 11.9 points per game before his injury.

Fields could generate offense on his own, but Ramon has trouble creating his own shot, relying on ball movement and screens. Dixon said Ramon misses Fields in that respect.

"He's not playing with Levance," Dixon said. "He was our leading assist guy. And Mike [Cook] was one of our leading assists guys. There are obvious differences now.

"[Ramon] is going to have the ball more. We used to play off of penetration and guys' passes. Some roles have changed, obviously. Sometimes he'll have shots and other times there will be opportunities to kick out."

Pitt did shoot 5 for 11 from 3-point range against Villanova. Senior Keith Benjamin accounted for three of those, but he is a career 33 percent shooter from behind the arc.

It comes down to the percentages. How many times can the Panthers rely on Benjamin, or anyone else on the team, to be precise from the outside?

Ramon does not seem concerned that he has only attempted nine shots in his two games as starting point guard.

"I'm just trying to look for the other guys and run the offense, try to move the ball and get guys open," he said. "The shots will come within the offense. Guys will find me coming off screens. It's just a matter of time, getting everything together, synchronizing with the team."

And don't worry about Ramon's psyche heading into tomorrow's game at South Florida. The play at the end of the Villanova game stuck with him into Sunday night, but he had moved on by yesterday.

"It's definitely not easy getting over it," Ramon said. "It was hard on me. That was a long bus ride back for me. After the bus ride, you have to let it go. Five hours on a bus is long enough to think about it."

NOTE -- Pitt is ranked No. 20 in The Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll.