According to Chevy Troutman, “This was a bounce-back game.” A 88-61 blow-out of a Top 15 team, was more like a statement game. Cook sees it as a message not to be so quick to jump off the Pitt bandwagon at the first bump. My argument has been that Pitt got too content by the Syracuse game. They believed they could win just by showing up and being physical — they bought into their own clippings. Syracuse may have been the best message they could receive heading into postseason play.
In Providence, they got the message.
The reigning Big East champion isn’t ready to give up its crown.
The Pittsburgh Panthers listened to all sorts of doom and gloom predictions after a painful home loss to Syracuse on Sunday. But instead of melting, the Panthers bounced back and inflicted plenty of pain on the Providence Friars last night, posting an impressive 88-61 win at a sold-out Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
Pitt and UConn remain tied for first place in the Big East race with 12-3 records. PC falls a game back at 11-4.
While the No. 6 Panthers answered the bell, the 12th-ranked Friars barely showed up. Pitt clamped its patented man-to-man defense on PC and never let go, holding the Friars to 35 percent shooting. The Panthers beat the Friars in all of the toughness categories, winning the battle of the boards (31-22) and dominating the paint with center Chris Taft (24 points) and forward Chevon Troutman (24) leading the way. Shifty guard Carl Krauser added 22 points with the help of 13-of-15 free-throw shooting. Pitt improved to 26-3.
“I can’t say enough about how our guys responded and stood up,” said first-year Pitt coach Jaime Dixon. “Our guys were very focused.”
Chevy Troutman gave a big wink to the crowd before he sank one of his free throws at the game — both Pittsburgh beat reporters noted it, but it was not in any other papers.
With 6:35 remaining in the game at Providence last night, Chevon Troutman stood on the blocks awaiting a Providence free-throw attempt. The rowdy Providence student section was taunting him while the Panthers held a 16-point lead.
Troutman turned to the crowd, winked and smiled.
Pitt totally controlled the inside game. Providence Coach Welsh became so desperate as Pitt began to build on its lead in the second half, that he switched from the zone to man-to-man. This made things worse.
The second bad omen came in the latter stages of the first half when the game started to turn into a Pittsburgh game plan, the Panthers starting to pound the ball through the Friars’ zone, starting to put their imprint on this game.
But the worst omen?
The absolute worst?
The one when you knew the Friars were in big trouble?
When PC coach Tim Welsh decided to come out of the zone and play man-to-man. It was a a decision he made about five minutes into the second half. The Friars were down eight, the game starting to feel as it was going to slip away from them.
“I didn’t like the way we were playing our zone at all,” Welsh said. “Every time they came down in the second half they were getting good looks.”
No doubt.
But the decision backfired.
Backfired big-time.
After that, the second half became a clinic on how to run a halfcourt offense, Pitt slicing and dicing the Friars almost at will, layup after layup, until it all began to seem like a pregame layup drill. Want to know why Welsh jettisoned the Friars man-to-man defense a year ago and started playing zone? Last night’s second half said it all.
All year long the Friars defense has given teams fits, most teams looking at the Friars’ zone as though they were trying to solve a big mystery without a whole lot of clues. Certainly Pitt began the game that way. But midway through the first half the inside strength of freshman star Chris Taft and Chevy Troutman began to assert itself. One of the strengths of the Friars’ zone all year has been their ability to keep opponents from getting inside it.
Pitt got inside it.
In what could be the big difference between this game and Syracuse. Pitt never abandoned the inside game. They kept pounding, and not settling for outside shots.
Welsh was a little bothered about how physical the game was. Depending on your interpretation, you could see this as some whining.
“They beat you up inside, and if you don’t get the fouls called, you get frustrated,” Welsh said. “They grab, they hold, they put a knee in your back, and the ref’s not going to call it.”
Asked to expand on Pitt’s physical style, Welsh deferred the question to an NFL coach.
“You’d probably have to ask (Bill) Belichik — what’s it like playing against Cowher and the Steelers defense?” Welsh said. “You complain about this and that, but at some moment, you have to play. They’re going to play that way and it’s not going to be called.
“Look through your files — Calhoun, Boeheim, Skinner — they all say the same thing, ‘Playing against Pitt is like playing against the Steel Curtain.”
Coach Dixon really didn’t have a lot of complaints about the performance.
Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said he may find something on the videotape of last night’s game that will tell him his sixth-ranked Panthers weren’t perfect. But watching with the naked eye, even Dixon couldn’t think of anything wrong.
“I can’t say enough about how our guys responded and stepped up,” Dixon said after Pitt, coming off a loss to Syracuse that snapped the Panthers’ 40-game home winning streak, blew No. 12 Providence out of the sold-out and steamy Dunkin’ Donuts Center, 88-61, to all but wrap up the Big East’s regular-season title.
Think this win wasn’t noticed by another team in New England?
Catching the SportsCenter highlights this morning was odd, to keep seeing home-run passes from Krauser to Taft and Troutman. I mean, not just one, but several. How bizarre.
The fast-break hoops ended any PC comeback hopes and the Panthers cruised to a 88-61 win.
“They weren’t keeping track of the big men,” said Troutman, who scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting. “It just kind of developed that way, but we got plenty of run-outs for easy baskets.”
The breakdown on defensive transition left PC coach Tim Welsh stunned.
“What was going through my mind was these guys were playing like sophomores, not seniors,” he said. “I don’t have any explanation for that. Maybe we were in a semi-shock because we were getting beat up too much.”
Marcus Douthit, Ryan Gomes and Tuukka Kotti were all beaten for layups.
“I think it was our frustration on offense,” said Gomes. “Those home-run passes, they really got us down.”
Pitt scored a whopping 48 points in the paint and outrebounded the Friars, 31-22. Welsh also noted that his team failed to block one shot all night.
Providence, though, has reason for optimism. They seem to be able to keep their coach from bolting, they are still a top 20 team looking for a #3 seed in the NCAA, and even with Gomes graduating they have good players.
The game was only shown locally, so I didn’t catch it. Talking with Pat after the game, his impressions were that Pitt just controlled and dominated the inside completely. Taft and Troutman were monsters in the game. The box score backs this assertion up.
Troutman had 23 points (9-13 shooting), didn’t miss from the free throw line (5-5), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, a block and even 2 steals. A stellar game.
Taft, though, may have been more impressive and may have put the cherry on his freshman season.
There are several reasons why Pittsburgh forward Chris Taft is the leading candidate to receive Big East Rookie of the Year honors. And there are many reasons why Taft, a true freshman, also is a solid candidate to not only be named to the Freshman All-American Team, but receive the National Freshman of the Year Award, as well.
To put it simply, Taft is just that good.
Providence College found that out last night. His numbers tell it all. Taft bullied his way to 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field, and he pulled down six rebounds in helping sixth-ranked Pittsburgh beat 13th-ranked Providence, 88-61, in front of 12,993 fans at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
He did all of that in only 30 minutes of action. He was also perfect from the free throw line (4-4).
Krauser had a good game with 22 points (only 4-10 shooting but 13-15 from the free throw line), 8 assists, 2 turnovers, a steal, but only 1 personal foul. Page didn’t do much last night. He only took 3 shots, making 2, but apparently he passed up on a couple open looks. Considering Pitt’s inside dominance, he could afford to go slow to rebuild his shooting confidence.
Dixon really emptied the bench — not in terms of minutes since the starters still played 161 minutes. McCarroll got 12, and Graves led the bench with 18 minutes. Pitt actually had 7 guys coming off the bench, but for some reason Torree Morris was not one of them. Is he in the doghouse with Dixon? Has McCarroll gotten all of his minutes?
Pitt can win the Big East regular season outright with a win against Villanova at home on Saturday at 1:30. The game will be shown on ABC (regional map). The game will be on in Cleveland and the entire East coast. The West coast gets Stanford-Washington, and the rest have Iowa St.-Texas Tech. Villanova has remained a tough out for Pitt. Last year, they nearly beat Pitt despite a raft of suspensions.
In a related note, ESPN Classic will be showing the Pitt-Villanova first round match-up from the 1998 Big East Tournament at 1 pm on Friday. Pitt lost the game in double overtime 96-93. This was the game that pushed Vonteego Cummings from a 2nd round pick to late 1st round bust in the NBA. He played all 50 minutes and scored 37 points. It was otherwise forgettable season from the Ralph Willard error.
