I don’t know what you can say. Pitt played a great game. They made Craig Smith have to work for everything. Jared Dudley was completely taken out of his game on offense, and BC had no one else come even remotely close to stepping up.

Coach Dixon surprised me with the way he went on the defensive match-ups. Not having Troutman go after Smith was very effective — that fell to Taft. Troutman on Doornekamp meant he could also help step out a bit to give McCarroll, Kendall and DeGroat a little extra help on Dudley. It allowed one of those forwards to play tighter on Dudley, because even if he started to make a move past Troutman was waiting.

In a way, BC was the best tonic for Pitt. They are a team that Pitt can match-up with quite well. They are an inside team. They — like Pitt last year — lack consistent, reliable perimeter threats. This allowed Pitt’s D to stay at home and clog the passing lanes inside.

On the offense, Pitt kept getting the ball inside. Pitt only attempted 12 3-pointers for the game. Graves seemed to be finding his touch as he had all day to shoot open 3s. BC was more concerned about Krauser and Ramon shooting deep. Graves also showed a willingness to take it inside more. If he can learn to finish on his penetration…

The box score shows a Pitt basketball team we haven’t seen for a few weeks. Five players scored in double digits, but no one had more than 13 points. Pitt completely controlled the glass. Outrebounding BC 49-27.

Let’s just go to Player Evaluations:
Taft — At first, I thought he was going to be invisible in this game. In the first few minutes he looked out of position on defense and seemed unaware of where he was in relation to the basket on offense. Dixon pulled him less than 5 minutes into the game. I don’t know if he would have gotten back in 4 or 5 minutes later if Gray hadn’t picked up 2 fouls quickly. Something worked though. Taft started playing a much tougher defense and looked like he wanted to get the ball on rebounds or to shoot. He ended up with 12 points (6-10), 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.

Troutman — Early in the game, it looked like it was going to be an ugly game in the 50s. At about the 9:30 mark, Troutman scored to make it 11-9. Troutman scored 8 of Pitt’s first 16 points when no one else could score. As the rest of the team started scoring, Troutman let them and concentrated more on defense. He made the inside a miserable place for any BC player to be. Most of what he did in this game would not appear in a box score. His line was 11 points (5-9), 7 rebounds and a block.

Krauser — He hounded guys on the perimeter tonight. He led the way in getting this team to play defense first. He wasn’t shooting great, but he was getting to the line. Half his points came at the line. He got the whole team involved and played the full 40. If basketball had secondary assists (passes to the guy who passed to the guy for the score) Krauser would have had at least 6. Finished the game with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 turnovers.

Graves — There were times, when he just couldn’t seem to believe how open he was being left. BC was more worried about anyone but him shooting it appeared. He started slow in the game going only 1-4 shooting in the first half. But in the second half he was 4-9 including 2 straight wide open 3s late to put this game out of reach. Those were important because Pitt completely stomped on BC’s throat where they had collapsed in the previous couple of games. 13 points, 5 rebounds and 1 steal.

DeGroat — Here I was wondering about Benjamin getting some more playing time with the guards struggling. Instead, Coach Dixon went mostly with 2 guards this game and brought in DeGroat. DeGroat got a rebound/putback that he slammed home late in the first half that was his first points and rebound of the game. It seemed to give him some real confidence to go to the basket. And in the second half, good things kept happening when he did. He fielded 2 airballs and a shot that banked but missed the rim and put them all back for points. He showed some solid defense that was not there earlier. It just seems that he is finally grasping the defense, and now the offense can come. He was 4-5 shooting in the second half. 10 points (5-8), 7 rebounds (5 offensive) and 2 assists.

McCarroll — I’m so happy he made some free throws. He was 3-4 on those. Prior to that he was 4-25 on the season. He made that first one less than 3 minutes into the game and it appeared to boost his overall confidence. He played with some energy and almost joy that hadn’t been seen from him all year. 5 points, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
Ramon — Definitely wary about taking a shot. Played great defense primarily. BC was very aware of his potential 3-point shooting, and drained his only attempt. He and Krauser helped neutralize the chance of perimeter shooting from the BC guards.

Kendall — Got all his playing time in the first half. Not necessarily for doing anything wrong, but because DeGroat was playing better. Kendall did miss an easy lay-in but still got 4 points and 2 rebounds in 9 minutes.

Gray — When Taft came out in the first half, Gray helped contain Smith and pulled down 3 rebounds in that stretch. Gray sank both his free throw attempts in the second half. For the game Gray had 4 points and 4 rebounds in 12 minutes.

More tomorrow. See how fast the BC bandwagon empties.

Once more, Pitt owns BC.

Back later. Gloating in comments, please.

Well the Preliminary NCAA Academic Report has been released with the sounds of doom and gloom.

Here’s the NCAA Academic Reform Info page.You’re supposed to be able to access individual program’s info here, but it was giving me “404” error pages when I tried to check Pitt and some other schools. Hopefully it will be working soon.

Don’t know how Pitt will look in this early report — especially football and basketball.

Now that Pitt has to be concerned about this, Ken Pomeroy does the work for me. He breaks down the 4 BE teams that still have work to do to make the NCAA. Quite logical and with only some math.

The way the refs call this game will be a big issue. Both teams like to bang and bump inside. Both teams like to get the ball inside. If the refs call this tight, the game could be ugly from the perspective of flow as the fouls mount. If they let them play, it could be “ugly” from an aesthetic sense, but would be a good tough game.

The best match-up should be between Chevon Troutman and Craig Smith. Both like to bang and bump inside for position. Both are about the same size, but Smith actually has about 10 pounds on Troutman. Both get to the free throw line about the same amount and make at nearly the same rate. Troutman is a better shooter in terms of percentage, but Smith has a higher scoring average and shoots more than Troutman. Ultimately, these two could cancel each other out.

Chris Taft should have an advantage on Nate Doornekamp. Taft is 2 inches shorter, but the same weight. Doorenkamp is in there for defense, and is actually a good passer for a big man. He also shoots free throws at 66.7% rate. Taft should have an advantage on him on offense, so it is likely Doornekamp may get some help at times to force Taft to pass. Doornekamp is one of two seniors on this team. Jermaine Watson is a guard and their 6th man. The seniors at BC have never beaten Pitt. Did I mention this is Senior Night at the Conte Forum?

The biggest match-up headache for Pitt will be Forward, Jared Dudley. Dudley would be my pick for player of the year in the BE, but he likely won’t because of Smith on his own team splitting off votes and a possible anti-BC bias by the coaches voting. Dudley is an inside-out player like Pittsnogle, Gay and Sumpter. (My hands just went clammy typing that, and I think 4 more hairs fell onto the keyboard –and like Pitt I can’t afford those kind of losses.) Levon Kendall will have to play some very, very good defense and avoid the foul trouble he had against Gay. Graves and McCarroll will be torched by this guy. Dudley is a very emotional player, and if he doesn’t get some calls going his way, he can be taken out of his game. The problem is, when he steps out for a 3 and if it goes he is right back into things.

As for Pitt, take your pick on which is the bigger problem right now — bad perimeter defense or bad guard play/shooting. Today it seems the bad shooting by the guards is the topic.

Pitt, which led the Big East in 3-point shooting for most of the season, is seriously struggling from behind the arc.

During the three-game losing slide, Pitt is shooting 23.9 percent from 3-point range (11 for 46). The Panthers shot a season-low 18 percent (4 for 22) in Saturday’s 73-64 loss to Connecticut.

The guards are just plain struggling. If it continues early, I don’t see how or why Benjamin isn’t at least given a bit of time out there.

The fact is, Pitt is getting desperate and needs to play with some urgency. Not panic, but with intensity and determination for 40 minutes. Coach Dixon may be trying to ease the mind of some of the players or the fans, but no one believes it right now.

Coach Jamie Dixon and senior forward Chevon Troutman offered diametrically opposing views in assessing the current state of the Pitt basketball team, which is riding a three-game losing streak for the first time in four years.

Dixon stopped short of downplaying the recent swoon, while Troutman clearly suggested that things are getting shaky for the 18th-ranked Panthers (18-7, 8-6 Big East), who face No. 3 Boston College (23-2, 11-2) tonight at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

“I don’t like that word or phrase,” Dixon said, when it was suggested that the Panthers are facing a sense of urgency. “We want to play better than we did (in Saturday’s 73-64 home loss to Connecticut). Now, we have to come together in all areas against Boston College.”

Troutman’s spin was much different.

“There is a sense of urgency,” he said, matter of factly. “We have to finish out the rest of these games. We have to do it any way possible.”

I hate to call this a must win, but it is. Not necessarily for the sake of making the NCAA Tourney, but for the team’s psyche. Even a top team like Kansas just had a 3 game slide, losing 2 of 3 at home, but they just pulled it back together and ended it against Oklahoma State — one of the best teams out there.

Pitt needs to go out there tonight and show its mental fortitude as well as its ability.