If the write-ups on the game use verbs like “survive” or “recover” or such, I won’t be arguing. Pitt found itself in a fierce game with Marquette. I don’t think Pitt took Marquette lightly. Only a fool would do that to the only team that has beaten UConn this season.
In the first half there were a lot of things not going right. Pitt was simply missing some easy baskets. Their defense was confused, and not getting through the screens very well.
DeGroat came out and just seemed possessed — but not in a good way. It was like he had gotten himself hyped up to the game and thinking this was going to be his break-out performance. Instead, he fumbled the ball away on the first touch, and missed an open lay-up on the second. I don’t know why but I have the mental image of two Pitt players on the bench having the following conversation in the first few minutes of the game.
Bowman: John’s playing like a wild man out there.
Small: Yeah, said before the game that he was “feelin’ it” today.
Bowman: Really?
Small: Uh, huh.
Bowman: [Watches DeGroat fall down trying to get around a screen] … Think it might be the flu?
Gray at least had the flu as an excuse for bouncing the ball off of his knee and missing a bunch of easy buckets in the game. The bright side, it allowed him to pad his rebounding stats.
Marquette, by contrast came out measured but quick. They moved the ball so crisply and found the open guy for the shot. They not only were playing the pace they wanted, they were getting Pitt to play their pace. Pitt’s defense in the first half was late and overpursued. Marquette kept getting a shooter free.
In the second half, the Pitt defense finally settled and played much tougher. The open shots for Marquette were fewer and prevented a rythm from going. It also has to be made clear that Marquette’s offense was severely crimped when Freshman PG Dominic James went out with the shoulder injury. He apparently hurt it in the first half, running into a Gray screen (nice catch, Keith), but really aggravated on a steal in the second half, when Fields bumped him. James went out at the 13:17 mark and didn’t return until 4:34 was left in the game. Marquette had done okay for a while, but at that point Pitt had a 6 point lead. You could see James was in visible pain as he played. No doubt the kid is tough and had everyone’s respect in the building to come back in and play.
The loss of James, though, completely disrupted the Marquette offense. In the first half their Assist to Basket made percentage (A/B%) was 64.7 (11 assists on 17 FGs). In the second half, it was 25% (3 assists on 12 FGs). While part of that is also a credit to Pitt’s defense improving, you can’t understate the loss of a team’s starting point guard. Especially considering the way he was playing. Very creative and playing an impressive defense.
Pitt, even when it was struggling in the first half, was still making the passes. For the game, Pitt had a 71.4 A/B%. In the first half, Pitt was actually better at 75% A/B. Just a lot of missed shots.
Offensively for Pitt, it was Antonio Graves that kept Pitt in the game and then led the way in the second half. He scored 7 points in the first half off of 3-4 shooting and then had 12 more in the second half.
Ronald Ramon continues to look more confident in his shooting and on offense. It is like he is finally regaining that shooter mentality he had early last year as a Freshman before the injuries.
Sam Young didn’t seem to do much on the stat sheet, but he was a presence. He seemed to be relishing the physical play and didn’t mind battling.
Kendall was solid with his game grabbing 9 rebounds and shooting 50%. Fields and Benjamin weren’t doing much on offense, but did provide some decent defense. Fields also had 4 assists.
Gray seemed to play better as the game continued. He had one for the highlight reel in the last minute when Pitt got the ball back to him alone at the other end for an open shot. He paused and ducked as Jamil Lott (I think that’s who it was) dove right over his back trying to block the shot or foul. Lott cleared him. Gray paused, looked at the guy now lying in front of him, and slammed the basket home.
I hope they show that clip the rest of the season whenever Pitt plays.
Now a word about the announcers. Blech.
Donny Marshall, the color guy, apparently couldn’t be bothered to read the injury report. If he had, he might have been aware that Marquette’s Steve Novak is playing with a high ankle sprain. Right now, Novak can’t create his own shot and needs the team to screen for him to shoot. Pitt was defending against that, so Marshall for some inexplicable reason spent most of the second half oblivious to the injury info and talked about how Novak wasn’t being aggressive enough.
Don Criqui is an average football announcer. I really can’t stand it when announcers refuse to give you the vital info like who fouled and how many they have. Not to mention assists and things like that.
Big props to Marquette for that game. The rematch in Milwaukee on February 18 is going to be something.
