As I said after the game had ended. I blame myself for Seton Hall making the end a lot closer than it should have. I should never have jinxed the team by predicting the end that soon. I should know better then to have written that, even though, that is exactly how Seton Hall has faded in a ton of other games this season. Naturally in this one, they actually hit their shots.
Seton Hall Coach Bobby Gonzalez — who I have heard from many may well be one of the most annoying, animated and abrasive coaches in the Big East, and with a conference that includes Boeheim, Calhoun and Pitino that is saying something — believed that Seton Hall had the game at the end when Nutter took that 3.
“I actually thought it was good,” said Gonzalez. “I thought it was destiny that we were going to win the game.”
Um, it only would have forced OT. See, and I could have agreed with the first part of what he said.
The Pirates’ pressure made things difficult for Pittsburgh the rest of the way.
“I thought they were sort of playing not to lose,” Gonzalez said of Pittsburgh. “They got very tight. … I thought we outplayed Pittsburgh. I thought we deserved to win.”
It’s the last two things about outplaying and deserving to win. The Hall shot under 41%, and even with all the pressure and trapping at the end didn’t get the turnovers like they usually do and need. Only 14 while turning it over 11 times themselves. They were outrebounded even as Pitt was playing without their leading rebounder. The Hall had a shot, and did outplay Pitt for that final few minutes. Deserved? No. Outplayed for the game. Hardly. Hung around? Competitive? You bet.
But then Gonzalez is feeling a bit defensive and is a bit of an asshole.
“We haven’t talked about the Big East tournament in two weeks,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going to play every game like it’s the national championship until the season is over. That’s how you build a winning program, not a team that wins 18 games and goes to the NCAA tournament.”
That was a thinly veiled reference to last season’s Seton Hall team, which won 18 games and reached the NCAAs for the second time in three seasons under the soon-to-be-fired Orr. That team was picked 15th in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll, just as this season’s Seton Hall team was.
Gonzalez added, “I’m talking about a team that wins a championship.”
That was “thinly veiled?” I would say that was a direct reference. Really for no reason other then defending this season by attacking the guy before him. Well done and classy.
At least now, I have a better understanding of why a guy with his success at Manhattan had to wait this long before anyone would hire him. He was supposed to be an up-and-comer 4 years ago or so. There was even talk of Pitt hiring him after Howland. Phew.
Of course, Pitt got off to a sluggish start, down 14-4 in the first 5 minutes. Apparently Coach Dixon chatted with his players during the timeout.
Pitt looked lost in the beginning, and Seton Hall jumped all over it, racing out to a 14-4 lead in the first six minutes as Nutter connected on two 3-pointers and the Pirates’ spirited man-to-man defense forced the Panthers into bad shots.
After a timeout tongue-lashing by head coach Jamie Dixon, the Panthers stopped settling for jumpers and started going to the basket. The result was a 12-2 run that included two put-backs.
Jumping back to the end of the game, Levon Kendall said something we can agree and disagree over.
“I think we got a little complacent at the end,†Kendall said. “We were a little too comfortable. They started making shots and we started missing a few. They were able to come back, but we did a decent job of handling their press and knocking down free throws at the end.â€
That wasn’t a decent job handling the press. I have no idea where that came from.
What definitely didn’t help in letting Seton Hall comeback — aside from the obvious turnovers — Pitt committed 5 fouls with under 5 minutes left. Astoundingly, 5 different players committed the fouls — Young, Cook, Ramon, Graves and Biggs. Stopping the clock and to shoot free throws compounds the problem of finishing the game. I credit Seton Hall for the aggressiveness to the basket, but that was 6 points Pitt gave without even running clock. Not smart play.
As for the upcoming Saturday game at Georgetown, Coach Dixon won’t commit Aaron Gray to anything.
“We’ll have to see,” Dixon said. “There was no shot at him going today. He wanted to try, but I didn’t think it was the right thing to do.”
Gray’s ankle was sprained in the waning moments of Saturday’s victory against Washington. He received treatment Sunday and yesterday, but had to miss a game for the first time in his two years as a starter.
Gray was happy the team won.
“We have great players and a great coaching staff and I wasn’t worried,” Gray said after the game. “Levance stepped up. We hit free throws pretty well tonight and we out-rebounded them. We did a great job.
“Levi really stepped up. Sam Young gave us a big spark in the second half. Tyrell (Biggs) played well. They did a great job of stepping up when I was out. This won’t do anything but help this team out.”
Biggs was a surprise to me. He played 21 minutes getting 6 points, 4 rebounds and even a couple assists and a steal. If he just hadn’t taken that 3-point shot, I’d be wanting to see more from him. He stepped up in a game that was actually a bit of homecoming for him. He played HS ball in NJ for Don Bosco Prep.
Gonzalez a bit of an asshole?
No way, he is the most abrasive asshole you will ever meet.
Jamie really needs to figure out how to beat the press. Many teams run that or a form of it all the time and we will being seeing it in March for sure. One of the best things about this team is that they play smart. This has to include beating the press.
Didn’t Pitt want Eugene Harvey badly? If so, I can see why. I would love to have a penetrating point guard like him. Fields settles for too many jump shots and doesn’t get in the lane enough to draw fouls and dish to teammates.
Kendall is an absolute mystery. When he knows he has to, he can make that 15-footer. Obviously it wasn’t too tough scoring and rebounding against a team with no inside presence, but it was still interesting to see him play with more offensive confidence. Can not imagine the hang-ups he must have that keep him from being a 10 pt, 6 rebound, good defensive player, glue-type guy that Pitt needs him to be. It’s all in his head.
Boy, am I tired of watching Ramon play PG for 1/3 of the game. He’s just out of position…..he can’t get anything done in the middle of the fastbreak and he can’t go anywhere off the dribble in the halfcourt offense. Why don’t we just use him coming off screens like Florida uses Humphrey?
I wonder if Dixon will be willing to adjust the offense when he has a little more scoring talent on the floor the next couple yrs? I completely understood why Pitt was so deliberate when Knight/Page/Brown were playing and I guess I agree that the current squad needs to play this way too, to mask some speed and scoring shortcomings. But I sure hope JD is willing to adjust when he has some guys who can put it in the hoop.
I think 3-0 is attainable if we get Big Whitey back, but if not i think 0-3 is more likely, which really sucks considering we cant lose to Gtown, hate to lose to WVU, and need revenge on Marquette.
As for Biggs, I dont know what to say. He’s 6’9″, and plays like a little girl underneath, and he’s to slow to play outside.
2-1, with a loss at G-town but the outside shots starting to fall again against Marquette and WVU.
Georgetown is not an overly athletic team. They have one matchup problem with Jeff Green, but I think Kendall and Young can stay with him or at least contain him. Pitt needs to shoot the ball better and I think they will. Georgetown gives us problems with Hibbert on the bench. That is fine because Georgetown is not accustomed to playing without him and we should have a decided advantage inside if that is the case. Graves and Cook will have to play solid defense, which they have been able to do recently. I look for a statement game from Pitt.
Grey needs to play in 2 of the 3 games for us to be in the games with a shot to win.
G-town depends on whether Gray is close to full-speed. If he’s not, it’s probably a loss.
As James goes, so goes Marquette. If he shoots 2-12 like he has in a couple games, Pitt could win easily. If he lights it up and carves up our backcourt, then it will be a close game.
Scoocher I don’t know about the NCAA’s, it depends on the matchups. If we get stuck playing a team that has enough size to match-up with Gray and quick guards to defend our threes, then we get sent hom early. Or if Gray gets into significant foul trouble we get sent home early. If we play our best, then we should get to the sweet sixteen. I would hate to have to play Kansas or UNC in the sweet 16. I don’t think we can combat their speed. If we get Texas A&M, Nevada, Butler, Ohio State, or a few other teams we might get past the third round.
By the way, what is your rationale for Pitt losing both at Georgetown and at Marquette? Elaborate please.
1)Georgetown-
Georgetown is playing solid ball right now.
We are not playing good ball right now.
The big men have matured since the last time we played them.
At Georgetown in a tough environment.
2)Marquette
Marquette’s guards are substanially better than ours.
Their big men seem to play well and hard against us.
Keep in mind, its not bad to lose to these teams (they are both good)..I just think we will.
1. Playing at Top 10 team on a vacation day for most and you draw a couple thousand fans. The place was empty. It felt like a HS game. Pathetic!
2. Gonzalez will soon be the most annoying coach in the league. He cries over every foul, especially charges. It didn’t help that the place was silent, so the whole arena could hear him crying like a child.
3. Why Pitt constantly passes to a covered man in the corner when trying to inbound against the press I’ll never know. And the one Cook threw away, he had a timeout. In grade school I learned never to turn the ball over under your own basket. Throw it deep or bang it off a guy for an out of bounds.
4. Harvey has guts driving to the basket, but if Pitt would have been a little more disciplined on defense they would have realized he has little clue how to finish – most of his shots would have gotten blocked or been badly missed. The refs bailed him out on a few.
5. Antonio Graves looks like he’s lost. No emotion. Looks like he’s in slow motion.
6. Seton Hall is terrible. With Gray, Pitt would have won by 15-20.
7. I had a casual conversation with a Seton fan and he said the only reason Pitt is good is because it gets so many New York players. And I said, that’s part of it, but it’s not like they are coming to play here in front of 3,000 fans (and about 100 students). He also said Gonzalez is a dirty recruiter – not sure how he knew this – and that he was going to get big time recruits.
We’ll see.
