The big meme after the game was that it was actually a game. That there was actually competition to match the excitement.
What an exhilarating sight to see this place packed for the first time since 2003 and only the second time since 1994. The gym was wired with the kind of electric current you feel at big games, the sort Duquesne has managed to avoid for the better part of 12 years.
The Duquesne student section – yes, there such a thing; the species has re-appeared – went too far with some mean-spirited taunts of Pitt point guard Levance Fields, but at least it was present and accounted for.
Was there something more than chanting “ta-ser!” when Fields had the ball? That’s really all I caught on the TV. Sorry, I can’t exactly get worked up by that as a taunt. Frankly, Fields better be used to things like that when Pitt hits Big East road games.
Apparently the Duquesne players helped fire Pitt up before the game started, and that may have contributed to the early run.
No. 12 Pitt (8-0), fueled by pre-game remarks by Duquesne players, raced to a 14-0 lead that looked far too easy to achieve. Duquesne (6-2) missed its first 12 three-point attempts and did not score until a Damian Saunders layup nearly five minutes into the game.
Pitt’s lead grew to 21-4 and it appeared that the most hyped City Game in recent memory would be another blowout victory for the Panthers, who have won 26 of the last 29 meetings.
“We spotted them 14 points, huh? I guess we didn’t come out and execute,” Duquesne guard Aaron Jackson said. “Soon as we gained our composure, we came back and played tough.”
They did play tough, but could never quite get there. They couldn’t even tie despite getting within 1 point a few times in the second half.
But a 14-0 run to start the game and a defensive performance that held Duquesne to just eight points in the final 5:17 led to a 73-68 victory for the Panthers to send most of the sellout crowd of 5,358 home unhappy.
So, aside from the first 10 minutes and the final 5, the Dukes were right there. All they need to do is be able to start and finish. Of course, Pitt may have had something to do with that.
Young said the Panthers lost focus after getting out to the early, big lead.
“At the beginning, we attacked them,” Young said. “But then we got away from what was motivating us. We lost our motivation because we didn’t think it was going to be as good a game.”
DeJuan Blair was a tremendous force for Pitt. The Dukes strong run in the first half, coincided with Blair having to go out with two fouls.
So all you kids that need your QB to have a canon, you got your man. Now let’s all hear how Stoudt should start on day 1 cause he can throw a mile…
I think it’ll be an interesting competition with Stull, Bostick, and Cross competing for the spot, and a lesser extent Smith and Stoudt (and maybe Sunseri). I still say Stull starts – but if he isn’t effective, who knows who will be next in line…probably Cross…
Listen, Cassin Diggs is NOT the answer. That kid should not have even been given a scholarship. He is not a Big East level player. Not even as your 11th man. The freshman Mcghee is better, but Coach Dixon is set on redshirting him. We are stuck with Biggs. Hopefully he gets better. He isn’t an awful player, he just has terrible hands on the block. That is his big weakness. You can slap at the ball and get him to drop it and he can’t finish when he gets a nice pass from the guards.
I think we will be fine inside against everyone, even Hibbert. Blair is a beast down there and so unbelievably athletic for a guy his size. He is the most talented big man Pitt has had in almost 20 years. I really want to see how he does against Brockman. That kid is a player as well. Fouls are going to be an issue, but there isn’t anything you can do about it.
Pitt has a higher ceiling this year than any of the Howland/Dixon squads. If we keep improving defensively and decide to get Blair more touches in the post, then watch out for this team. Brown and Benjamin and an element of athleticism that Pitt did not have in the past. Hopefully those two keep getting better and can play more minutes later in the year.
Hope we can get a win at Washington. Should be a good game.
I’m not happy with our play against Duquesne. The bottom line is that they scored inside and easy all night. They missed a ton of wide open three’s, if they hit just 3 of those, we lose. We will struggle a lot with teams that have big time players in the post. And can anyone tell me if Cook is ever going to play offense like he gives a crap? He is so lazy with the ball on offense (too much hot dogging), it’s frustrating to watch. I don’t know why Dixon puts up with it.
During the other 20 minutes Pitt was a bit lazy boxing-out and passing the ball. Also, I beg to differ on the wide-open threes. Duquesne missed a ton of threes, but only 2 or 3 were wide open. They aren’t a three-point shooting team, therefore the fact that they were settling for them may be a credit to the defense. Pitt held them to 4 field goals over the final 5 minutes of the game. Pitt can, and will need to, play better and I’m sure they will.
I agree neither should get near the floor until they learn how to play basketball. I don’t even care if Diggs can’t play offense – I just need someone to play some post D and let Blair sit – and not get us killed when Blair’s in foul trouble. Biggs and Diggs are both awful at that, and its embarassing. Its going to take other coaches 2 minutes of watching tape to figure this out.
This is a pretty contranian view, but think about this for a second: Maybe we’re better off switching back to our old slow, low possession style again. If the other team has less possessions, our center will have less chances to pick up fouls, and will therefore be in our game for a higher percentage of our offensive plays. That may turn out to be more important than trying to run up and down with teams all day. And when he does pick up that second foul in the first half and rides pine, then let em go full speed as a change of pace until he comes back in…just a thought… I guarantee Blairs foul trouble is going to cost us at least 2 or 3 games this year…
“We came out and attacked them and played hard and went right at them, but we got away from that…They weren’t as good as we thought they’d be at the beginning, and they were trash talking a little bit. We let up after that.”
As long as they don’t keep letting up against mediocre teams, they’ll be fine. Killing teams at the beginning doesn’t seem to help them at all. We’d be better off if they pulled away in the second half.
2. The point about Duquesne taking so many 3’s (and missing them) being out of character, and that as a tribute to our D, was a good one. Once again we had an opposing coach totally blaming his own team for bad play instead of giving credit to Pitt (see Rodriguez, A-hole). Perhaps no coincidence that the guy is a Huggins disciple. But anyway, fans read that and buy it. Frankly, there is almost always a cause and effect, not just dumbass luck when a team plays out of character.
3. It scares me when we rely on Young hitting 3’s to win games for us. Even more than it scares me when we rely on him ballhandling. Fields, Ramon and Cook gotta start shooting better … soon.
4. I think we get eaten alive by Georgetown this year. Blair will hold his own but the supporting cast in the frontcourt will be physically dominated. Biggs seems to think he’s Clyde Vaughn, except he can’t shoot like Clyde (but it doesn’t stop him from trying). We needed him to be Ontario Lett. Diggs is SHAPED like Lett but doesn’t play like him.
5. Saturday at 3 is the real start of the season.
1. As soon as Pitt got out to that big lead, I was afraid they would get complacent. They clearly took their foot off the pedal as Young admitted afterwards. Even after they gave up the big lead, they had a bunch of 7-8 point leads, but never would put them away. I honestly think that as poor as Duquesne shot, if they had played hard the entire game, they should have won by at least 15.
2. Duquesne shot absolutely horribly. They probably missed about a dozen three-pointers before they hit one. If they had shot even a little better, we could have easily lost.
3. The verdict was out about how this team would fare against others with a traditional center (at least 6’10”)…it’s clear to see that they will have some trouble. Even though Blair outweighed James by about 40 pounds, James’ height allowed him to have a better game (20 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks). Which leads me to…
4. If Blair gets in foul trouble, that could spell doom for us. Gilbert Brown had to come in and play a little PF when this happened. I’m not positive, but I think GB is only like 6’4″ or 6’5″. Biggs hasn’t improved much from last year in my opinion. He will come up with the good play every now and then, but more often than not, doesn’t contribute very much. This team is more than likely going to need Cassin Diggs to at least eat up a few minutes down the line.
5. Even though Duquesne got within one point several times, the funny thing was that there wasn’t any point during the game where I thought they would win. I thought that even if they happened to pull ahead, Pitt could play well enough to shut them down…not to mention their halfcourt offense wasn’t very good. They had a decent number of points that came from offensive rebounds, putbacks, or free throws…not a lot of creating their own shot and hitting them.
6. The chants were hilarious all night. Duquesne started out with the taser chants. I was in the Pitt section and there were several hundred of us. The Pitt fans had chants of: “You’ve got zero” (after the game was 14-0), “You got tasered” (near the end of the game), “Undefeated” (after the Dukes fans were chanting “Overrated”), and “This is our house” (near the end of the game).
7. Lastly, one thing I noticed was that there wasn’t real animosity at the game between fans. A good number of Pitt fans were actually cheering both ways during the game. All in all, an entertaining night.