Once more, paying homage to the DVR. Winter storm warning for NE Ohio, meant trying to get some errands and shopping done early today — along with much of humanity. As such, rather than getting back before noon as intended, I didn’t get back until nearly 1pm. Horrors, that I forgot to set it to record. However, I had left it turned off to ESPN so it automatically had backed up the last couple hours on that channel. Didn’t miss a thing.
Of course, that meant no live blog. I look forward to reading the comments everyone else left on the game as it was in progress and right after, but here are the notes I took during the Pitt 85-68 win. Other thoughts are posted at AOL FanHouse.
*The refs called a lot of fouls in the game, especially early. Against the Cowboys that’s a huge advantage for Pitt. The Cowboys still lack depth and it showed later in the game as they couldn’t attack on penetration.
*Ramon needs to have a little more confidence in his 3-point shot. He hesitates when he flashes free too much, especially when someone is running out at him.
*I can’t believe how comfortable Keith Benjamin looks out there. Yes, the team runs more which suits him, but he isn’t out of control with his play. He looks like a man who knows who he is and his role on the team — and has embraced/accepted it. A huge change, that makes him so much more valuable when he isn’t trying to prove something everytime he touches the ball.
*I was actually happy Pitt didn’t race out to a big lead. It kept them from getting complacent. They knew they had a real opponent and treated them like it.
*Much like his shooting at times, Ramon is too deliberate in his passing. It isn’t that the passes are lazy, it’s that they are so obvious and telegraphed to the defense.
*Oklahoma State, as not surprising with a young team, is a very hot-cold shooting team. They started hot for the first 8 minutes (7-10 shooting) then went cold. Especially when they get out of tempo. They really let themselves be forced into shots. That’s a credit to Pitt’s defense and the control of the tempo, but it is also on Oklahoma State and Coach Sean Sutton to recognize and deal.
*Out of the half, Oklahoma State did pick up the defensive intensity, but more importantly they did start running plays on offense rather than hoisting shots. That allowed them to start to make the game closer.
*What really allowed the Cowboys to close, though, was Fields going out with 3 fouls early in the second half. Blair has huge potential, only being scratched and Young is an exciting dynamic player. Fields, however, is probably the most important player for Pitt in a game. Witness the Duquesne game, when Fields was horrible. Bad decisions, not seeing the court, mistakes galore. Then look at this game when he went out. The offense became tentative, passing was slow and just the open man being missed. Once he returned Pitt surged back out in front by double digits.
