Wow. Pitt never trailed or was tied in this game. In the second half, the Hoyas never got closer than 3 points. As Dixon said in the post-game interview with Bilas, this team is just getting better. They keep practicing, they keep working. They weren’t going to focus on who wasn’t there.
It was a great gameplan against Georgetown. Make it harder to get the pass inside, deny the entry, don’t sleep on the backdoor cuts. Make Georgetown settle for jumpers and feel pressed to shoot rather than make that extra pass. Sounds simple, but Pitt executed it so well.

So here are some of the notes I took down during the game.

Right from the start, there could be an argument that Georgetown will have a problem with Pitt. Not because Pitt got out to an 8-2 start. It’s because Georgetown doesn’t press. It’s guards don’t do that. Their defensive style is to wait in the halfcourt and frustrate teams. That’s something Pitt can handle.

The bad news early was that Sam Young decided he should be taking the 3s early.

Good news, the refs were going to let this be a real Big East game. There were no fouls called on either side until under 14 minutes to go in the game.

Throughout the entire first half, Pitt was focused on this game. There was intensity and fire. What wasn’t there was recklessness or letting emotion get the better of them. I don’t know if it came from the Oakland Zoo to the team or the Zoo recognized and was with it. It just was so clear that there was a connection.

About halfway through the game, Pitt was leading but had missed a lot of shots. That was fine by me because Pitt had a 6-0 offensive rebounding advantage at that point. More shots, more chances. Pitt was just getting to the ball. Keep getting chances and more shots were going to fall.

Ramon was able to come off a couple of great screens to hit some big threes. I am/was a big Aaron Gray fan. That said, with a guy like Blair. So much more athletic and quick that creates some real flexibility for Pitt. Blair was able to come out to the perimeter to set those screens to free Ramon. That has been something Ramon has needed this year. A chance to get free for his shot. It seems Pitt has been working on the screens to get him free and they were paying off tonight.

Gary McGhee learned a hard lesson tonight about how much more he has to learn. He was completely unable to handle being inside against Hibbert. He picked up two very, very quick fouls and then a third almost as soon as he came back in the second half. 3 fouls in 2 minutes. I want to see him get in the rotation and learn more, but I don’t think I’ll be second-guessing Dixon too hard in games where McGhee sees very limited or mop-up minutes only.

Pitt was just so physical with Georgetown. Not dirty, just going hard and not giving ground. Wallace and Ewing, Jr. both struggled with it. DaJuan Summers got very frustrated and picked up 3 fouls in the first half. He was completely taken off his game. Huge since the heir apparent to Green was unable to do much.
At halftime, both Digger Phelps and Stacey Dales were all about how Georgetown was in a great position down only 1 — #%^@*&! halfcourt 3 at the buzzer. Why? Because G-town was shooting 50% while Pitt had shot only 33.3%.

There was barely a cursory acknowledgment that Pitt was leading because they had many more shot attempts thanks to superior offensive rebounding and second chance points. What amused me, was that the extra shots thanks to better offensive rebounding and fewer turnoevers was exactly why G-town avoided being upset by UConn a couple days ago.

The second half, not only saw Pitt still get to the ball faster and have the chances. Pitt started hitting more shots inside. They killed the Hoyas when they went into a zone. There was a clear comfort zone for Pitt from about the free throw line to about 3 feet further inside for Pitt to drop open jumpers. Pitt now has inside guys — Young, Blair and Biggs — who can hit in that area.

More of Pitt’s shots were falling with the open space and Georgetown, got frustrated and rushed more shots.

At halftime of the OK-KS game, they got to the Pitt highlights and of course there was no acknowledgment of how off they were on what they thought. Instead it was about how Pitt dominated on the offensive boards. Hindsight dictated how important that was.

Phelps also spoke of the tremendous job Coach Dixon has done in keeping Pitt focused on the court. Not whining about the injuries or using it as an excuse.