Keep in mind this is a liveblog, not a gamelog. If you want every shot, play charted, they have computer monkeys for that. This is comments and observations as the game goes along. Number of updates and comments will vary accordingly.

4:09: Wow, nearly 2 minutes before anyone scored. Pitt got it first, but now down a whopping 4-2. This looks to be a brutal, poor shooting game.

4:17: Not only poor shooting, lots of defense, but the video is very dark in this. Poor lighting for this, at least for TV. Pitt down 15-10 with under 12. Cinci showing some really good ball movement on offense.

Can’t say I’m worried. Cinci hitting a lot of shots. They have been very streaky, so they will hit a bad patch.

Pitt looking ragged on the road, but only 2 TOs so far.

4:25: Dixon got a technical foul for something he said to the officials. Right after Blair got called for his second foul. Pitt now down 18-10 with a little over 11 minutes.

4:27: McGhee time with Blair out. Arguably, the right kind of opponent to build his confidence as well.

4:28: Freshman mistake by McGhee tried to go 1-3 to get an offensive rebound and chased too far. Called for a foul.

4:35: Oy, Biggs. You have to be willing to give up the ball. Missed one, got the rebound and never even thought of passing out as 3 Cinci players were dropping on him. Pitt down, 20-18 with 6:07.

Benjamin is being looked at as Mike Jarvis speculates that Benjamin might have a dislocated finger (right hand) on a prior defensive play.

4:37: Benjamin going to the locker. New speculation is a torn fingernail. Ouch.

4:39: Fantastic steal by Brown, even better dish to trailing Young who trails. Scores but couldn’t convert the +1. Damn.

4:42: Vaughn loses the handle then commits his 2nd foul trying to get it back. Good news for Pitt. Keep him silent.

Pitt up 22-20 with under 5.

4:44: Wanamaker getting some minutes. Got a basket on a bit of an out of control fast break (seemed lucky) then gets bailed out a couple minutes later by a foul — but misses both free throws.

Now tied at 22 with under 4.

4:49: Benjamin has a laceration on his pinky. Return, questionable. Uh-oh.

4:51: Pitt trailed by as much as 8, but goes into the half 28-27. Ramon hit a pull-up jumper, and then Cinci hit a big three to keep it close.

Considering that Pitt was with out Blair for over half the half, and Benjamin for the final 6 minutes or so, this isn’t too bad. Cinci is playing some very, very good defense. Have to respect their effort.

Cinci not pressing, or gambling on defense. Arguably, this is the kind of defense Pitt has run. Very difficult, in-your-face, man-to-man that just will be physical and bump. No gambling for steals. Pitt only has 2 TOs.

If not for a little sloppy defense by Pitt inside — late rotating — Cinci would be down more.

The second half won’t be any easier.

5:08: Benjamin back to start the 2nd half.

5:09: Not sure what the foul was on Blair when Hryancuik blew past him? Blair yanked, but I still didn’t see the foul. He got threw him but, what foul?

Now Cinciy up 3 31-28.

5:14: Yeah, Williamson took a scrape across his eye/face by Brown before the strip. No call.

5:20: Credit to Cinci’s ball movement. They are driving Pitt’s frontcourt nuts as they are late on rotation.

Ramon with an easy basket on a goaltend.

McLain looking good taking advantage of Blair.

Young slams home a missed 3 by Benjamin. Pitt down 38-36 with under 14.

5:33: Auugh. Pitt tips in a missed FT. to give Cinci a 45-40 lead.

5:40: Pitt now down 51-40. They just aren’t getting open shots. Cinci’s defense is doing a hell of a job. Limiting opportunities for Pitt more than anything else. Pitt isn’t shooting horribly (except form outside), but not getting second chances.

Pitt starting to rush shots out of frustration.

5:44: Cinci is having a very effective shooting night. They are getting to the free throw line, because Pitt has been late on defense inside. Plus they hold a 12-2 advantage on points off turnovers even though both teams have the same amount of turnovers.

5:50: Perspective moment with UCLA losing to USC and UNC losing to Maryland — both were home losses. Wow.

6:03: Vaughn probably just put it away on the transition basket. Even with the miss.

Just a minute left, Pitt down 59-54.

Cinci has just kept complete control of the pace in this game. It’s been an impressive effort. They have closed fast to limit shots, and just been more aggressive going after the ball.

6:08: Vaughn ices the game with both FTs. 61-57

Damn. Cinci caught a break when there was no +1 when Brown caught the home run and went up with the ball. Instead, they called it a foul before the shot.

61-59 Cinci with 15.9. Cinci inbounds.

6:11: Pitt loses 62-59. Damn fine block on Benjamin’s 3. Risky, but Bishop was clean.

I credit Cinci with a great game. As I said before this game, losing to Cinci wouldn’t be a stunner. The Bearcats –especially at home — are a dangerous team. They were tremendous in almost the entire game on defense. They flew out to prevent good looks on threes, and they absolutely collapsed inside.

If you want to talk about a game where Pitt missed Fields and Cook, this was it. Both would have had success penetrating and driving inside. That was the element missing offensively for Pitt. The way Cinci slowed the pace and forced Pitt to keep using clock to find a shot was the kind of thing Pitt has had to do in the past against more athletic teams.

The Bearcats also converted their FTs. Their best FT shooters got to the line and made them. Cinci was able to penetrate better and follow shots. Getting fouls in shooting action.
Pitt actually had less TOs than the Bearcats.

Cinci is a dangerous team for three reasons — they have home court, they are improving and they are unpredictable in offensive output.

I don’t think I can stress enough how much home court is skewing results. Not just in the Big East, but in all of the major conferences. I really am not shocked when a road team loses in conference (any conference).

No matter how bad the home team or how good the road team. If Pitt were to lose today, it wouldn’t be a stunner. Good article with some numbers on the road issues in the Big East and then Pitt.

They probably have something to do with the talent level Pitt has featured recently. But there is certainly a mental makeup required to win away from your friendly confines, and the Panthers seem to have it.

No. 15 Pitt (15-2, 3-1 Big East) is 3-2 in road games this season, falling at No. 14 Dayton and at No. 25 Villanova and winning at Washington, South Florida and Oakland neighbor Duquesne. Over the past five-plus seasons — since Dixon became the head coach — the Panthers are 29-15 in road games (.659).

But it’s the Panthers’ conference road record that’s particularly impressive. In the Big East over the past five-plus seasons, the Panthers are 21-12 (.636). For comparison’s sake, last year’s Big East teams were 44-84 (.344) on the road in conference. Throw out the bottom four teams in the league standings _ which went a combined 1-31 in league road games _ and the record is still below .500 at 43-53.

“You got to be able to defend. That has to be there every night, and you have to rebound every night,” Dixon said. “Shooting (decreases), and you won’t get to the free-throw line as much. Those things aren’t going to be there.”

Last season, Pitt was 6-2 on the road in conference.
The Bearcats are 2-0 at home in the Big East — beating Villanova and pounding Syracuse.

Jay Bilas continues to sing the praises of Pitt (Insider subs.).

Positively Pittsburgh: I have been amazed at the strength of character shown by Pittsburgh since Mike Cook and Levance Fields went down with season-ending injuries. After Fields was lost against Dayton, coach Jamie Dixon was admittedly feeling sorry for his team’s plight … for about five minutes. After a very short pity party, Dixon said to his staff, “we’ll be fine.” He also told his team that they could be as good as they wanted to be, and that they had individuals that were more than capable of doing more. They may have been a player in a role, but they were not just role players. Since the Fields injury, Keith Benjamin (17 ppg over the last five games) and Ronald Ramon (32 assists and 11 turnovers over the last five games, 32 points in the last two) have been nothing short of brilliant. Dixon has simplified things and shortened his playbook, going from over 50 set play calls to about 20, and the Panthers have been more efficient as a result. Dixon has been upbeat and encouraging, while at the same time demanding accountability. We talk about toughness a lot, and sometimes that is taken to mean physical toughness. Pittsburgh is tough. They will also be in the NCAA Tournament.

The mental toughness of Pitt, is arguably also why the team has been so successful on the road.

The Bearcats are an improving team, as I said.

After losing five in a row in December, Cincinnati has turned things around with four wins in its past six games.

Sophomore guard Deonta Vaughn has been a big reason for the recent surge. Vaughn is the third-leading scorer in Big East games with a 20.2 average. He scored 29 points in the victory against Syracuse, 25 in a win against Villanova and 24 in a loss at St. John’s.

Pitt guards Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin, who have done a fine job of limiting big games from opposing teams’ guards, draw the assignment of covering Vaughn.

“He’s come on lately,” Dixon said. “He has deep range, can put it on the floor. He can get to the basket, can get to the foul line. He scores in a variety of ways. We’ve faced a number of guys like him. It will come down to Ronald and Keith. They will be the two guys on him for the most part.”

Vaughn was limited to only 10 points in a road loss to Notre Dame,  so he will be looking to pick it up back home. Vaughn will get at least 15 I think against Pitt. His coach, Mick Cronin does want the guard to realize when to pass.

The Bearcats are looking to rebound from Tuesday’s second-half collapse in a 91-74 loss at Notre Dame. They already own one conference victory on the road against Louisville, the co-favorite to win the league. Now they’d like to defend their home turf against a team that has been the class of the Big East in recent years.

They’re hoping that sophomore guard Deonta Vaughn, who was averaging 22.8 points in Big East play before Tuesday, will recover from his 10 point performance vs. Notre Dame, which constructed its defense to stop him.

“If you’ve got two guys on you, you’ve got to make the pass and your teammates have got to put the ball in the basket,” Cronin said. “You’re not going to be able to get 20-plus every game. Nobody can.”

It’s the rest of the team what you don’t know what to expect.

For Cinci there is more depth — they go about 9 or 10 deep in terms of double-digit minutes. Their offensive production after Vaughn though, is spotty — to be kind. Williamson and Hrycanuik average a combined 18.2 points. They are the second and third leading scorers.

Cinci, as an offensively challenged team, live off their defense. They will pressure Pitt bringing the ball up-court, so that is a concern.

Pitt now has 3 coaching vacancies — O-line, WR and Defensive coordinator. Jeff Hafley was promoted to secondary coach. Tony Wise is expected to be hired at some point as the offensive line coach.

So really, there are only two openings. Greg Gattuso is the in-house candidate. I would be fine — thrilled even — with him being promoted to DC. Beyond his recruiting for Pitt which has been outstanding, he has plenty of experience as a head coach and game planner at Duquesne. His work as a position coach — tight ends for the first two seasons and D-line this year — has shown him to be a very good teacher.

There is a long list of possibilities. Zeise has a good list, but I’d eliminate Partridge and Jerry Olsavsky. Neither has enough experience to be the DC at this point. Foge Fazio is going to be 70 this year. I really don’t see him wanting to go through that grind.

Tom Bradley would be a highly hysterical hire. I’m not saying he would be a bad hire, but I can’t even take that seriously. (Especially with the renewed rumors that PSU’s administration might actually build up the stones to ask Paterno to at least considers some sort of succession plan and eventually call it a career.) Funny to think about, though.

There’s always the question of money and how much Pitt is willing to pay for an assistant. Something that may stop Pitt from considering Tim Lewis (Carolina Panthers secondary coach), Sal Sunseri (Carolina Panthers D-line coach) and Teryl Austin (Arizona Cardinals defensive backs coach).

AD Steve Pederson says the money shouldn’t be a problem.

“We’ll hire good coaches. I don’t think we’ve ever been in a position where we said we couldn’t afford to hire a coach,” Pederson said. “You find the right coach. So far, we’ve been able to hire them and get them in here.

“Sometimes, a school comes along and offers a coach more money than you feel you can justify paying at the time. We’re going to be fair, but we won’t get into bidding wars for assistant coaches.”

That Rhoads got a reported $400K from Auburn. Wow. No. I’m not going to bother. He’s gone, that’s all that matters. OK, maybe this highlight from his press conference at Auburn.

“We are going to be fundamentally sound. Before I even talk scheme, we are going to be very fundamentally sound. We are going to back-pedal well, we are going to take great steps as linebackers, we are going to get off and use our hands well. We are going to do all the things a great football team does fundamentally. We are going to be sound schematically. We are going to have people in the gaps they are supposed to be in. We are going to have people deep and keep offensive players in front of us.

“We are going to do those things, regardless of scheme. We are going to tackle extremely well. It is obvious that the better athletes you are playing with, the better tacklers you are going to have. I believe wholeheartedly that you can teach average athletes to be great tacklers and great athletes to be even better tacklers. And we are going to run to the football. Those things I can guarantee you.”

[Emphasis added.] Fundamentally bend-but-don’t-break folks. I will skip the part about tackling.
Coach Wannstedt doesn’t see any harm to the recruiting class from the coaching turnover, and he does say that recruiting accumen is vitally important to being hired. Not to mention, being a FOW (Friend of Wannstedt).

“None of these jobs will have any bearing on recruiting,” Wannstedt said. “We’re out there and still working hard, so we’re not under a lot of pressure to try and get them filled. We want the right mix of guys and want to make good decisions.”

…

“Usually, I have found that hiring people I am familiar with or I know has produced the best results, and this is no different. Obviously, I have a lot of people whose opinions I trust who I will look to.”

One thing that is clear. Anyone who wants to be considered for a job on Wannstedt’s staff needs to be an excellent recruiter and like that part of the job.

“Like I said at my first press conference, you need to have two excellent coordinators and the other seven coaches on your staff need to be recruiters,” Wannstedt said. “That’s always been my philosophy and that’s how successful programs do things as well.”

Waiting and watching.