For the first time since the latest incarnation of the Big East I have not had bragging rights in my own house. Pitt needs to win this so I can put the wife back in her place.
7:30: Refs for tonight John Cahill, Michael Stephens and Brian O’Connell.
7:38: Pitt gets first lead on Blair going 2-2 on FTs. 4-3, 18:20 in the game. Then Pitt gets out hustled on offensive rebound to give it right back.
7:41: Some good news. Gentry already has 2 fouls. Otherwise, Deonta Vaughn is off to a hot start for Cinci. Sam Young probably has half the fans ticked off already with a bad decision to force a shot — not even looking to pass out of it — and then matador defense on the other end.
7:45: Everyone’s afraid to shoot the 3. Ramon, Fields and Brown all hesitated and thought against it in one possession. That won’t help if there’s no confidence.
7:51: Cinci shooting better than 50%, but also has 4 turnovers in the first 8 minutes. Mainly because Vaughn got off to a hot start.
7:56: When the double team comes on Blair, the guards have to come to him so he can pass out of it. It does no good for Pitt, if Blair has no one to pass it to.
7:59: Nice. Wanamaker to Blair for a jam. 18-13 Pitt with 9:05 in the half and Cronin needs a time out.
8:01: Sam Young picks up his second foul and out he goes for Biggs with 8+ minutes left.
8:05: Weird. They said that the refs took back the Young foul and put it on Brown. Um, OK. Damn. Biggs made a 3 earlier, now he’s trying to take more. On the bright side, he did have a nice block and has grabbed a couple boards in traffic.
8:10: Out fought inside with Blair getting a blow. Cinci gets a couple shots before it finally falls with the “and 1.” Pitt up 23-21 with a foul shot pending.
8:22: Halftime tied at 29. Pitt still being out-rebounded — 19-13. That’s got me a bit ticked. Vaughn and Williamson have 10 points apiece. Young and Blair have 17.
The good. Pitt has 8 assists on 11 baskets. They have forced 8 turnovers by the Bearcats.
The bad. Out rebounded and hustled. Still not hitting 3s. Guards are not producing. Expect the Bearcats to collapse inside and specifically on Blair and Young even more in the second half.
Cinci with Williamson and Vaughn being the scorers keeps Pitt spread. No packing or helping for risk of losing either.
8:55: Sorry. Trying to put the kids to bed at halftime, and oddly enough the kids didn’t cooperate.
How I avoided committing a Shaken Baby incident with the 10-month old in the first 6 minutes of the second half is a minor miracle.
8:57: Statistically speaking, Gilbert Brown has to make a 3 eventually. Doesn’t he?
9:00: Ramon makes his 2nd 3, and that one was from his favorite spot. Left of center on the perimeter. Pitt has a 50-46 lead with 9:12 left.
9:05: &^O(^$###$#$$%#@ Vaughn! Even with a hand in his face drills that 3.
9:08: Scary, ridiculous stat at this point. Pitt has taken 44 shots. 22 are 3s with 7:32 left. That just should not be.
9:13: NBA continuation for Sam Young on that one. 61-55 with 5:30 left.
9:22: Blair struggling with FTs down the stretch after a 4-4 start. 2-4 on his last four — in the past minute.
9:27: Fields with a 3. Stunning considering how much time was on the shot clock. 68-63 Pitt with 52 seconds.
9:32: How do they miss that travel in the final seconds right in the middle of the lane? Still, Pitt can’t quit on the play just because. Hopefully Pitt gets a make-up before this is over.
9:33: Free throw time for Pitt, from here on out. Brown 1-2.
9:35: Brown with the slam off the rebound and break. The wife just asked me how many fingers she was holding up.
73-67 win for Pitt.
Thoughts: Strange game defensively for Pitt. The poor rebounding is scaring the crap out of me. This is, however the second straight game where Pitt has forced a ton of turnovers which offsets to some extent allowing so many offensive rebounds. I think Cinci’s 48% shooting is a little deceptive since it came on only 54 attempts. The possessions by Cinci were limited, but they had so many offensive rebounds.
Deonta Vaughn was tremendous from outside. John Williamson having his way inside was much more worrisome to me.
Again, I’ll repeat, the rebounding has officially become an issue. Pitt only had 25 rebounds and Blair had 10 of them. Benjamin and Brown each had 4 and Sam Young had 0 (though he did have 5 steals).
Too many 3s being taken — especially with the lack of results. 53 shot attempts 26 from outside. Brown has stopped trying to penetrate. Fields is shying from contact. Benjamin started to get some confidence back. All need to go inside to be effective.
Needed win.
S. Young 32
D. Blair 33
K. Benjamin 37
R. Ramon 34
L. Fields 35
T. Biggs 14
G. Brown 10
G. McGhee 2
B. Wanamaker 3
When they look back, no one cares how we got there. As ugly and poorly played as many games this year ….but much needed…agreed with all that the rebounding has become a serious problem.
Benjamin needs to be more consistent and assertive for this team to succeed, while Fields’ judgment is sorely lacking since returning from injury. He appears a step slow still and his shot selection (50 sec. left) has been poor.
I’d love to see more entry passes in the post to Young and Blair, bounce passes anyone? Too much of a reliance on perimeter jumpers with mediocre shooters adds up.
Dixon also needs to get a rotation figured out. It’s clear that certain lineup combinations don’t function well on the floor, i.e. Young and Fields getting pulled at the same time in the first half with no one willing to shoot.
Finally, the defensive pressure is lax at best and Dixon refuses to consider changes. It was clear early in the second half that Young couldn’t handle Williamson, nor could Ramon with Vaughn. Try something new: run more double teams, matchup-zone maybe, but what is there to lose? While I love what Gilbert Brown and DeJuan Blair bring defensively, so many of the others seem to be lacking the intensity of past years and it wanes the most at the end of shot clocks.
Apologies for being so negative after a win, but I think these are serious concerns for any type of postseason run that we want to see from Pitt. Anyone else have thoughts on these?
We may have been out-rebounded, but we forced enough turnovers to win the game.
Ramon is worthless guarding perimeter shooters. It doesn’t take talent to shoot over a guy who’s 5’9″
After a year’s experience, Blair will be so much better at seeing the double team coming and passing out of it.
Which is the bigger win? At Syracuse? or at WVU?
I hate these 11:00pm starts!
Love Dixon, think he has done a great job, but he has got to get to fine-tune the offense. Teams clearly have figured out our offense and he has got to throw some wrinkles in. And, yes, we have to get the ball into the post and stop taking so many GD 3s!!
Otherwise, good win with some big positives, particularly Blair and Fields showing once again that, late in the game, he is the freakin’ man.
You think Gilbert will go pro after his junior year or won’t be a focal point during his senior year?
Why did Gil Brown only play 10 minutes? It seems we could have used his athleticism.
Why did Wannamaker only play 3 minutes? He is clearly the best post passer on the team and.
How is it possible for Sam Young to play 32 minutes and have ZERO rebounds and ZERO assists? He had a pretty nice game shooting, but you’d think if you are on the floor that long you’d get a board or a dime by accident.
Will Gil Brown ever hit another 3? He’s gone O for his last 17, dating back to last make against Nova on January 30.
Say we shot 38% the last 3 games, something that could be considered average. That’s 76 points at ND, 79 points (and a W) against LU, and 79 against Cinci. The only problem we’re having on offense is 3 pt shoointg (and holy shit, they can’t get any better looks than they get now). I think its a testament to the offense that we’re still scoring 70 pts against teams that are packing it in, not worried about the 3 point shooting.
Like i’ve heard before in life: It’s the defense, stupid. Last night our “lock-down” defense “held” them to “only” 50% from 2, and 44% from 3. They have TWO KIDS that can actually play basketball – thats why we won. They have even a decent 3rd player, we lose. Our defense was AWFUL, AGAIN. Those two kids just got shot after shot after shot against us. We need to defend someone, anyone. Its awful. Its the same shit, game after game. Theres no sense in even going back to see whats happening. And our rebounding is embarassing – 3 offensive rebounds on the same posession? Seriously? We look like a bunch of retards chasing a ball around, instead of boxing anyone out. Your starting 4 gets ZERO boards? This is unbelievable. Same as last week: They need to spend EVERY SINGLE PRACTICE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR ON DEFENSE.
Obviously our “scout team” (if we actually have one) is doing a poor job replicating the offense of our next opponent.
We also need to work on the team defense a LOT more. When someone has to help, it seems we NEVER get rotation anymore. I don’t understand it. Instead we have 2 guys face guarding role players that aren’t threats to my grandmother in a pickup game. Why the hell do we even have them in the game?
Last night, we had to defend a total of 2, TWO, players, and couldn’t get it done. 33 minutes into the game Warren is setting a pick for vaughn, blair and fields go with Warren, vaughn pops for a 3. THAT WARREN KID DIDN’T SCORE A FUCKING POINT THE ENTIRE GAME AND WE HAVE 2 GUYS GUARDING HIM ON A PICK AND ROLL?!?!?!? Its unbelievable. They didn’t even need 5 players out there. 2 of their players score 75% of their points. Absurd. There is no other way to describe it. Vaughn had 7 assists to Williamson. What the hell game were we watching? Look at the play by play:
John Williamson made Two Point Jumper. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
John Williamson made Two Point Dunk Shot. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
John Williamson made Two Point Layup. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
John Williamson made Two Point Jumper. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
John Williamson made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
John Williamson made Two Point Jumper. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
John Williamson made Two Point Jumper. Assisted by Deonta Vaughn.
Our defense plays like a broken record. Holy shit is it awful.
why so negative?? this is the greatest collection of talent ever assembled at Pitt and coached by the games best coach. I think after watching games like this, you could agree that Pitt needs to seriously upgrade its talent, not big enough or quick enough to defend the perimiter. want proof? look at the opponents 3 point shooting percentage. look at the number of points in the paint by the opponents guards. also I would like us to recruit some shooters, not just scorers, shooters, guys like jason matthews and sean miller. 80-90 % foul shooters, so when the game is on the line, we can clinch it. a lock down julius page/jaron brown defender wouldn’t hurt either. on the positive side, gil brown and brad wannamaker have the size and potential to be better defenders. time will tell. not a hater, just saying what i see on the court.
You may actually have some good points but you so obscure them by continually going back to the 80s and one of the most maddeningly underachieving Pitt teams as some highwater mark. All that talent and so little to show for it. In a short window.
Those were talented teams, but I’m not that excited to celebrate great recruiting classes that all we can still do is look at and say, “what if.” That’s what that period was as much as anything else. I was at Pitt from 88-92. I don’t recall much of a view that it was the golden age of Pitt hoops, so much as frustration at the underachievement. Then even that was gone.
Also, tell me who was a more talented PF than young. Doesn’t prevent him from playing some truly awful D at times.
Literally, the answer is simple: they need more practice on D. All day every day, until they get it right. Defense isn’t just one on one matchups – its team defense.
Come back in a year or two and i’m sure they freshman will be playing much better defense and we’ll be a much better defensive team. We’ll be deeper, guys will be fresher, etc. Turns out it really hurt to lose all 5 starters from last years team for half a season.
