Agreed. Woodall was huge. Glad to see him step up in a big game. It’s been a tough year for him. Perhaps this was the wake-up call that will push his game to the next level.
BTW – ESPN needs more Dorris Burke and less Doug Gottlieb. An hour after the game he was still claiming that Wannamaker stepped out of bounds on the Gibbs’ three at the end of regulation. His own network’s replay clearly showed otherwise. Simply a great play. Burke was really solid as the color announcer. I’ll be glad to see her get continued exposure when this game goes to ESPN Classic.

Is it me or does Huggins whine to the Refs the whole game? even when he is getting the calls and up by 10 on the road he is still whining. It has even infected the palyers as they do the same thing and whine after calls.

A GREAT win! If nothing else this game showed that this year’s Panthers continue the tradition of never giving up and playing hard nosed basketball. Now if we could only get somebody to broadcast more Pitt games to Philly.

gibbs will surely enjoy the 6 day reprieve, dude played 50 minutes.

Just got in from the game (and a few of Oakland’s finest pubs). I can’t wait to watch the game again on DVR tomorrow – lucky enough to have a girlfriend who knows to extend the DVR!

As I am sure was already said, Gary played a fantastic game, even if the stats don’t necessarily show it. I can’t believe I am watching the same guy who subbed in for Blair last season.

Also, I continue to be impressed with JJ Richardson. He plays with a strength and toughness that Taylor just hasn’t developed yet. If Richardson can continue to develop and Taylor can capitalize on just half of his amazing potential, Pitt will have the pieces in place for a fantastic frontcourt in the future.

Sorry about the disjointed nature of this post. It has been quite a night!

WOW…what a game…my heart was pounding…great save by Brad, the tying (and other)three pointer by Ashton…the OT tap-in by Nasir…the drive by Gil in OT…Gary’s block and retrieval in the corner…Travon’s huge free throws…and the students kept the cheerign going all game…and Jamie and crew did a great job (though a few times, I feared for Jamie’s heart–he was that intense!)…

Hail to PITT!
-al-

woodall played a hell of a game. finally saw some of the potential that got him recruited.

Woodall really hustled, gibbs hit huge 3, wannamaker (dj who?) was huge before fouling out in ot… Like I said the 13 to 9 beam handle is magical… Now if only I can make it into work on time tomorrow

Unreal effort by Pitt. Again, we pull a win against the hoopsters in spite of officiating (eh hem…13-9). Calling a foul to tie up 2nd OT? Fouling out a kid away from the ball? Really? REALLY?

but I digress. This was a win for the ages. Hard fought and much deserved.

Oh yeah, and tell Gottlieb to go steal some more credit cards.

HTscriptP

Heck of a coaching job by a one Jamie Dixon too. With all the talk about players, let’s not forget the real reason they were in position to win.

The magical season continues! Sit back & enjoy every second!

great stat last night how out of the top seeds from last years tourney, we may be the only team to get into the tourney this yr…unc/uconn/lvl all stink….with what he’s done, jamie has to be coach of the year…its incredible….and then last night we still win even though our best two players of the night (wannamaker and woodall) fouled out in the 3rd OT…..absolutely impressive…….

Resiliency!

Does anyone know if the game is being replayed, or where I can find a copy online? My DVR didn’t get it all. Go Pitt!

That might be one of the most gratifying Pitt wins I can ever remember. I put it right up there with the wins again UConn from last season and the epic Duke win from a few years back.

Has the Zoo ever rushed the court? I love the fact it didn’t happen last night, especially with the recent incidents that aren’t warranted.

Just tried to read how the game was perceived by the few Hoopie fans that can read via the Morgantown newspaper’s website. Surpisingly, they make you subscribe to the paper to actually read the articles so it was a no-go. Oh well, I guess I’ll visit one of their blogs. It would have killed me to have lost to them in football and twice in basketball in the same season. HTP!!!

Hmmm…I don’t know, it seemed to me that the game started going our way right after they put DW’s mug on the screen…Seriously though, DW was at the game with some recruits, a win like this in that atmosphere can’t hurt. I seem to recall a basketball game helping to seal the deal with Shady.

Still recovering/rejoicing from last night. What an effort – like L’ville only sweeter ’cause it was the hated Hoopies and Hoopie Bear.

Impressed with a few things:

– Interior and perimeter passing were great. Moved the ball to the open man often with few turnovers = Pitt basketball.

– Mental toughness was there when it counted on the floor and on the bench. Hoopies choked. We didn’t. Again, Pitt basketball.

– Woodall showed up big time. I can think of numerous plays but none bigger than the end-to-end drive and floater to pull us within one possession at the end of regulation followed by the quick swing to Gibbs after Wanny’s save. Both caught the Hoopies completely off balance. I know a lot of you follow the players’ Tweets, so you know they all are behind him. Good to see their faith rewarded at a key time in the schedule.

Just an awesome TEAM effort. Everyone who played contributed and hustled, and the coaches did one heck of a job keeping heads in the right place throughout that marathon.

Hail yeah to PITT!

I was out during the game. My DVR stopped before regulation ended when I watched it late last night, so I thought they lost. Flipped to espn and saw the score on the crawl and thought I was hallucinating. I can’t say enough about Wannamaker. He is easily Pitt’s best player. Gibbs might score more, but he’s one dimensional. Wannamaker is a testament to the program. He is the team’s best distributor, penetrator, maybe best ballhandler, second-best rebounder and one heck of a defender. I often thought last year that Wannamaker was on drugs when he was on the court because his play was so erratic. But not now. And like some of the above posts, JJ Richardson brings a toughness to the frontcourt that is lacking.

did not make it on time lol

I agree with Dave, I kept thinking to myself, “this feamle announcer really knows her stuff!” Great work.

I’m sure this may have been discussed in the live blog or elsewhere, but did anyone noticed how Pitt’s style of play changed with a minute left in regulation? Prior to that, they seemed to be moving in quicksand–they ran plays, but nothing seemed to be going in. Then, at 1:00, they just seemed to play “freer.” They loosened up. They drove to the basket and made their natural shots. Whatever they did, it carried into OT, and worked.

Just my .02.

Oh, and Brian, I hope the Zoo NEVER rushes the court. That’s a second-rate performance for losers!

Lets give some credit where its due. Pitt couldn’t have done it without some major choking at the free throw line by WVU, and I mean MAJOR! I haven’t seen that many bricks go up since I watched my house being built. WVU must be hating themselves this morning. Pitt had no reason to be in that game at the end of regulation. This loss is going to really stick with them down the stretch. Can’t think of a better justice to be leveled on them. What a huge confidence basher. I couldn’t hope for a sweeter outcome, especially considering how they embarrassed us down there. Talking of embarrassment, WVU fans showed their lack of class at that game and in response…, the Zoo showed behavior at the other end of the spectrum. Great support of their team all the way to the end and the energy never let up. I’m sure the team fed off of that. Man, makes me feel really proud to be a Pitt alumni, HAIL TO PITT!

Many heroes…total team effort! Everyone contributed at different times…good minutes from Richardson, tremendous poise from Woodall, Wanamaker with his toughness and play making, Gibbs getting back on track, Gil stepping up at just the right time, McGheeeeeee giving his all, Richardson with some great minutes and Dixon with his D. Throw in Jamie just being a lunatic and Jeff Reed pumping up the crowd (and doing some recruiting for Wanny) and you have just a great night at the Pete! HTP!!!!

I believe that if the students didn’t rush the court two years ago when Ramon’s 3 pt buzzer beater sank the Eers, they never will.

And I do think that this is a positive since it’s become all too common .. it happened in the Ivy League last night.

The sweetness of the win was somewhat tempered by Doug Gottlieb’s (or as I refer to him as Doug Gottadamsapple…..note his goofy looking face with huge adam’s apple) post-game comments. He had the audacity to say that WVU “made me a fan by their toughness and resiliency to keep coming back in the overtimes.” WTF? HEY DOUG, an undermanned, undersized, less talented Pitt team came back from 7 down with 40 seconds left, and had 3 key players foul out in OT, yet still beat the #4 team in the country. Give the Panthers A LITTLE respect you sickly looking jerk.

I said the same thing on another Blog Lou. I love the fact Pitt’s students act like they have been there before. All this regular season success will eventually spill over into NCAA success, right? I’ve talked to AP poll voters who don’t view Pitt as an elite BIG EAST team. They point to Syracuse and UCONN yet have no clue that Pitt has beaten the Cuse 12 of 15 and are above .500 against the Huskies.

Gottlieb obviously is anti-Pitt for whatever reason … remember, he didn’t even have them in his preason Top 25 last year

But last night was just a great night for Pitt BB

link to sports.espn.go.com

Loved the Hacksaw Jim Duggan chants of USA when the big Turk came in. Our fans were funny but not offensive. WVU should take note.

Also, this game reminded me a lot of Louisville. I quit watching both games with about a minute to go and were called back to the tv with 20 seconds left by family members.

This may not be the most talented team, but they have that Pitt grit and heart.

A great lesson for those young Pitt grads on this blog entering a profession or business. Many times you will be wronged in your career and taken advantage of….don’t respond in kind.
Beat em on the playing field!

Pitt did the one thing to harm and embarass WVU that will sit with them for years to come….
They beat em straight up on the court!

Hail to Pitt!

Once again, lack of clutch FTs hurt both teams (WVU to close in regulation, Pitt in 1st OT). I think Huggie Bear was dead on by giving us credit then following up with a comment that his team “let us back in”…obviously, he was talking about the FT% down the stretch.

Couple things that really stood out for me:

1) Woodall’s play — I have been a harsh critic of him on previous posts, he seemed to play with composure last night and really made some key shots.

2) JD’s defensive coaching towards the end– Loved the use of zone to confuse WVU. Loved the “play from behind” coaching that JD used like quick timeouts after a big momentum changing shot; allows the team to regroup and press with fresh legs. Coach K, Mike Brey, Calhoun, and Izzo use this tactic and, I think, it allows for better time management. I attribute the steal on the inbounds to having guys fresh and focused out of a timeout. Normally, Jamie just concedes the inboaunds in those situations.

To add to the couple comments – Doris Burke has been doing extraordinary color commentary. She might be one of the best on ESPN right now.

Great poise all around, awesome win. Hat tip to Travon Woodall and the Zoo.

Just a note. The other Big Pitt fan Jay the boy Bilas this morning on GameDay also said that Wanny was out of bounds and that WVU should have had the game.

I was at the game, and I have to say that there were awful calls by the refs all night long. Against both teams. No consistency, no sense of the overall game. They call ticky-tack off-ball fouls, then ignored body blows and over-the-backs. And I don’t think they know the definition of a travel. (There was one play were a WVU player rolled around on the floor with the ball and no call was made, but there were many other non-calls as well.) At the end of the day, though, I think this stuff kind of washed out. Same is true for the FT shooting. Bottom line is that Ebanks missed the shot he needed to make in 3OT, and Pitt hung on.

Great win, and great TEAM effort by Pitt! The most impressive stat is that Pitt is now 6-0 versus top 5 teams at the Pete.

Spoken like a true hoopie pig…

“You have to give Pitt a lot of credit,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “They didn’t fold. But they wouldn’t have won the game without a lot of help from us.”

Read more: link to post-gazette.com

I guess ‘ol Hug conveniently forgot who let them into OT in the first place and then into OT #2.

What a huge win. If they lose this one with Marquette, Nova and ND coming up they could have struggled to get to the dance. There are few easy wins in the Big East, but they absolutely stole this one.

They keep adding depth, Woodall played like a Champion and Richardson gave solid minutes. Maybe Taylor will have a breakthrough game soon, Woodall certainly looked like a different player.
Kudos to McGhee, most improved player in the Big East. Wanamaker was a stud, Gibbs is back.
They lose Dixon, Wanny and Woodall to fouls and still overcome.

They do it with mirrors, Jamie is King of Oakland.
Satisfying!

Pitt It Is, I’m trying to disect your post. Help me to understand why Huggins comments are “like a true hoopie pig”.

“You have to give Pitt a lot of credit. They didn’t fold.”
You don’t have to give Pitt a lot of credit??? Pitt folded????

“But they wouldn’t have won the game without a lot of help from us.”
If WVU made one or two of those fouls towards the end of the game, those shots would not have been helpful to WVU’s cause, and Pitt would still have won the game???

If you were Huggins speech writer, what would you advise him to say in order to give a truthful, classy analysis of the game?

For once this preacher is speechless. Allow me the following opinion: “It was the BEST Total GAME i’ve ever seen. I was emotionally drained and all I did was sit in my good luck tv chair. Luck, however, had nothing to do with it. It was heart, pure grit and as wbb has aptly said “resiliency”. Hats off to the victors.George from Columbus.

Rev. George, I was going to say “Amen” to your comments, but I thought that that may sound a little corny, so I’ll refrain from doing so.

Big Guy. He should have stopped with give them credit. To add that Pitt would not of won without THEIR help is an insult. From that, I make my comments. I apologize for hating WVU. Better?

Hail to Pitt!

Ah, Pitt It Is, you are way too critical. Because of your dislike for WVU, nothing their team or coach could do would be acceptable. I thought Huggins was gracious in complimenting Pitt. He also stated the obvious: for Pitt to tie the game at the end of regulation play and send it into OT, we needed their help. We needed their missed foul shots. If they made just one more of them at the end of regulation, we lose. Let’s also be gracious (happy) winners.

Have to agree with BigGuy. Hoopie Bear was spot on with his comments. WVU outplayed us for 38 minutes and then took their foot off our throats and choked at the line in the final 2.

Can understand the hate for WVU and Huggins. He’s a total ass most of the time. Don’t understand why the sideline reporters chase after him for comments. He always has some smartass answer that makes the reporter look like an idiot like his ‘I’m going to tell them we have to score more points than Pitt’ at halftime last night. He’s a perfect fit in Hoopietown – a jerk among jerks.

You can’t hate the Hoopies more than I do, but I have to agree with BigGuy…Huggins comments were accurate. The fact is, WVU has a better team than we do this year, which makes this win even more satisfying.

Hoopie Bear can make all of the comments he wants. He is accurate about helping us to get back into the game, no question about that point. What I enjoyed most was the WVU’s players’ comments about much it stings to lose a game like this game and about how it gave them a sick feeling in their stomachs. The players know they let us back into the game. Also, they know that we TOOK it from them after that in OT. We had more energy and we outplayed them in the OT’s. For me, as a Pitt fan, that is tremendously satisfying to see that our guys outplayed and outlasted the Hoopies. I plan on reminding every Hoopie fan I know about that every time I see them. We were the last ones standing. Another 13-9 moment for the Brawlers!