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January 29, 2011

Liveblog: Pitt-Rutgers

Filed under: Basketball,liveblog — Chas @ 1:42 pm

I am on DVR delay tonight. It’s a daddy-daughter event tonight that takes precedence. The one and only Maz takes the reins once more.

The game is at 8pm on ESPN2. Beth Mowins and Mike Kelley calling the game.

Taking nothing for granted here. Not after Providence took out Villanova. The Orange got blasted at home by Seton Hall. And all the usual craziness that comes about halfway through the conference slate.

As usual, it’s a moderated chat. Hopefully you know the rules by now.

If you need to break it from the site, Click Here. Otherwise, it is right below.





latest commitment
link to rivals.yahoo.com

I expect this is the 1st of a few to commit this weekend

Comment by wbb 01.29.11 @ 2:17 pm

The big east is amazing, two more games go down to the wire. As usual Louisville has athletes. Georgetown knocks off Villanova. Everygame counts.
We better be ready to play tonight.

Keep those recruits coming.

Comment by gc 01.29.11 @ 2:37 pm

Although, they are taking some from us, I for one am glad to see Rutgers recruit well. A rising tide raises all boats. Pitt needs for the Big East to get better from top to bottom and be a competitive conference. In order to fill seats at Heinz, It is not enough for us to be good, we need ranked teams to come to town.

Comment by gc 01.29.11 @ 2:43 pm

wow do we need to be careful today.. syracuse, uconn, and nova all lost today. hope we come out swinging.

Comment by usd121 01.29.11 @ 5:13 pm

usd, I was thinking the same thing. Wisconsin, Florida, Florida State, BYU and TAMU all got upset as well, I believe. I hope the Panthers take care of business tonight, and take nothing for granted.

(On the other hand, I would kinda’ like to see Texas get waxed …)

Comment by Hollow Panther 01.29.11 @ 6:39 pm

Buckeyes survive a scare. I think McGhee can front up Sully. He really was frustrated with NW’s pressure. He still scored a bunch of points. Not scared at all to play these guys…

HTP! Bring home a win!

Comment by Pauly P 01.29.11 @ 8:00 pm

Another upset in the making — I hope not. HTP!

Comment by MariettaMike 01.29.11 @ 8:46 pm

Another upset in the making — I hope not. HTP!

Comment by MariettaMike 01.29.11 @ 8:46 pm

So why are all the coaches wearing sneakers?

Comment by Marco 01.29.11 @ 10:05 pm

Another close one-I was on the move and couldn’t watch the game. How’d they play us so close tonight?

Comment by Lou 01.29.11 @ 10:26 pm

The sneakers have something to do with the Coaches vs Cancer thing.

Nice to escape with a win tonight. I hope Wanamaker gets his offensive game back on track, he’s really lacking confidence right now.

Comment by maguro 01.29.11 @ 10:28 pm

Sneakers are for Coaches against Cancer campaign.

Comment by dock71 01.29.11 @ 10:28 pm

Gibbs 3 and the team’s foul shooting at crunch time … aside from that iy would have been a really shitty week

but not as shitty as the referees .. an embarrassment to the BE the way the game was called. Brush fouls called all night and then G Brown gets undercut on an attempted dunk and nothing is called. But, overall thye have to et them play

Comment by wbb 01.29.11 @ 10:35 pm

Tough game, I’m glad the Panthers were able to grind it out.

Comment by Justinian 01.29.11 @ 11:05 pm

Will somebody please inform Mr. Zeise that Pitt is now 8-1 in Big East play. Come on, you sportswriters, can’t you even get your local team’s record straight? Rev. George P.S. Oh well, forgiveness is still in vogue.

Comment by Rev. George Mehaffey 01.29.11 @ 11:14 pm

I thought this game was very poorly called.

Comment by Jim 01.29.11 @ 11:14 pm

Posted this before, but maybe it bears repeating.
We kept hearing how deep this team is compared to years past. Since BigEast play started we aren’t deep at all. Tonight …a measly 6 points from the bench. Although Patterson did have 6 rebounds out of the blue. This after 8 points from the bench on Monday. And 11 against Cuse.

I repeat this bench needs to step up or we’re going to be steppin out early in the Big Dance.

Any thoughts, other than Woodall, who is going to step up. Taylor’s minutes and points/rebounds are dwindling, Zanna is almost making token appearances after getting 10 pts. against The Hall in 13 minutes. JJ Moore has DNP’d in 5 of the last 7 games. Patterson seems to be getting more minutes, which means the light might be coming on for him.

Am I over reacting here or does anyone feel a little anxiety about the bench. Yes we are 20-2 and we’ll still be in the Top 10(maybe even Top 5) come Monday. But I’m not feeling real confident. Or is this just part of being a Pitt fan and of having hopes dashed many a time??

Or maybe I just need another drink.

Comment by melvin bennett 01.29.11 @ 11:26 pm

Zeise is too busy with vacations, women’s hoops and the Egyptian riots to be concerned with such trivial things as Pitt’s BigEast record, Rev. George. Zeise is covering the riots in Cairo isn’t he? 🙂

Comment by melvin bennett 01.29.11 @ 11:31 pm

Just got back. The RAC was alive with the sound of at least 1000 Pitt fans, music to my ears.

Nasty RU student section: When McGhee was at the line, they would chant, “You are ugly.”

Comment by steve 01.29.11 @ 11:43 pm

Without a doubt,the worst officated college basketball game I’ve ever seen–for both sides.

Comment by square44 01.30.11 @ 12:11 am

Mel, think you need another drink, not because of your comment but its just generally a good idea.

The bench didn’t do much today, but they did as much as Nas and Brad, and proportionately weren’t terrible. The bench 28% of our total REBs, and 25% of our total assists and, if you remove Gibb’s scoring the bench scored 15% of our pts.

Actually, if you take Gibbs out of the equation it was a really weird, anomolous game. Really low shooting %s, odd shot selection (or lack thereof, especially w Wannamker in the 2nd half), etc, and really weird officiating.

Comment by PantherP 01.30.11 @ 2:03 am

Stop it with the newspaper crap, tired of reading it every single blog post.

Comment by Krayz 01.30.11 @ 4:43 am

Dixon said Taylor’s been battling sickness this week so maybe (hopefully) that explains his sluggishness and reduced minutes.

Comment by Jason 01.30.11 @ 7:31 am

Agree with other posters, this officiating crew called a terrible game — the worst I’ve seen in a long time.

We’ll take the win! HTP!

Comment by MariettaMike 01.30.11 @ 8:24 am

Maybe too many passes on offense? Yes, Jamie’s philospohy is a good one but I just get the sense these last two games that good looks are being sacrificed for the Cause.

I’m a fretter as much as the next guy but I really had the sense after RU’s early flurry of 2nd half fouls that we’d pull this out on the foul line. After that, attack the rim/foul/attack the rim/foul, etc. Yes, of all things, the foul line.

I’ll say it once again: RU fans need a strong dose of mutual respect training. They can be truly obnoxious.

Comment by steve 01.30.11 @ 8:33 am

Officiating was ACC-esk. I have never seen a Big East called so poorly.

Jamie almost blew his second game of the week. Monday he made no defensive adjustments and yesterday his leaving McGhee and Taylor to guard quicker guys was terrible. Why not have Nasir in? It was a foul or good look by the ‘5’ from Rutgers every time down in the last 5 minutes. Jamie needs to clean that up. No excuse. I guess coaches go into slumps too

Comment by BDuBB 01.30.11 @ 9:07 am

Just to keep us all from slitting out throats, Ohio St., barely eeked out a win against Northwestern. OSU has been living on the edge for the last few games, so I don’t think you can say Pitt is completely lost. As long as we can prove that we can get up for games against WVU and ‘Nova, I think we’ll be fine.

Comment by Lou 01.30.11 @ 9:30 am

Taylors reduced minutes were becauause of weak defense not sickness.

Comment by alcofan 01.30.11 @ 9:50 am

According to a number of sources, including Bob Lichtenfels and the Beaver Valley Times TE/LB/DE of Beaver Falls is in the fold. He was supposed to make it official this morning, from what I understand. Ronald Jones, a WR from Fort Meade, FL also committed. The class total is now up to 12, fwiw.

Comment by Pitt Is It! 01.30.11 @ 10:11 am

OOOPs, sorry I posted that in the wrong thread. LOL.

Comment by Pitt Is It! 01.30.11 @ 10:11 am

Checking the tape, Lamar Patterson played very well. Zanna, however, has become a liability.

Comment by steve 01.30.11 @ 10:56 am

I disagree, refs were fine.

Comment by steve 01.30.11 @ 11:13 am

@melvin

I would chalk up the bench to inexperience (in totality) rather than depth. I think Jamie has 4 or 5 guys that he feels comfortable (talent wise) in spot duty throuhgout the course of the game, but does he trust them away from the Pete? Do they have the exeprience that he usually has coming in off the bench? Think about it..are any of these players truly expereienced? You can argue Woodall and Taylor…put aside from that, he’s trotting out newbies. And newbies tend to have more off days than on (especially in the very hostile confines of the RAC).

My biggest concern for this team moving forward in the tournament is in the games where Wannamaker’s game goes awol (for whatever reason, mind cramps, fouls, overall funk)…how do we react offensively?

My guess– we will absolutely have to win a game like this one in the tournament with Gibbs stepping up and getting it down with Wannamaker out of it. Could we get a freakish game from our bench (think Zanna Maryland, Woodall Providence)to supplement…maybe? Could we see the real Gilbert Brown stand up and monster home a 25 pointer as a supplement? Maybe. My money is on Gibbs.

That’s why, I have been preaching, without a doubt, Gibbs is our most important player because he can be “the man” most of the time on the offensive side..and make 3’s (set or in desperation), can drive and get fouled to alleviate the downtimes in offense, and almost always nails his FTs. I have also been preaching team FT%…as long as we shoot greater than 70%, we can win any grinder game that is poorly officiated with the experience on this team. I was really proud to see guys step to the line and bang home clutch shots. Those FTs are effing important…and it was nice to see us drilling them for a change!

Comment by Pauly P 01.30.11 @ 11:59 am

Woodall had been shooting better, but I honestly cannot remember the time I saw somebody shoot so terribly. That was flat out wretched.

Overall, this team needs an infusion of aggression. They are too passive on both ends.

Gibbs does have ice in his veins. But please can he stop trying to get into the lane. Pull up for a short jumper, young man. Pull up.

Comment by Carmen 01.30.11 @ 9:39 pm

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