No it wasn’t a great effort. Not from the crowd at the Pete. Not from the team. We can all agree on that. I’m reasonably certain Coach Dixon wasn’t pleased, and I’m sure everyone already knows that they can’t do that against even an average team. So, let’s skip that admonishment.
Thankfully, USF is a subpar team, Pitt was at home, and better to get the letdown effort out of the way now rather than this weekend.
Am I going to lose it over a weak effort? No. This sort of things happens at the pro level all the time, it really is amazing it doesn’t happen more often with college kids. This is still the team that pounded UConn and Georgetown. That stepped on the throat of bad teams like Seton Hall and DePaul.
Is it frustrating when it was happening? Was I yelling at my computer? Shaking my head? Actually getting a little nervous at times? Oh, yeah.
Still, it goes in the books as a win. And you can bet it gives Coach Dixon another chance to drive it home to the team in practice that they can’t take things for granted.
In the first half, Pitt was hitting baskets, but so was USF. Pitt shot over 57% (including making a first half 3-pointer), but kept relaxing on defense — allowing USF to connect on 3s. A team that was shooting under 30% coming into the game, hit 4-8 including a buzzerbeater at the half to allow USF to be within 7 points.
I honestly had thought, Pitt had mostly shaken off the initial first half lethargy. Then of course, USF was hitting shots and Pitt wasn’t defending and unable to put the ball in the basket.
The Panthers held a one-point lead and had scored only nine points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
“They shocked us early on by hitting so many tough shots,” Panthers guard Brad Wanamaker said. “It seemed like tonight we let it affect us. We started playing a little nonchalant, you could say, instead of playing our game.”
Pitt was missing easy tip-ins, and USF was hitting everything in sight.
And then, the defensive play that reversed everything.
But it was Pitt’s smallest player, Travon Woodall, who made the biggest defensive play to start the second-half run. With Pitt clinging to a 46-44 lead, Woodall contested a breakaway layup by Shaun Noriega, who missed the shot. On the other end, McGhee converted a 3-point play. Wanamaker followed with a 3-point play as part of the 9-0 run that put Pitt back in control of the game.
“I should have gone up a lot stronger to finish that,” said Noriega, who scored a team-high 11 points. “That would have been a big turning point in the game, if I had converted that.”
Shortly before that, Assistant Coach Brandon Knight got in the team’s face — just a touch.
After a week of amazing defense – West Virginia and Villanova shot in the 30 percent range – South Florida was 20 of 42 from the floor. Dixon said it was the Bulls hitting tough jumpers, but they scored 10 consecutive points on inside plays to start the second half before the Panthers’ defense tidied itself up.
“(Assistant coach) Brandin Knight can be a dramatic guy, and he told us we weren’t playing hardest,” said Travon Woodall, “but he said it in different words.”
After playing only about 5 dominating minutes in the first half, Pitt followed the tirade with about a 10 minute effort to put the game out of reach.
The one thing Pitt did do right, was rebounding.
With the help of forward Nasir Robinson, who notched his 5th career-double-double, finishing with 10 rebounds and 13 points, Pitt was able to out-rebound USF by a dominating 40-18 difference, which included an absurd 18-3 difference on the offensive glass.
Center Gary McGhee also contributed to the melee on the glass, ripping down seven rebounds, tying Gil Brown’s total for the night.
“Rebounding wise, we really emphasized it this week,” said coach Jamie Dixon. “We got out-rebounded by Villanova and we really wanted to change that. I was really happy with how we went after it; and out-rebounding them by 22 really speaks volumes.”
The Panthers scored 18 second-chance points and 26 points-in-the-paint, despite missing many easy layup attempts, including a possession midway through the second half, where Pitt attempted seven straight offensive-put-backs, and failed on every attempt.
“We missed a lot of tip-ins and that was a part of it,” said Dixon about one of the reasons for the staggering rebounding numbers. “The effort was there, and we kept battling on the boards. We beat the zone, and that was key. I thought we made them take a lot of jump-shots, and we made them take tough shots, and that resulted in a lot of rebounds (defensively) for us.”
Part of this game was South Florida coming out with more fire, energy and converting scores they hadn’t. USF Coach Stan Heath said as much.
“We did a lot of things well that we normally don’t do that great,” said South Florida coach Stan Heath.
There was also the first half re-appearance of Talib Zanna. Going 5-6 for all 11 of his points and both rebounds in 12 minutes thanks to Nasir Robinson picking up a couple of early fouls.
Travon Woodall has stepped in well to play starter while Gibbs has been out.
Rather than toast his accomplishments and his ability to keep this Panther momentum in the direction of an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed, Woodall stood in the hallway of the Pete and picked his success clean. He claimed he was relying too heavily on his one-on-one skills to create space rather than allow the rest of the offense to do that for him.
And when he got open shots, he lamented that he couldn’t make them (obviously forgetting a huge 3-pointer at West Virginia, which turned the momentum for the Panthers).
“I was trying to be too aggressive,” he said. “I feel like in my heart that I have got to do more for this team.”
A defense mechanism, really, in case coach Jamie Dixon reads his words. There is never a level of satisfaction that is attainable for these players. Perfection, famously, is never reachable but they will always strive for it.
But Woodall’s body language told a slightly different story. Was he upset with his shortcomings? Of course. His 10-of-28 shooting over the past three games proves that. But Woodall’s smiles and jokes – he laughed when it was suggested that Gibbs should come off the bench when he returns – showed he doesn’t need gaudy numbers to muster the confidence to thrive in a new and unexpected role.
Woodall went on to break down the South Florida zone in his words, like he tried to do just minutes earlier on the floor. He sounded like a coach, citing meticulous details and past experiences.
At the end of the game, I was a bit ticked Pitt couldn’t keep USF from cracking 50 points. On the flip side, hopefully it will piss off the coaches and players as well. The game was well in hand, but they still let-up and paid for it.
Pretty much describes me, and likely a lot of others, during the game last night. I was particularly nervous because I would never have lived a loss down. Lots of Bulls fans among family and friends. My phone would have lit up with text messages immediately.
Thankfully, the Panthers managed enough effort to remind USF that they didn’t belong on the same court. While the Bulls have some talent, as we saw for a good part of the game, they lack the intangibles that set Pitt apart from the rest of the BE.
Not really surprised at the mental letdown. Pitt was coming off two big rivalry road games with two more tough ones in front of them. Don’t expect the same lack of effort on Saturday. Jamie and the seniors will see to that.
1) His 3 point range
2) His ability to manufacture FTs when our offense goes MIA
Chalk it up as a grinder game/win…and be done with it, IMHO
On a side note…Does anyone know how to contact the lead recruiter for Pitt Basketball? We have a local kid flying under the radar. (An Ashton Gibbs type shooter). He appears that he would fit in well with the Pitt philosophy.(Good skills, hard woorker, team player)
From the last thread, I’m well aware that Dixon always plays experienced guys over Freshman (I’ve been to basically every home basketball game since being a Freshman in 2000). But, Patterson isn’t that much more experienced than Moore. And Patterson seems to be mistake prone as well. Not that this is a big issue because we are talking about the end of the rotation.
The more zone defense we see, the less you will see of both Zanna and Moore. They are just behind the curve on what it takes to face those types of defense. Patterson is much more saavy. And Moore’s fundmentals are lousy. He swings the ball like a girl, all floppy armed and shit. Both he and Zanna are tremendous athletes and will score tons of points in their Pitt careers, but these aren’t exhibition games.
St John’s jumped on Duke early a few weeks ago and maintained their effort throughout. Pitt better keep their focus and effort beginning with the opening tip.
Pitt also better set the tempo vs both St John’s and Lousiville, both who like to play uptempto and a fullcourt game.
Dixon plays the experienced guys because they know how to play in his system. It has nothing to do with age or class. If a true Freshman understands the system and how to play his game within it, he gets PT. There have been plenty of examples of that during Dixon’s tenure.
That system gives us 20+ overall and 10+ conference wins EVERY year. Only two other teams in all of college bball can say that, so it amazes me that people continue to knock it.
