UPDATE: The tip-off for Pitt-OSU is now 2:50. Liveblog will be pushed to 2:45.
It’s the Cowboys of Oklahoma State and Pitt. Pitt and OK State have met twice since the 2004 Sweet Sixteen game, and I’m still bitter. Just setting up the placeholder. Everything will be ready to go by 2:30 for The game is on ESPN2 for the CarQuest Auto Care Classic.
No time at the moment to put everything together. Things that need to be done to placate the family so that the 2 hours or so of this game are given to me in some relative form of peace.
Oklahoma St. has been predicted to be middle-of-the-pack in the Big 12. They have a potential one-and-done in LeBryan Nash. They are off to a 6-2 start. Both losses came at Madison Square Garden in the NIT Tip-Off. Yes, this is the third game that OSU will have played at MSG in their first 9.
As usual, it’s a moderated chat. Not every comment will go through. Not because I hate you (probably), but generally because of redundancy. The abusive will be blocked. The stupid will be mocked. The overreaactions will be treated with whatever withering contempt that can be transmitted via computer.
If you need to break the liveblog out from the site, Click Here.
expect big game from Gibbs at da Garden.
– Lost ’07 season
– Won ’08 season
– Won ’09 tournament
Foul shooting was horrendous at 61% and the defense ONLY produced a measly 4 OSU turnovers while we had 14. Again not good. We outrebounded them bigtime(37-23) and shot it well(53%), when we shot it (we only took 49 shots to their 62).
Something doesn’t add up when you outrebound a team by 14 & shoot FG’s at 53%(OSU only shot 42%), you shouldn’t have to struggle at the end. Again 49 shots isn’t cutting it.
Nice game for Patterson with the double/double, Gibbs only took 8 shots today and Nas is Mr. Consistent but he looked like old Nas at the line.
Birch is still not getting enough playing time in my mind, only 15 minutes. I thought the idea was to get him up to speed ASAP for the BigEast schedule, apparently that is not Coach’s idea as Taylor has been getting a lot more minutes than Birch since Taylor’s headaches.
I was expecting a blowout since Okie State was small and hadn’t beaten anyone of note and were blownout by Stanford and Va Tech beat them as well in their only games against large conf. teams. And we did have them blown out until the final 9 minute near collapse.
I’ll take the win, but they better solve their FT problems !
PITT is not puting all the eggs in one basket
PITT paid a home vist to a dual threat QB from texas his name is Jared Johnson his list is down to 3 schools PITT and Memphis and a dev 2 school
he just de commited from Baylor a few weeks ago.
DUKE.
Kentucky loses to Induana at the buzzer. It’s going to be a crazy college basketball season.
HTP!
It might be prudent to rest Gibbs and Nas a little more. It is a long season, and we will rely on them heavily.
It will be very interesting to see how Coach shortens the bench this year. Zanna better pick up his intensity.
I’m much concerned about the turnover problem. 14 to 4 is not an acceptable ratio. They had like 24 against Duquesne and a lot against Tenn.
And the defense is not producing any opponent turnovers. Okie State had 107 turnovers before today against mostly lightweight teams. YET our defense ONLY produced 4 turnovers, that is terrible. And that will not cut it in the BigEast. Yes we are 8-1 or whatver, but regardless I see warning signs. As I did with Pitt football after the first two games against Buffalo & Maine.
Probably the same ones who say don’t worry now, if we looked back also said the same thing in mid-sept. about Pitt football. haha
Only way the defense gets better is by playing Birch, who gives you a defensive presence in the lane. He is not going to get any better playing 11-15 minutes a game. These next 3 games, he should be getting no less than 25 minutes a game.
You can also be more agressive with your outside defense if the player knows Birch has his back.
Birch is high energy, but he was not getting rebounds. 1 rebound in 15 minutes is not a good thing. He was getting moved on defense in this game.
Coach Dixon has to find someway to give Gibbs a blow. 39 minutes in this game. Whether it’s living and dying with more Epps. Or playing some other combination. This can’t continue.
Gibbs, though, was a lot more patient in this game. Didn’t force shots as OSU constantly stayed on him. That opened things up for a lot of other things.
Much better job of working it inside for the front court in this game.
Only 49 shot attempts, but that was as much because of the amount of fouls not turnovers. Pitt went to the line 29 times.
Bigs on FTs (Robinson, Taylor,Birch): 2-9.
Guards (Gibbs, Johnson, Wright): 10-13
Small forwards (Moore, Patterson): 6-7
link to iampittbasketball.blogspot.com
This team is significantly better than it was three weeks ago, save the loss of Woodall. Can’t wait to see them in three months.
The others were more prepared for LB since they were all quite aware they had beaten PITT. Big difference in that game was their PG, Casper Ware.
He was much better than any of our guards. Which could for tell what kind of teams will give us the most trouble. Again when Woodall comes back, we’re extremely small and not very physical at guard, not great or even good defenders as well.
Perhaps they’ll learn to play better TEAM defense, as individually they are not great defenders. Maybe for a change the team won’t peak in January, but in late March & April.
That would be a good change indeed !
HTP !
Selfishly, I’m relaxing during games for a change. Hell, yesterday, because the Garden cleared out following the Dukies, I was able to leisurely watch the game lying across 3 seats (I’m tiny)
(Duke fans yesterdaY: 95% of the Garden crowd, of whom .00002% actually went there)
BUT we will play much more intense games against better guards who will bring a lot more pressure. Luckily, we seem to be improving in al areas as the season goes on…
Free throws… Nothing makes me sream and rant more than missing these. I am finally starting to slowly just give up and accept the fact that easy games will always be closer than they should and we will lose 1-3 close games a year because of this…
I’ve been hypercritical of Wright this year but last night I actually thought he played a good game, very in control, made 2 shots and played pretty darn well on defense. His handle and shooting really need some work, but he did a good job. He still is not a starter though and should provide minutes to give guys a blow I believe. He looks more comfortable though.
I know JJ had 4TO’s but I love the way he plays, fearless. He makes crisp passes and looks comfortable beyond what a freshman typically does. I specifically remember Raftery being impressed at his decision to pull the ball out on a break instead of forcing it. Not a typical play for a youngster. Bright career ahead of him.
Even last night, which was probably his worst game, he didn’t look a bit scared.
ND, our BE opener, lost alot when Abromaitis got injured, now Cinn loses Gates. With DePaul up third, Pitt will be favored to start 3-0. And with South Car. St, St. Francis & Wagner up next, a 15-1 record looks doable. Did not think that after the Long Beach State game.
Pitt was consistently getting the offside rebounds from the misses Dante’s man was making. This is why Birch is getting less time. He is great swatting balls away from shot attempts coming off his man to make a blind side block but his lack of strength hurts his inside and makes him vulnerable to defending his man or being able to occupy spece for a defensive rebound.
If Adams is the force inside he has been reported to be and this seems to be a concensus. At least unlike many tall high school top recruits he now has the frame of a big man and thats a major step forward. Also if as reported he already an inside offensive game Birch can move to SF next year put some muscle on and feast on offensive rebounds.
Johnson reinds me of a young Gibbs a good shoter who needs space but with an inside game next year a shooting guard can have a holiday – to bad Gibbs is graduating. Finally we should be set at guard with Robinson coming he sounds like a Dixon cloned guard.
Taylor is showing positive signs that he can be a consistent double-double if he can mainatain his confidence. I think he has been reluctant to use any post moves in the game. He should use them all now before big-east play. He has not shown enough to draw much NBA interest to this point so he probably will be back next year.
I watched the entire OSU game and see positive things from each young player on the floor. Their inconsistency will hurt against the big boys UConn and Syracuse. However come March this should be a solid team and certainly back in the NCAA’s. Not final four or even elite eight but a tough out.
Next year if Adams is 80% of what has been advertised final four four, if not atleast elite eight or maybe higher.
The foul shooting will come. Everyone’s form has improved massively and they just need to learn to ttrust it in a game situation.
Again, I see this team growing every game. Want to see them peak (whatever peak is?) in March.
Last night, he had a bit of a deer in the headlights look to him. I sat right behind the Pitt bench. Wow, I’d love to report my opinion differently, but that’s how I saw it- as well as others with me. He got faced on at least one, maybe two three pointers on defense. Late, he rushed a three that he didn’t need to and was out of position on offense a couple of times. He turned the ball over in very bad ways. At the end of the game, it was ugly. Pitt recovered though and Dixon kept him in. His teammates patted him on the head to console him off to the side. I haven’t completed re-watching the game, but again, I was just behind the bench and watching the kid the whole time. The game wasn’t in such a dire situation that he was blowing it by himself, but he definitely wore a strong look of guilt on his face. Again, wow, it would be great to report differently that he was made of stone. I want the best team we can get, so I’m rooting for him. I think I feel more comfortable with Wright starting for the moment.
As was mentioned above, the team gets a bit of a reprieve in the schedule for the next month before it gets really tough in the middle of January.
12/17 Home – South Carolina St
12/20 Home – St. Francis (PA)
12/23 Home – Wagner
12/27 Away – Notre Dame
01/01 Home – Cinci
01/05 Away – DePaul
01/11 Home – Rutgers
I would be very surprised if Pitt looses any of those games. Should provide an opportunity to get ready for the rest of the year without negatively impacting the record (loosing).
Then it gets really tough.
01/14 Away – Marquette
01/16 Away – Syracuse
01/21 Home – Louisville
Pitt Could easily loose all three of those games. Those are arguably the toughest games Pitt will have until March. Pitt wins all three and we’re looking at a 2 seed and nice road to the sweet sixteen and beyond. Loose all three and we may spending a lot of time with Mr. Lunardi checking the last four in, next four out.
What should Jamie (Pitt) do over the next month to get ready for those games? Here are some thoughts.
Health
– Get Woodall back 100%.
– Rest Nasir, make sure his knee(s) are good to go.
– Cut down on Gibbs minutes. As Chas said, 39 minutes is too many, it already looks like it is taking a toll.
– Get Birch stronger, don’t know how much that is possible in a month. He really got shoved around by OK St’s big guy.
Rotation/Positions
– Experiment with a few different combinations. As has been mentioned, get Birch and Taylor on the floor together. Both handle the ball well enough on the offensive end and Birch moves well enough to guard the four. Birch has plateaued the last couple games. He needs to be playing and playing well in January against the big boys. Get him as many minutes as possible, some at the four if necessary.
– Get Johnson minutes at the point. He is very capable of creating offense off the bounce. He can handle the ball well enough to bring the ball up court.
– Play Moore and Patterson together. Whether that means at the 3/4 or 2/3. Moore is too talented to be sitting. He brings more to the offense than Wright. He can rebound. Against big time competition, it would be nice to have some big time athletes to match up. Time to give him a chance.
End of game situations
– Beat the press. Teams should be pressing this team from the time they get off the bus. The 1-3-1 that OK State used really turned the game their way.
– Foul shots. At the end of the game Pitt needs to get the ball to the shooters. Gibbs, Johnson, Patterson, Woodall (when healthy) have to be on the floor at the end. No one else should touch it.
Obviously they need to continue working on team defense. Gibbs needs to just step it up a little on defense. Maybe fewer minutes would help incent him.
What do you armchair coaches think?
What I am getting at is I wish we would have stayed a little more agressive at the end of the game and attacked the rim on the press.
