I don’t know why I have more animosity towards Seton Hall than any of the other schools that will form the corp of the Big Priest. It might be a Jersey thing coupled with being a private school that creates a particularly noxious breed of self-entitled fanbase and program that enjoys more relevance than, say, Farleigh-Dickenson simply for its Big East affiliation. At least Providence had a whole New England basketball culture to claim from the 70s with BC, Holy Cross, etc.
I guess it’s worth mentioning that the Pirates are coached (technically) by a former Pitt player in Kevin Willard. They aren’t particularly good. They sit at a righteous 13th in the Big East. Ahead of the only teams they have beaten this year — USF and DePaul. They have shown themselves capable of being blown out (74-52 to Georgetown) and playing a great game to only fall short (65-59 against Cinci).
The Pirates have had injuries — losing Patrik Auda to injury — and not getting their own transfer waiver to go — Ashton Gibb’s little brother, Sterling from Texas. They have tried to rebuild quickly from the Gonzo years with transfers. They have Brian Oliver from Georgia Tech and Gene Teague from SIU providing an impact.
They have a very good guard in Fuquan Edwin. I do expect Edwin to give Pitt some problems. He’s a wing player so Lamar Patterson will have primary defensive duties. Durand Johnson better be ready to play, because I am betting that Patterson will have some foul troubles tonight.
Coach Jamie Dixon is preaching that the team still hasn’t played a great game in over a week. And that all the games really matter at this point.
“It’s not like it gets easier,” Dixon said. “I think every game is a must-win. That’s the kind of standard we’ve developed here and play with.
“We were extremely disappointed with how we played against Louisville. We didn’t get it done with a three-point game on the road against a good team. You’ve got to finish off and get it done here (Saturday), and we did. We were down after that game because we didn’t feel we played well — or up to our standards.”
Tray Woodall is closing in on the 1000 point barrier to go with 500+ assists.
The list of others that reached 1,000 points and 500 assists reads like a who’s who of Pitt’s all-time great guards. It includes Brandin Knight, Carl Krauser, Jerry McCullough, Sean Miller, Levance Fields and Darelle Porter.
“It would be an honor to join those guys,” Woodall said. “I know when I got here no one expected me to do it.”
…
There was a time when fans cringed when he shot a 3-pointer. He made just 1 of 12 attempts from behind the arc as a freshman. He shot 27 percent the next season and 29 percent the following season.
Now he’s one of the team’s best outside shooters. He improved to 38.6 percent last season and is shooting 37 percent this season. More than one-third of his 978 points have come from behind the 3-point line. He can thank his improved shooting stroke when he becomes the 41st player in school history to reach 1,000 points.
“It would mean a lot to do it,” Woodall said of scoring 1,000 points. “There have been a lot of great players here. But I’m not focused on it. I’m just doing whatever I can to help the team win.”
It would help if we could cut to the basket more.
MVP.
I have only done this with one team I ever coached but if I was Jamie, no one would get out of their uniform They would stay and shoot free throws for an hour and the guards would play one on one dribbling with their bar arm up until they dropped.
10 – 21 from the foul line is unacceptable!
I admire what SH did and I admire what Pitt did too!
We had to dig deep.
And we did; mostly with defense.
It’s very very good to get the W on this one.
I love the Big East.
At work today I didn’t bring my best. I had a big project due at the end of last week. I was burned out.
It happens. We won and had to tough it out. Anyone can win when they are on their game; show me a team that can win when it plays poorly and I’ll call that team a “winner”.
Winning is a frame of mind. Pitt is a winner whether anyone likes it or not.
@SFPitt – couldn’t agree more. Thanks for making the point.
Patterson is frustrating even though he often ends up with the most points. Maybe it’s because he can do much more.
7 wins, tied with Cuse’ for tops in BE.
Back in the top 25. 19-5.
Sloppy yes, but I think most of us could have called that after a big game.
I also saw a little bit, for the first time, a little bit of the bravado of “ok, there’s 5 minutes to go, we’re the better team, let’s win the game”.
Free throw shooting nauseasting. Robinson does not have one fluid motion. He dribbles, bends his knees, then looks like me throwing a dart in the bar.
Two big ones coming up!!!
H2P!!!
Who played well tonite? Adams, Wright. Who was MIA? The Z’s, Taylor. Put Moore on both lists. Here’s to hoping that was a trap game and not a regression. Two tough roads games coming.
Big positive Adams was really good. He owned Teague who going into the game was averaging double figures in points and nearly 8 boards a game. If Adams keeps it up he will be force.
Also, by the way Tim Higgins wasn’t reffing the game. There was a John Higgins who has never really reffed Pitt games before. Although, he actually reffed the Pitt-Butler NCAA tournament game. So he is probably not much better than Tim Higgins. But there was a ref who is usually horrible during Pitt games present. John Cahill. He is the tall skinny guy with gray hair. I’ve seen him call some of pretty bad games.
Adams making a huge difference in the middle. Everyone contributing something positive.
Hopefully we just keep getting sharper, cut the turnovers, make the layups and foul shots, keep up the work on the boards and strong defense.
The next three games are going to tell us a lot about this team. Need two out of three.
Don’t know how we won, but we did.
Just got home from watching that semblance of a game at a local watering hole.
Only thing that saved us was SH shooting 33% and 25% from 3. Cause we were god awful as well.
35% for Pitt. We did outrebound them, I guess cause we missed 30 shots. lol There will be lots of rebounds when you miss 30 shots.
Moore was the only one above 50% for the game, so naturally they only gave him the ball so little he only took 4 shots….making 3.
Glad we won, but we play like that and it will be one & done in the BE tourney and the Big Dance (if we get in). Blah.
HTP
VeV
