A day late but the football schedule stuff pushed things out.
Well, Travon Woodall did. It was a little different for the rest of the team. Lamar Patterson snapped out of his funk in the second half. Steven Adams had a great first half, but disappeared in the second. Talib Zanna… /sigh.
You could see from the opening miss by St. John’s that Pitt had put a re-emphasis all week on rebounding. Specifically, everyone better rebound. Multiple Pitt players were around the basket on every shot by the Red Storm.
Lamar Patterson said Pitt placed a premium on rebounding drills following losses to Marquette and Notre Dame in which the Panthers were beaten on the boards by margins of nine and 15, respectively. The focus was on boxing out and being aggressive, given that Pitt has found that winning the rebounding battle is a formula to its success. Even so, St. John’s finished with a 39-38 edge, including 15 offensive to Pitt’s 11. “In all of our losses, coach gave us a number like negative-eight on the rebounding margin,” Patterson said. “Numbers don’t lie. When we win, we usually outrebound teams. We didn’t do it (Sunday), but that’s usually the outcome, so we want to put the emphasis on rebounding.”
It helped St. John’s offensive rebounding in the second half that they shot only 26% (7-27) including 0-8 on 3s — providing plenty of long rebounds as Pitt crashed the glass.
St. John’s did little with 11 second half offensive rebounds, since they offset the extra chances with 9 turnovers in the second half. St. John’s slowly unraveled with every miss. With every frustrating chance on offense where Pitt’s defense gave them no space. It’s what you do to a young team. You make them impatient. Frustrated. Careless.
The story of the game was Travon Woodall. So many games against St. John’s I can remember seeing the NY/NJ guys struggle badly. They so much want to show everyone back home their game. Woodall didn’t have that problem. Despite distractions.
Woodall was honoring his grandmother, Elizabeth Ratliff, who has been hospitalized for the past 10 days with stroke-like symptoms. A 5-foot-11 guard, Woodall put his worries to the side for two hours and played one of the best games of his career in Pitt’s 63-47 Big East Conference beat-down of the Red Storm, scoring a season-high 25 points before 9,129 fans, including many family members who welcomed a distraction from their family ordeal.
“My grandma is very sick,” Woodall said after the game. “I played for my grandmother.”
Woodall was 8 for 14 from the field, 4 for 7 from 3-point range, and had 2 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers in 31 minutes. He scored 15 of his points after halftime when the Panthers had to battle back after St. John’s took one-point leads twice in the early stages of the second half.
“He was terrific in every way,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Every shot he took was a good shot. I can’t say enough about how well he played. I don’t think he took a bad shot or made a bad pass. That says a lot, playing 31 minutes.”
After the game he talked of playing “fearless.” I, for one, was filled with fear as he got knocked down, kneed in the head and generally showed little regard for the safety of his body at points in this game. I know that is how he plays, and he is at his best when he is that way. Still, Pitt really can’t afford to lose him.
Also related to Woodall, check out this piece on Woodall still being tight with his high school teammates. It also gives me a chance, once more, to highly recommend catching “The Street Stops Here.”
Lamar Patterson and Talib Zanna started this game playing as badly as they did in the Notre Dame game. The difference was that Patterson responded to getting yanked early, and being on a short leash.
In a first half that saw him play only 11 minutes, Patterson committed 4 turnovers, took only a couple shots and just looked completely out-of-sorts. In the second half, he came back strong. 3-4 shooting, 5 rebounds, a couple steals. I don’t want to say a different player. Just the one we had seen up until the past week.
Zanna. Well, Zanna is a mess. He’s got no confidence in his game. He looks completely lost out there. This is the same kid who exploded against Georgetown. Who had made huge strides this season. But now looks so regressed. It has to be mental. Since he started his shooting slump, everything else has been getting worse. He only played 4 minutes in the second half.
Unfortunately there isn’t a lot that can be done for him. He has to get it figured on the fly, because he is still needed. The rotation isn’t deep enough in the frontcourt. He’s still a better defender and presence out there at the 4 than J.J. Moore or even Dante Taylor. The latter actually got some minutes at the same time with Adams. Taylor is not a four. Period.
Like so many other teams in not just the Big East, but in the top-25, this Pitt team is given to huge fits of inconsistency. We will see what team shows up on Wednesday.
Regarding Zanna…
He was at his best when he was taking pull up jumpers, which required that defenders respect his mid-range game. Their tight defense allowed for shot fakes and drives to the basket, at which point his speed with the ball (given his size) and his strength made for easy baskets or, at the very least, drawn fouls. This second half of the season has not seen sets designed in that fashion. Instead, Zanna is playing more exclusively in the post and can’t seem to muster up a respectable shot without that full head of steam he had when he was driving.
Don’t know why we abandoned that scheme, but I sure hope somebody watches tape and realizes we had a budding star a few months ago.
MikePitt, could not disagree more on Zanna. It wasn’t those “sets” that made him good, it was inferior competition. Running the 1-4 against man defense allows all options to be set. The good teams are simply taking away that one look that Zanna got where he would score. Some teams are not even guarding him at all, allowing the defender to double up on Adams/Taylor at the 5.
He is not a mess…just not that talented!
If you’ve got a good stroke you you’ve got a good stroke. That’s all I’m saying.
dismissing the notion of Taylor as PF is bit narrow minded. He can help create mismatches for us, which can be both bad and good depending on the scenario.
No way he should start. Even he doesn’t want to start (as he said in a PG article not long ago) and would rather come of the bench as an energy guy. Whatever PF skill he may have had, they’ve atrophied under Dixon (and that failure to develop those skill may or may not be something to criticize Dixon for. Who know really? Hard to argue something that never happened would have been better than what did, though in this case… i dunno)
Our option really only seem to be to start Moore, but I just don’t see Zanna coming off the bench as an impact guy the way Moore can. Zanna needs confidence so taking him out of the starting lineup up may not help. Think the only thing that can be done is what Dixon already is doing, starting Zanna then limiting his minutes depending on how he appears, using Moore and Taylor depending on the circumstances..
If that’s the actual bracket, I’d be really unhappy.
I said this before but my main criticism is that it seems every year that someone is playing out of position (usually out of necessaity.) If not Taylor, then JJ is certainly not a 4.
Seize the Day.
Zanna other than the blip at Cincy has been useless pretty much since the first week of BigEast conf. play. Including the Jan 12th game with Marquette,
Zanna has scored a TOTAL OF 65 POINTS IN 12 GAMES.
That’s a 5.4 ppg average (it’s incredible he’s even still starting)
Over the same time period he’s garnered 67 TOTAL rebounds in 12 games.
For a 5.6 rpg average. And this is in about 25 minutes per game.
Those are about 1 ppg & 1 rpg above Sleepy numbers who plays about 12-15 mpg.
And I’ve written about this before, when you’re not getting much if any production from the 1 spot and the 5 spot, you can’t afford to have Zanna averaging 5 & 5.
He should be sitting and only used against teams/situations that don’t call for physical play, cause he’s soft. Actually plays more like a SF than a PF.
You have 2 spots of the starters of guys getting large minutes that are averaging less than 5 ppg
in BigEast play. (Zanna & JR)
And a 3rd Adams average less than 7 ppg in conf. play.
You can’t take Kiwi Steve out because of his defensive attributes and you have limited options, but you can certainly sit Zanna & JR more.
If Woodie can handle the point I would move a combination of Zeigler/Johnson at the 2 and play Sleepy/Moore more at the 4 for now.
Those two moves could result in at least 10 ppg more than the current lineup.
If one of them has an off game, we more than likely lose.
Pretty easy to defend a team with 3 players starting that average less than 7 ppg in conf. play.
Especially in the halfcourt.
Which is why I’ve been ranting all season that this team needs to play uptempo, try to get some easy baskets in transition, since it’s a real struggle for them to score in the halfcourt.
And all our bigs can run and are better playing face up rather than back to……the basket.
Have a little faith Coach, I think they could be much better this way and anyway we’re not going far in either tournament with the way things are now !!
Groin injuries, concussions, you name it.
He has deserved it.
Btw he also doesn’t pass very well…Zanna has 6 assists in BigEast play and a ToTAL of 17 assists all year.
Pitt’s interior players use to all be good passers, Zanna is one of the worst ever.
Given the same minutes Moore or Sleepy would have to do more.
Which is incredible by itself.
Like I said he plays more like a Small Forward.
agree Kiwi Steve needs to shoot more. They need to isolate him on one side of the court if the other team is playing man.
He could take most other Centers, one on one with his dribbling skills and quickness for a big guy.
He’s really a 4…not a 5…as I wrote at length about this on a previous blog.
Kiwi Steve will be a 4 in the NBA.
Cincinnati already was overly reliant on its backcourt “because none of its big men are viable scoring threats in the post.” A stingy defense and dominance on the glass were enough to overcome those issues up until mid-January when point guard Cashmere Wright sprained his right knee against DePaul.
The Bearcats had kept most games close with their rebounding and defense despite those issues, but Sunday’s Notre Dame loss was a step backward. And the Irish shot well from the perimeter and won the rebounding battle 41-25, building a 14-point halftime lead and rolling to one-sided victory.
Coach Mick Cronin bemoaned his team’s lack of scoring options, admitting to the Cincinnati Enquirer, “there’s no reason to help off SK ever.” Kilpatrick acknowledged the Bearcats need other players to be more aggressive with defenses geared toward stopping him and Wright.
“That’s been happening all year and it’s going to continue to happen,” Kilpatrick told the Enquirer. “More people on this team have got to be more assertive. Two people just can’t win the game for you.
Sounds just like PITT…with only Woodie & Patterson as viable scoring options.
First they’re dropping off JR into the passing lanes, and his assists are down to 2.6 per game in conf. play.
Secondly none of our bigs are particularly good at receiving entry passes.
Third none of our guards are particularly good at making entry passes. They’re either too low, bounced, or just easily telegraphed.
4rth, none of our bigs are that good with finishing even if the pass happens to be good.
Unless it’s like a wide open dunk. Opposing coaches are telling their players, rather than giving up an easy 2, put our bigs on the FT line and more than likely they’ll miss one.
As far as going to the hoop, Zanna never did this when he WAS playing good in the non-con. His strength back then was making 15-17 feet jumpers over guys that were smaller than him against the North Florida’s, Bethune-Cookmans and Howard’s of low D1.
Much as I would like them to be able to pound it inside…….against most teams with good frontcourts it isn’t going to happen.
Maybe tomorrow against woeful South Florida (1-13)
Let’s Hope (lol)
If they beat Loyola it will improve Pitt’s RPI, and possibly seeding in NCAA.
We have to face it. Pitt needs help to improve its status in the eyes of the brain-dead committeemen who only look at RPI.
Zanna seems lost on D when Pitt goes zone. He is afraid to challenge in the paint. He is soft. Could this be because he came from a soccer background, where contact is frowned-upon?
Taylor is the only front-court player who can finish thru contact.
Zanna & Kiwi Steve fall into this category.
Which is why Zanna plays like a SF and Kiwi Steve is really a 4 who would really like to play away from the basket.
However Zanna can’t handle the ball well enough to be a 3 and is a terrible passer.
I would imagine since all the frontcourt isn’t very physical, the practices HAVE to be that way as well.
This team has to …..Team Rebound….as was evident against the Johnnies. They were all told to crash the boards and still we had less rebounds than St. John’s, though it was only 1 less.
If this kid Young that’s 6-8 230 coming in, is truly a low post player, I’d let him play the 5 and move Kiwi Steve to the 4.
There’s no written law in basketball that the tallest player HAS to play Center.
Just a few years ago, Biggs at 6-9 didn’t, Blair did at 6-7. Why…..well because Blair was truly a low post player while Biggs wasn’t.
You could still play Kiwi Steve at the 5 on defense or if it’s zone. no problem he’s plays the middle of the 2-3, which I prefer anyway since it keeps him in the middle of the paint acting as an intimidator rather than chasing around the perimeter on screen hedges.
So your frontline next year looks like:
Kiwi Steve at PF, Young at C and Patterson at SF.
With Young, Zanna, Pitt will have a huge front-court.
I like Moore, but at 215# he cannot body-up in the post.
I hope that there is a JUCO center out there with ambitions to play in the ACC.
He could be a big time player at Slippery Rock or IUP.
Detroit squeaked by Loyola.
Every little bit helps.
We may get to see Young on ESPN.
Wish I had a lot of you as asst coaches!
Let me say this, Pitt is not a perfect team by any stretch but:
* Indiana #1 lost tonight
* Tennessee has Florida in all kind of trouble mid way through.
Why can’t Pitt finally be the team to catch fire for once in the playoffs? We may have our flaws but so does every team out there. Our team of 3-4 years ago would have torn up the NCAA”s this year.
I say Woodall stays hot…Robinson comes out of his shell and starts averaging 10 pts a game abd takes care of the ball vs all comers. Adams gets “fed” regularly and Moore/Zanna/Taylor find a way to manage the 4! Jamie makes all the right coaching decisions and Pitt becomes the hottest team in the country. Why NOT??
It happened to Butler, VCU, et al.
OK – I’ll put down the scotch tonight..I can dream can’t I?
Indiana goes down in flames against unranked Minnesota. IU has also lost to unranked Illinois.
And #19 Memphis loses at Xavier.
Xavier despite the win tonight has gone downhill since Sean Miller left. Which further suggests he’s a really good coach. And an excellent recruiter.
Thank You 
And will forgive you for drinking scotch. lol
If you’re going to drink something aged in bourbon barrels it must be bourbon…..right ! haha
Minnesota had been reeling….losing 8 of their last 12 games and getting destroyed in their last 2 games by Ohio Fake 45-71 and an average Iowa team 51-72.
Now both Minnesota & Illinois, NCAAA bubble teams have signature wins against #1 Indiana, pretty much assuring them of NCAA bids.
And making the Big Joke another $500,000 to a Million dollars.
Nah you don’t think……lol
0-14 to date….lol
They should only play women’s basketball. And of course…..hide the soap in the boys shower stall.
After last season’s fiasco with Cinci, Xavier jetisoned 2 of its troubled players (Lyons & Wells). It seems that Coach Mack is trying to salvage the teams reputation.
Arizona took Lyons. I lost respect for Coach Miller because of this.
OPPS could not recruit a center since McGhee. This was inexcusable since McGhee was no big recruit out of school and there had to be many 6’10″ legitmate centers who could have been McGhee’s equal (not very difficulut/build them up to 270 put them in the middle and tell them to keep their body between their man and the basket).
Instead Taylor is force to put on 20 pounds that lead to tendenituis, back problems, and most importantly the quickness he had coing out of high school.
To add insult to injury coaches this year could of had him lose 15 pounds and see if despite his chronoic injuries incurred over 3 years would regain enough of his former attributes to play 4 with Adams at 5.
He could still play the 5 as a backup based on his experience; he may have been better from the beginning even at the 5 with the initial quickness rather than attempting to make a McGhee clone of him. His body obviously could not carry the extra weight.
Water under the bridge but what if he never had to mave to the 5 with Adams here now. This is not implying he may have been overated in high school as most of the strong forwards are but my quess he would have been one of the better rebounding 4 in the big east and perhaps a double figure man off garbage baskets.
http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/football/3535961-74/morgan-coach-mustangs#axzz2LvB7eOtq
Love the Sendek idea. He is a good coach, very smart, knows how to attract/develop too notch players (James Harden) and knows the ACC.
Went to the Montour – Mars game last night. Montour has a 6’3 guard, Devin Wilson, who Pitt should consider. He is lightning quick, but plays under control. He has what Pitt is missing, someone who can break down the defense off the bounce. Jamie would love his ability to take care of the ball, no turnovers.
I hope Josh Newkirk has that kind of skill set.
One of the main reasons Pitt struggles in the post season is that they need to rely on screens, player movement and passes to get shots. When defenses really care, they can make it hard for Pitt. At some point, you have to be able to beat someone off the dribble, force the defense to move and either get to the hoop or find an open guy. Pitt hasn’t had that kind of player.
He is allegedly on Pitt’s radar in BB but no offer as yet, but will no doubt play D1 BB
I have to hate the Sendek idea. If you include this year as a NCAA tournament appearance, he’s only made it 2 out of the last 7 years. He’s only made the Sweet 16 once. I don’t think it really matters though. First, Dixon has already turned down USC in the past. Gottlieb always hates Pitt by the way. His article might as well be written by one of us. Second, even if Dixon leaves, I think there is no way that Sean Miller turns down the opportunity to lead Pitt into the ACC.
My point with the warning: Gottleib hates Pitt and is a jack-ass with a bunch of manure spewing from his mouth. But, maybe I am being too harsh;).
I disagree that Coach Miller would return to Pitt. He has a plum job @ AZ. Top notch facilities, easy recuiting, weather, and a truly elite program in a conference that he should be at the top of every year (Unless UCLA can get its act together).
I am not looking just for a win or even a big win ala DePaul.
I am looking to see if Pitt challenges itself and works on weaknesses or just enagages in a puss fest where it falls back on what it did well in game 15 to beat a team it can beat in its sleep.
No reason for emotional letdowns or stuff like that.
Zanna must play like he has nothing to lose. Adams can’t resort to relying on his height. Work the post and use your body.
Robinson, Moore and Patterson must take open jumpers.
You don’t get many games like this late in the season so you have to use it as a clinic for humgry dogs.
I still contend that if he didn’t have to gain/maintain weight, and in fact lost some, he would have been a much productive 4 than what he is as a 5.
Even with Noriega being out, USF is still an expeinced team that has decent size.
Remember last season. Pitt had two chances to beat them, and could not.
wbb, gotcha about Taylor. I remember reading how people thought Dixon was crazy for wanting Taylor to play at the 5 when he started, but I must have confused it.
He makes a bad assumption right from the start: ” But my view is that Pitt will never be able to overtake North Carolina or Duke as a consistent top dog in that league.” Maybe that is his view but I am sure that is not Dixon’s view and even if it becomes true he isn’t going to bail before he tries…also you could say the exact same thing about USC never being any better than UCLA and Arizona.
And I’ve said before Dixon is more Pittsburgh than he is Southern Cal any more..he’s benn here 14 years and both is kids were born and here and only know Pittsburgh.
But here’s a race nobody is talking about..ALL TIME BEST PERCENTAGE COACH IN BIG EAST HISTORY..is a battle between Dixon and Boeheim. Since both are leaving the leader at end of they year is going to hold this distinction for quite a while.
Conference Regular Season and Championship Games combined as of February
26, 2013
JAMIE DIXON, PITT 124 65 .656 10
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse 411 217 .654 34
3rd place is John Thompson at .653
I barely remember the name Matt Morgan. Started four years and played in the NFL. Congrats to him, he should have got more press locally, oh yeah, like that’s a priority. Positive news about a Pitt player doesn’t make the list for the Post or Trib, from Plum Boro to boot.
Tonight’s game is just the kind that we have lost so many times. If we win, we’re supposed to if we lose the vitriol is back, and rightfully so, good teams put the hammer down. We will probably play to their level and hopefully squeak out a win. amazing that we are 5 and 5 vs. S FLA.
One positive about this team, although we have lost some at home, we are much better on the road than other years. Let’s hope it continues at Tourney Time.
As far as Taylor, I agree, He never got skilled enough with his back to the basket. Always better with a running start. Still don’t think he would have played at the next level, but would have had more success twenty pounds lighter. Unfortunately centers are tough to come by and somebody had to play the 5. Turns out he is a great kid, a real team player. Let’s hope he takes advantage of his Pitt education and has a successful life. As a senior he has contributed this year and provided leadership which was sorely missed last year.
RE: Fouling
I could not agree more. The front court has 16 fouls to give (I do not count the 5th). Opponents should pay for entering the paint. Either block the shot or give a HARD (clean) foul.
The only draw-back is that Pitt’s opponents shoot well from the line (especially Villanova).
But, forcing a player to pick himself up off-of the floor to “earn” it wears on a team.
When Cooley dunked after Zanna lazily swatted at the inlet pass, while Zanna just watched, brought me out of my seat and skin.
Tyler Boyd hit the game-winner last night as Clairton pulled the upset against the defending Class A champs.
What can you say? Playmakers are playmakers.
Just kidding about Boyd playing two sports.
But expecting him to make an immediate impact in the fall both as a wideout and also out of the backfield where finding some speed has to be a major priority if the team is going to compete with the likes of FSU.
Jamie may indeed to be forced to recruit all of the McD’s as he is able to.
I like him as a coach and man.
Some guys are like cats that always land on their feet. I don’t think he likes the physical contact or understands the use of leverage. He is not nonathletic, but certainly does not have the natural instincts of many players.
The fact that he has so few assists is an indicator that he does not understand or have a feel for the flow of the game. If anything he is thinking too much and the game has not slowed down for him as it seems it has for Adams. It may be in his head, but it has nothing to do with intelligence. He needs to play with an edge, he needs to play angry, he needs to assert his manhood, it may not be in him.
Everyone has their limits. Chevy Troutman was a most physical basketball player. But when he tried out for the NFL, he didn’t have the stomach for the violence. Is it a sign of intelligence to not want to take a beating? Most would say yes.
Some guys have a mean streak. When DeJuan dumped Thabeet, the play was over, he didn’t have to toss him. He did it to assert his manhood. Some guys are just hard cases, Ty Cobb comes to mind.
It would still make sense to play WVU in pre-season BB but that’s about it
I too want to see the light bulb go off. Time is running out. Maybe Gary McGee could drop by to push him around a little bit.
Aggressive Defense and a team approach will make us competitive. It will be interesting to see how much the physical play will be tolerated. Coach K has always got the calls in the ACC.
If Adams stays next year will be great!
agree with most of your thoughts, our halfcourt offense is mostly horrid to watch. And yes they need to throw the entry pass sometimes, over the defense…with a lob pass. Mind you not every time, but if they’re hedging on you and with a 7 footer, they don’t seem to EVER EVEN TRY IT !
As far as Zanna, yes he has the height (6-9) and a good body……but he plays small…most of the time. I’ve never seen anyone get his shot blocked so much.
I just think he’s a guy who can play well against low D1 teams ( as he’s proved over several seasons) and he can play in transition, but when up against the better teams and better opponents that of are equal size, he folds. Big case of the yips.
Watch he’ll have a big game tonight
Hope he does….
The guards have to both penetrate and back passes above the ankles and make entry passes far enoungh away so their defender can not just reach around and swat the ball.
Finally Dixon needs to impress that it is not Woodall who can carry this team (forget about the anomaly at the garden/he is a 30% FG shooter) it is Adams.
Dixon needs to demand it from him and work on play sets that get him the ball rather that play catch around the perimeter.
Also Virginia with Tony Bennett as coach, as brought his low scoring defensive style with him from Washington State and UVA has become a force in the ACC as well. And Bennett’s style is similar to Dixon’s style. Much as I hope someday it would evolve, it probably won’t. It is what it is.
Adams hsa the most upside but that is something we cannot depend on until next year.
They are certainly not up to snuff this year.
And as mentioned above, it is not just UNC & Duke, now Miami and UVA are going to be forces as they both have excellent coaches. As does NC STATE & Florida State and both usually recruit better players than PITT. And Clemson, Georgia Tech & Wake Forest have all had historical success either on par or better than us as well. Given the right coach, they can become major factors in the ACC as well. Same thing with BC.
And then L-Ville and ND are coming the following year. This is going to be one hell of a league.
But no doubt, he is a mess especially with the ball is in hands