7pm, ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.
Mike Young picked up his second consecutive ACC Player of the Week honors.
The cynical part of me is going to watch with an eye towards whether Pitt can put forth a decent and consistent defensive effort this game, or do they revert to type.
As much as Coach Kevin Stallings emphasized up-tempo and offense in the offseason, once the season started he’s like most coaches: time to play some dang defense.
Noting how Pitt (3-1) fought back from a 15-point deficit in the second half against Marquette, Stallings on Monday said he was “really impressed” with “not only having the wherewithal to come back and get back in the game, but finish the job.
“As I told them afterwards, lots of teams can come back but not everybody comes back and wins. And we were able to come back and win.”
On the other hand, “Our defense really concerned me a lot,” Stallings said, referencing most of the SMU game and the first half against Marquette. “Defensively it just feels like we have a lot of work to do.”
That’s putting it mildly.
The other thing missing from this team is a consistent 3d scoring option behind Young and Jamel Artis.
“I don’t think it’s a case of us becoming too reliant on them as much as we have to make sure everybody is doing their part, regardless of who has the ball,” Stallings said. “If Mike has the ball or Jamel has the ball, the other four guys have to be doing in the offense what they’re supposed to be doing at the time those guys have the ball. That does not include standing and watching. We’re not going to stand around and watch one guy play offense. That’s not who we are or what we do.”
…
There is, of course, a downside. Though reliant, to Stallings, is too strong of a word, Pitt has seen a extraordinarily high number of its points come from just two players. Young and Artis have accounted for 52.1 percent of the team’s points, second only to Georgia among the aforementioned group of Power Five and Big East teams.
In the past two games alone, Young scored 52 points, a run of excellence that earned him ACC player of the year honors for the second consecutive week. During that same stretch, 11 teammates (not including Artis) scored 52 points combined.
All the points the Panthers get from their top two players can come with unintended side effects, like an overall lack of balance and depth, as well as, yes, occasionally relying perhaps too much upon just two of five players on the court. The loss Thursday against SMU was an example of that worst-case scenario, with Stallings decrying much of his team for standing around and waiting for Young or Artis to make a play.
“We’re going to carry a lot of the load, but we can’t win it ourselves,” Young said. “We need every single one of those guys, whether it’s Ryan Luther tonight, Sheldon [Jeter] the next game or Cam Johnson tonight or Chris [Jones] tomorrow, whoever — [Justice] Kithcart, [Damon] Wilson — we need everybody. We’re going to carry a lot of the load, but we need those guys to be just as big and just as important for this team as we are if we’re going to be who we want to be.”
Through four games, none of the other players have played even decent back-to-back games on offense. It isn’t about one player being hot to help. It’s that all but one players seems to play decently. Cam Johnson has had one good game. Chris Jones is hit-or-miss every game. Same with Sheldon Jeter. No consistency. Nothing else on which to rely.
Boola boola but H2P!!!
Can Mike Young pull off another career game for the win?
Yawn…
the Battle of the Baldy’s
Not talking about so much tonite since we were looking just to win. But after Maryland game.
We know Artis & Young & Jeter can score. We know Johnson is a streaky shooter.
Got to get some more production off the bench or we’re going to be toast as the conference season progresses and Young, Artis & Jeter get nicked up and banged up.
5-10 points off the bench isn’t going to cut it.
Devon Hall G 6-5 207 JR Virginia Beach, VA
1 Austin Nichols F 6-9 234 JR Collierville, TN
2 Justice Bartley G 6-5 212 SO Lilburn, GA
4 Marial Shayok G 6-5 196 JR Ottawa, ON
5 Kyle Guy G 6-3 165 FR Indianapolis, IN
10 Trevon Gross Jr. G 6-3 206 SO Jackson, NJ
11 Ty Jerome G 6-5 192 FR New Rochelle, NY
12 De’Andre Hunter G 6-7 212 FR Philadelphia, PA
21 Isaiah Wilkins F 6-7 225 JR Lilburn, GA
24 Jeff Jones F 6-6 213 SR Charlottesville, VA
25 Mamadi Diakite F 6-9 214 FR Conakry, Guinea
They start 3 Guards, 1 Forward (wilkins who is 6’8″) and a Center (jack salt) who is 6″11″ aussie but the guy is a stiff, avg’s less than 6 points and 4 rebounds per game.
1 Jamel Artis F 6-7 215 SR Baltimore, MD
2 Michael Young F 6-9 235 SR Duquesne, PA
3 Damon Wilson G 6-5 195 SO Powder Springs, GA
4 Ryan Luther F 6-9 225 JR Gibsonia, PA
5 Justice Kithcart G 6-1 185 FR Durham, NC
11 Corey Manigault F 6-8 230 FR Suitland, MD
12 Chris Jones G 6-6 215 SR Teaneck, NJ
21 Sheldon Jeter F 6-8 230 SR Beaver Falls, PA
23 Cameron Johnson G 6-8 210 SO Moon Township, PA
25 Rozelle Nix C 6-11 300 JR Cincinnati, OH
that has to be one of the biggest backcourts in the Nation.
This team is not fun to watch.
Can you imagine watching JD coaching THIS team. That might be the only thing worse….tight stiffs. And next year, season ticket sales will plummet unless something happens on the recruiting front.
Didn’t watch the whole game, but where is Jeter?
So it’s more a lack of effort imo than anything else.
Picked to finish twelfth in the conference…that seems about right.
A lot worse next year.
Jamie picked the right time to pull up his stakes and pack his tent.
The pieces to the puzzle are not fitting together well, yet.
Stallings is gone in 3 years. Write it down
For some reason, despite the time together, this group of players has never developed any chemistry. It’s quite baffling actually.
Dixon finally recruited a group that stuck together for 4 years like the early years and they can’t play together. The blueprint was there but construction, shoddy. Not sure if it was the builder’s fault or cheap parts but it never looked like the model that was promised.
They have like two 4 star kids, one is freshman guard.
Most of their other players are only 3 star rated kids.
They have nothing on the order of Duke or UNC.
Which was a Pitt trademark until about 2011 or so.
I’m more concerned about our perimeter defense when we start facing better guards and everyone other than Young and Artis going 10 for 28. Take out Cam and the remaining five players were 6 for 21. Jeter, Jones, Luther and Kithcart played a combined 125 minutes and scored 13 points. We should have won 80-60 tonight, but got nothing from six of our nine. We need 20 plus from those guys, maybe 30 in league play.
But rebounding will be a problem with this group.
I can guarantee you that 🙂
Made a lot of mistakes but IMO more because of learning the system and the fact Yale was a quality opponent (went to The Dance last year and got farther the Pitt) then lack of concentration and effort like the SMU loss and the win last Monday.
I enjoy watching this team – the offense is starting to click and they made some improvement on D.
I personally like the free flow offense and not having a micro manager coach set a play and call who is going to shoot every single time down the court. The players are relaxed and seem to be having more fun every game.
Happy Turkey Day to all and H2P
…and come out Saturday to Heinz if you can to ‘Honor Conner’ (thanks to the poster here who started that saying – sorry am old and my memory is not what it used to be after a day or 2 lol) and all the seniors who have given their all to Pitt.
Pitt could really use him off the bench this year.
Will take the 4-1 record however our D and rebounding is
terrible. Artis is terrific player but he will not be able to guard
ACC quality guards….as he is getting burned by the comp
in non-con games. Lack of second chance shots via O rebounding is lacking.
Dont see a measurable difference in Stallings O v. Jamie’s.
Guys are shooting earlier in the shot clock with no one in position to rebound.
Haven’t seen anything yet that indicates Stallings is superior to JD.
Unfortunately Newkirk still doesn’t look like the successor to JR that we had hoped. 44% FG, 50% FT, 12 assists with 10 turnovers as a 22 year old RS junior. One could argue that JD stunted his development, but I for one am not buying.
@Dan 72 Most incredible upset ever, IMO, remains Villanova-Georgetown in 1985 (NCAA Final). Second is probably NC State-Houston in 1983 (NCAA Final). Third is probably Chaminade-Virginia in 1982. Perhaps before your time?
Kugler SR back-up OG behind a true FR
Winovich – JR back-up rush LB behind a SR
Hudson – FR athlete who is redshirting
That’s a fine group of players that Pitt could have used – 2 starters for sure?
Saw this on the news last night –
COLIN KAEPERNICK of the “no stand” for our flag during NFL pregame has never, ever registered to vote in a US election.
Enjoy the BIG meals that await you today my friends.
UConn at 2-4 received votes in the USA Today poll, along with 2-1 Dayton in both polls, 2 loss Yale (who Pitt beat), Rutgers and Cal State Bakersfield.
In FB, Pitt is ranked 33rd in the Coaches Poll behind Minnesota (who lost to pedo state), Washington State (who lost to a D2 school) and South Florida.
Pitt seems to be the Rodney Dangerfield of college sports.
Crush cuse!
In football, Vegas has Pitt as the 16th best team. Much more accurate. The only 4 loss team in the football polls is LSU so they are consistent in that manner. Pitt would be the next 4 loss team in after LSU.
UPitt – our thoughts and prayers bare with you on this holiday. I am hopeful you and your family are together and remembering all the wonderful holiday times you spent with your mom.
While I like Stallings, I think the Ft Wayne coach was exactly the kind of young upcoming coach we all wanted Pitt to hire!
Agreed, this Pitt ream will lose a bunch in ACC play but don’t
think we will lose to Marylandvunless Trimble just dominates at PG.
Be thankful for all you have today fellow Pitt fans!
Spot on Dan72, that is precisely the kind of coach Pitt needed!
Happy Thanksgiving to all and safe travels. See you at Heinz on Saturday! HTP!
