Wait. Pitt won?
Lots of gallows humor in this game. It was ugly. It was hard to watch. Moments of incredible stupidity. There were even a couple smart plays. But Pitt won in the end.
Pitt gave up more offensive rebounds (-4). They turned the ball over way more (13-7). With those differentials, Georgia Tech had a lot more shot attempts then Pitt (+8). But GT is an offensively challenged team (to be kind). While Pitt didn’t exactly light things up, they did just enough from the field and the free throw line to eke out a 61-59 win.
Let’s get the Stallings controversy out of the way. Quick recap. In the second half, as Pitt was trying to get to the basket, Sheldon Jeter dropped to the floor on a Ryan Luther turnover — for unclear reasons at that time — writhing in pain. Play continued with GT missing yet another shot. Pitt grabbed the rebound and play was stopped as Jeter was still down on the court.
As the trainer was tending to Jeter, a hot mike caught Coach Kevin Stallings yelling at Luther, Goddammit, get your fucking head in the game!” You might even have already come across some did a quick edit of the video to make it look like someone was yelling that at Jeter on the floor with the trainer over him.
The rush to condemn Stallings — by Pitt fans — was quick, and a bit over the top. I didn’t care about the cursing, and frankly, he was right about Luther. Luther had played 14 minutes at that point and had 0 points and 0 rebounds. He looked lost out there.
That said, that was absolutely the wrong time to be screaming at Luther — not because of the hot mike — but because the only concern should be for Jeter. There was no way to know at that point his status. Yes, the trainer was over there, but this is one of your players. Heck, this is the one player that has gone above and beyond on- and off-the-court to try and give Stallings a chance with this team.
Moving back to the game.
Pitt overcame its own poor shooting — especially in the first half from the perimeter. Pitt was 1-11 on the first half on 3s. But were sort of in control of the game because GT was missing everything, and Pitt was 10-17 on shots inside the arc. Very odd seeing Pitt getting a lot of points in the paint.
Pitt continued to miss from outside at the start of the second half. At one point, being 1-13 on 3s. Then they finally started falling — from Chris Jones. Jones had 2, Milligan had 1, Mike Young and when really needed, even Jamel Artis hit one.
Cam Johnson was in foul trouble during the game, but GT also stayed all over him. Not letting him have space or be set. As good a 3-point shooter as he is, he needs to be set and ready to shoot. Johnson is not one to come off a screen or be moving. He either has to be set when the ball comes to him, or he has to be going straight on to the basket when firing.
Artis had another mostly miserable game. He came up with some big shots late — and correctly fouled GT before the shot with 2.2 seconds left in the game as Pitt was clinging to a 3-point lead. Still, if Artis isn’t scoring you can see him visibly struggle to stay focused on the game at hand.
Now Pitt goes against Virginia for a third time this season at 9pm on ESPN2. We’ll see if Pitt can put together another good effort and energy.
Pitt played better defense and GT certainly helped with poor shooting.
The season probably ends tonight, but who knows in a one and done tourney.
Also interesting was Milligan looked like he belonged, and Luther did not.
Stallings showing some intensity was new as well.
Comment by gc 03.08.17 @ 9:08 am
Again, I have been criticized for calling Pitt Fans Fair Weathered, but really jaded when we can’t be happy with a win.
At least Stallings was showing a little fire, and our guys have enough pride not to quit.
Nevertheless, I will be rooting hard tonight, happy the team made it to play another game.
H2P!!!
He was up standing the entire game, when he sat thru most of the dreadful season.
Heck Pitt might even make a run, to dispel some of the uprising among the faithful.
And with regard to Luther, he’s been out for probably 1.5-2 months, right? Of course he’s going to be out of sync. His poor performance last night should’ve been expected. Right now Nix is a better player, but I would think that Luther’s play will improve as he gets his legs, etc.
And one other key factor last night, we were the better foul shooting team, which was a key factor.
Pastner won 17 this year. So how does that equate to ACC Coach of the Year. 17-15 gets you CoY.
Wow.
We can get on Grandpa Turd for a lot of things this year but lets not say he’s being too hard on the players.
Was also stunned when Milligan drove to the hoop and dished off to Young for a dunk in the first half. How many drive and dunks from the run of play (not a fast break) do you think this team had all year? I would bet less than 10 and probably less than 5.
Artis looks tired. No legs on his shot. Passes lazier than usual. More poor decisions than usual.
Stallings’ decisions – lack of time outs, sub patterns, etc. continue to just astound me. I don’t get it at all.
And UVA’s NCAA seed won’t change much if they lose.
A span of 15 games.
He’s lost a lof of confidence in his outside shot.
They need to rub him off some high screens to get him a couple open looks early the game and hopefully he could nail a few.
The highlites being the 43 point outburst at Ville.
He had 31 against Rice.
And 30 against Marshall.
However Manigoat is another story. Neither him or Wilson should see the floor in a one and done.
7 players is enough, Syracuse and other teams regularly played and won with short benches.
These are 20 year olds, we use to play for hours and hours…everyday of the week. And thought nothing of it. And neither do they.
He has another 30 win team this year, his 4th.
Has a career winning % of .725 (Dixon’s was .716)
13 NCAA Tourneys in 18 years as HC at Wichita and before that Winthrop where I saw him coach, since it’s in a suburb of Charlotte.
This guy is a great coach. Pitt should have got him instead of Otis.
I could find many more examples.
Artis’ 3P shooting faltered after the Louisville outburst I believe he was 21 of 80 in that subsequent 15 game span. Artis had 178 total FG attempts in that span. So nearly 45% of his attempts were from 3. The Blather’s perception appears to have been reality.
H2P!!!
I get that Luther is rusty, but he looked totally lost last night and made plenty of poor decisions.
Lot’s of frustration to go around this year, players, coaches, fans. The only people we have heard nothing from is the Athletic Dept., and Administration. They are in hiding.
Pitt had 417 offensive rebounds last season. Maia and ANO combined for 74 of those in 648 minutes. Pitt has 307 offensive rebounds thus far this season. Nix has 18 offensive rebounds in 121 minutes.
Pitt attempted 1919 field goals last season. 589 were from 3P. ~31% of all attempts from 3P.
Pitt has attempted 1781 fields goals this season. 700 have been from 3P. ~39% of all attempts from 3P.
Maia and ANO combined for 106 points in 648 minutes last season. Nix has 27 points in 121 minutes.
Pitt had 547 assists and 384 turnovers last season. Pitt has 465 assists and 386 turnovers this season.
So why the bashing of the coach? Why not give the poor bastard a break man?
I’ll tell you why;
He decided to show up and, ya know, actually try to coach on the sidelines a day late and a dollar short.
He has done NOTHING to be deserving of the benefit of the doubt. He doesn’t like the fans and the fans don’t like him. In fact it is no doubt true that he doesn’t even like himself.
So, when he spouts billingsgate worthy of a Marine drill sergeant, and directs it at a young player just off the DL while a teammate lies writhing in pain with an unknown at the time cause, well, yes, that was yet another display of classlessness. It is during times of high emotions when character is often revealed.
He has done nothing to bank any goodwill capital. Think about it this way; if Jamie was still here and the hot mic caught that episode, while there may have been some who were taken back, it would have passed with little or no comment. Of course that couldn’t have happened because there would not have been a microphone near a coach kneeling on the court impulsively reacting to check on an injured player.
So the same coaches who game after game, call Otis an ‘offensive genuis’ …..setup Pastner with super duper low expectations.
Seriously they thought GT was going to finish lower than BC. What on Earth would give them that idea. They seriously did Pastner a favor.
Wonder why 🙂
And regarding KS’ handling of Luther, it’s not an issue everyone is going to agree with, I just think its a little schoolgirlish.
And Wally, it’s very unlikely Jamie would’ve behaved like KS, and if he did slip up once, he would’ve earned a pass. Jamie has his faults, we all do, but one of them isn’t being classless. So, not a good comparison.
And by the way, I happen to agree with Emel’s sentiment, not a fan of Pastner. I don’t dislike the guy, but I’m not buying into the idea that he’s a good coach, maybe averageish.
The one highlight that comes to mind was his calling a timeout at the end of the Game with Pitt on the Line. Clearly, it was to remind his Players to immediately foul Ga Tech and put them on the line… which they did.
As to his OUTBURST aimed at Luther… anyone watching the Game with an OPEN mind should realize how Luther does seem to NOT have his head in the Game much of the time.
People here like to criticize Artis and some even question his effort and smarts.
In my opinion, he scores HIGHER in both in comparison to the Luther I’m seeing… now that he’s finally back on the Court.
POD – one thing about Artis, is he’s being asked to play out of position (as is Young, assuming he’s supposed to play Center), and although he’s had his share of bad TO’s, he’s doing a much better job of handling the point than I would’ve guessed he was capable of. Kudos to him and KS on that. I just wish he’d get his shot back, one more chance…
And that is not a criticism! I have been doing it all year long. Just an observation. Looking forward to the day we can say, “Jamie who?”.
Compared to last year, Luther looks pretty slow… too slow much of the time to cover his Man.
Granted he’s not the best jumper in the world. But he’s clearly TALLER than Young who is also listed at 6-9.
I for one would be curious to see what he could do playing underneath.
Today, Virginia opened as 11 Point Favorites.
If Stallings is able to put TWO well-coached Games back to back… who knows?
And of course a 20-20 night by Young ‘n Artis might help.
Time circumstances just made it worse than it is but, if we want Stallings fired, it is worth exploiting since it will take something other than W/L record to get Pitt to eat the buyout … and he has a history of exploding at inopportune times. This isn’t an isolated incident, which adds to the drama (that really isn’t or shouldn’t be there).
But still, lets exploit the shit out of it. I’m down. Fire Stallings.
What I have a problem with is his coaching. None of the players has shown any discernible improvement this year; in fact, if anything, they seemed to have regressed.
If he is not getting through or just plainly doesn’t have the necessary skill to teach, then he has to take the bulk of the blame for this year because it his responsibility.
In fact, I was even thinking that this current team may be as bad at shooting than any team under Dixon, and JD is certainly not observed as offensive genius
Are any of them making much of this Otis f bomb rant against a kid, coming off the DL ?
“Talk about being on brand. Kevin Stallings just exudes dickheadedness.”
I can imagine the media uproar, had Lex been black.
I’ve always thought that Cam would be the guy who’d benefit if we had guards who could penetrate or a big man who could collapse a defense (for kickouts in both cases), unfortunately, we don’t have either right now.
And finally, Virginia is living proof that you can win with SLOGBALL in the ACC- Jamie should’ve kept recruiting sloggers and we would’ve been fine, instead his experiment to try to get athletic length backfired. Hindsight is 20-20.