For the first time since the latest incarnation of the Big East I have not had bragging rights in my own house. Pitt needs to win this so I can put the wife back in her place.

7:30: Refs for tonight John Cahill, Michael Stephens and Brian O’Connell.

7:38: Pitt gets first lead on Blair going 2-2 on FTs. 4-3, 18:20 in the game. Then Pitt gets out hustled on offensive rebound to give it right back.

7:41: Some good news. Gentry already has 2 fouls. Otherwise, Deonta Vaughn is off to a hot start for Cinci. Sam Young probably has half the fans ticked off already with a bad decision to force a shot — not even looking to pass out of it — and then matador defense on the other end.

7:45: Everyone’s afraid to shoot the 3. Ramon, Fields and Brown all hesitated and thought against it in one possession. That won’t help if there’s no confidence.

7:51: Cinci shooting better than 50%, but also has 4 turnovers in the first 8 minutes. Mainly because Vaughn got off to a hot start.

7:56: When the double team comes on Blair, the guards have to come to him so he can pass out of it. It does no good for Pitt, if Blair has no one to pass it to.

7:59: Nice. Wanamaker to Blair for a jam. 18-13 Pitt with 9:05 in the half and Cronin needs a time out.

8:01: Sam Young picks up his second foul and out he goes for Biggs with 8+ minutes left.

8:05: Weird. They said that the refs took back the Young foul and put it on Brown. Um, OK. Damn. Biggs made a 3 earlier, now he’s trying to take more. On the bright side, he did have a nice block and has grabbed a couple boards in traffic.

8:10: Out fought inside with Blair getting a blow. Cinci gets a couple shots before it finally falls with the “and 1.” Pitt up 23-21 with a foul shot pending.

8:22: Halftime tied at 29. Pitt still being out-rebounded — 19-13. That’s got me a bit ticked. Vaughn and Williamson have 10 points apiece. Young and Blair have 17.

The good. Pitt has 8 assists on 11 baskets. They have forced 8 turnovers by the Bearcats.

The bad. Out rebounded and hustled. Still not hitting 3s. Guards are not producing. Expect the Bearcats to collapse inside and specifically on Blair and Young even more in the second half.

Cinci with Williamson and Vaughn being the scorers keeps Pitt spread. No packing or helping for risk of losing either.

8:55: Sorry. Trying to put the kids to bed at halftime, and oddly enough the kids didn’t cooperate.

How I avoided committing a Shaken Baby incident with the 10-month old in the first 6 minutes of the second half is a minor miracle.

8:57: Statistically speaking, Gilbert Brown has to make a 3 eventually. Doesn’t he?

9:00: Ramon makes his 2nd 3, and that one was from his favorite spot. Left of center on the perimeter. Pitt has a 50-46 lead with 9:12 left.

9:05: &^O(^$###$#$$%#@ Vaughn! Even with a hand in his face drills that 3.

9:08: Scary, ridiculous stat at this point. Pitt has taken 44 shots. 22 are 3s with 7:32 left. That just should not be.

9:13: NBA continuation for Sam Young on that one. 61-55 with 5:30 left.

9:22: Blair struggling with FTs down the stretch after a 4-4 start. 2-4 on his last four — in the past minute.

9:27: Fields with a 3. Stunning considering how much time was on the shot clock. 68-63 Pitt with 52 seconds.

9:32: How do they miss that travel in the final seconds right in the middle of the lane? Still, Pitt can’t quit on the play just because. Hopefully Pitt gets a make-up before this is over.

9:33: Free throw time for Pitt, from here on out. Brown 1-2.

9:35: Brown with the slam off the rebound and break. The wife just asked me how many fingers she was holding up.

73-67 win for Pitt.

Thoughts: Strange game defensively for Pitt.  The poor rebounding is scaring the crap out of me. This is, however the second straight game where Pitt has forced a ton of turnovers which offsets to some extent allowing so many offensive rebounds. I think Cinci’s 48%  shooting is a little deceptive since it came on only 54 attempts. The possessions by Cinci were limited, but they had so many offensive rebounds.

Deonta Vaughn was tremendous from outside. John Williamson having his way inside was much more worrisome to me.

Again, I’ll repeat, the rebounding has officially become an issue. Pitt only had 25 rebounds and Blair had 10 of them. Benjamin and Brown each had 4 and Sam Young had 0 (though he did have 5 steals).

Too many 3s being taken — especially with the lack of results. 53 shot attempts 26 from outside. Brown has stopped trying to penetrate. Fields is shying from contact. Benjamin started to get some confidence back. All need to go inside to be effective.

Needed win.

6:50 pm: About 10 minutes from tip off. Settle in here for tonight’s game, which we’re hoping goes a bit better than last Friday.

7:09 pm: ESPN’s “Greatest Highlight” is stupid and annoying, much like “Who’s Now?” was. Early in the game we have Sam Young burying a three (he takes too many deep shots) as well as DeJuan Blair challenging and scoring on Harangody then blocking a layup at the opposite end.

Watch out for Torre Jackson. He grabs boards and just blocked Blair — and stands only 5′ 11″.

ND wants to run and play up-tempo and Pitt is going to play a long, drawn out halfcourt game to stop that high pace. They average 80.3 points per game — Pitt usually doesn’t win games that reach high scores like that.

7:15 pm: Levance Fields is on the court but he saw limited time in practice this week so his minutes will be few. He still a little slow and not et comfortable to go with the Bronx style crossover we know him for. It’s the move that gets him by defenders all the time and opened up that shot for him against Duke. Hopefully he gets it back sooner rather than later but it won’t come without practice and getting back in basketball shape.

Ramon hasn’t shot too well yet, and the entire team has thrown up plenty of bricks.

7:18 pm: Can someone please please please make a basket?!? Sure it’s nice to grab 3 offensive rebounds on one possession but it’s better to put the damn ball in the hoop.

7:23 pm: DeJuan Blair hits a jumper and keeps the team’s FG% from dipping below 20%.

Ramon is ice cold and rightfully on the bench. In past games, even when he struggled, he had to stay in because there was no one to replace him. Nice to have fresh bodies (though Fields isn’t really too fresh).

The defense is shaky at best. No one is hustling and really being physical like Pitt basketball teams are known for.

7:31 pm: Absolutely beautiful fundamental play by Gil Brown — he misses the three (and might have been fouled) but as soon as he lets go of the ball he sprints toward the hoop for the rebound and the put-back basket. Only the shooter knows where a ball is probably going to bounce after a miss and he read and reacted very well to his missed shot.

Note to Paul Rhoads: read and react is good in basketball, not so much in football.

7:34 pm: Blair isn’t in the game, so a reminder: don’t throw your remote through your TV while watching Harangody demolish Gary McGhee.

7:39 pm: Fields is seeing a lot more PT than I thought he would after missing time in practice. Gil Brown with another nice job finding a hole and hitting the jump/float shot.

Pitt gets a break as Blair gets stuffed and a bad foul call is made. They’re letting the teams play more than most refs will allow — I’d rather watch a physical game rather than one where fouls are called every possession.

7:53 pm: Where Pitt grabs plenty of o-rebounds, ND grabs a nice amount too but actually capitalizes on them with by making baskets and free throws. It’s really a novel concept.

At the half, Keith Benjamin leads our scorers with 10. Fields looks like he’s slowly getting more comfortable while Ramon has thrown up bricks. Sam Young finds a way to frustrate me once again, this time by not making an extra pass and instead throwing up a poor shot. Selfishness? I don’t think I’d go there yet, but it’s certainly not helping the team as a whole. I’m impressed by Gilbert Brown so far tonight; slowly, that experiecne he’s gained is paying off.

Luke Harangody is (expectedly) winning the battle against DeJuan Blair, although some of his 12 points came while abusing Gary McGhee. At this point, Blair has zero (!) personal fouls against him, so don’t complain that he can’t be aggressive because he’s playing with fouls. He better be attacking the hell out of Harangody in the second half. No more dumb excuses.

All told, I’m happy to lead by 5 at the half.

Pitt 35 Notre Dame 30 — Halftime

8:02 pm: So Blair gets the ball, takes it to Harangody, makes the basketball and gets fouled. For more of my crystal ball reading, see above paragraph.

8:05 pm: Three minutes into the second half and Blair has manages to double his point total and get Harangody to the bench. Well done, DeJuan.

8:10 pm: Aw freakin’ crap. The ghost of Chris Quinn, known Pitt killer by draining threes against us all the time, has come back to haunt us. This time under the guise of Rob Kurz and Kyle McAlarney. A nice lead disappeared relatively quickly. Somewhere, Chas is probably tossing back some exotic beer. Me? Red and blue Jolly Ranchers are my pain killer of choice.

8:21 pm: The shooting has definitely picked up here in the second half. We’re still getting plenty of offensive rebounds but this time Tyrell Biggs hit both foul shots. Benjamin, with the “Ronald Ramon Sweet Three Point Stroke From 2 Years Ago” is hitting his open shots, while Ramon, ironically, is not.

8:24 pm: That is the exact type of foul that kills Blair. After ND grabs a rebound and they’re moving the ball up the court to set up an offense, Blair inexplicably reaches in and gets called. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

8:30 pm: Tory Jackson, you annoy me. You’re shorter than I am and yet you have a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Ah…

8:32 pm: ND has finally figured out our weakness — defending back screens and back-door passes. Tory Jackson strikes again, lead only at three.

8:39 pm: Kyle McAlarney’s best impression of Chris Quinn, hitting a three from the logo + another McAlarney three + Harangody steal and huge dunk + Sam Young turnover = 100% of the momentum towards Notre Dame. The last 45 seconds might be the turning point for the worse.

8:45 pm: Sam Young COMPLETELY botched a wide open dunk. COMPLETELY blew it. That’s embarrassing, and I know for a fact this is not the first time he has missed wide open dunks.

And if we’re down 5 points on the road in a critical moment, Ronald Ramon is not the guy I want bringing the ball down the court.

8:48 pm: Hey Sam, bricking a three point shot from the corner is not going to help make up for getting rejected by the rim. We’re down 11 now…

8:54 pm: With just over a minute to go, Pitt is already starting to foul and extend the game. Too bad ND actually makes their free throws.

8:58 pm: So Pitt comes out so strong after the half only to collapse late in the game. Reviews and recaps sure to come.

Notre Dame 82 Pitt 70 — Final 

I’ve been shoveling snow all day, so tonight’s liveblog from the comfort of my very warm house will be nice to say the least. The biggest pre-game story for tonight’s game is that Levance Fields will not be returning tonight. It’s probably better that we don’t see him tonight anyways. I don’t think we’ll have too much of a problem with Providence and I’m scared he’ll maybe end up setting himself back (and risk further injury) by playing a regular season game. I’d rather have him completely and fully healthy for later this month and in March.

7:41 pm: Mike Jarvis is a much worse TV analyst than he was a head coach (364-201 overall record). We get the pleasure of hearing him all night. Plenty of empty seats at the Pete tonight; likely a mixture of horrible weather and a poor opponent. Providence hits two early treys but Pitt is going to be the more physically dominant team.

Jarvis says Fields wanted to return in time for Valentine’s day and asked, “I wonder who his sweetie is?” The answer is Pitt women’s hoops player Marcedes Walker.

And PC just hit another three pointer. That’s three 3’s in four minutes — please don’t tell me this is one of those times where a below average team shoots lights out against us.

7:46 pm: Sam Young is not a ball handler, as evidenced by his turnover. We’re not in good shape if he’s hurtling down the court with the ball on a fast break.

7:50 pm: Sam Young nearly not hitting the rim on an ugly three point shot: embarrassing. Geoff McDermott missing a dunk: much more embarrassing.

7:58 pm: Sloppy defense left a Providence shooter wide open to nail a three. If we’re going to let them have the open shots, it looks like they’ll be hitting them tonight. Defense needs to be tightened up a bit.

Ramon hits his second three of the night. Compared to the days after coughing up the ball at the end of the Villanova game, he has to have so much confidence right now after the shot to beat WVU.

8:05 pm: A nice alley-oop finished by Young finally gets the crowd into the game and then McDermott comes right back down an nails a three very long two.

8:07 pm: Pitt has 24 points in the paint compared to PC’s 12 and yet the Friars have managed to keep the game close. They’re hitting shots, plain and simple. It’s gotta stop at some point, right?

8:14 pm: The wisdom of Mike Jarvis: “Shooting 33% from the three point line is equivalent to shooting 50% from the two point line.” I wonder…where is this mysterious two point line?

Also, DeJuan Blair has had a very quiet 7 points so far. I don’t recall a game this year when I’ve almost completely forgot he was even on the floor.

8:23 pm: Pitt leads 42-37 at the half. Can’t say I was expecting this many points, and usually when games reach such high numbers, we’re probably not going to win. The Panthers “thing” for years now has been tough, low scoring games. I’m sure we’ll be fine in the second half though — Providence is going to start missing their deeper shots (hopefully) and don’t count out the halftime adjustments Jamie Dixon is known to make. He hasn’t disappointed us out of halftime yet.

The official count on the number of times we’ve seen the Russel Stover “Get your woman a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day or she’ll divorce your sorry ass” commercial: six and counting.

8:34 pm: Already I see we came out looking much more pumped up and ready to go. Aggressiveness and physicality on defense are going to be huge. Didn’t see much in the 1st half but it’s picking up now.

8:43 pm: Providence is playing the 2-3 zone but Pitt has been passing well enough to beat it and get solid looks. Remember: passes beat zones, dribbling usually doesn’t.

8:49 pm: Tim Welsh calls a timeout after Pitt once again passes the Providence zone into confusion ending with a Ronald Ramon three pointer. He’s 4-6 from deep and just added an assist to his stat line with a nice pass to Benjamin. Pitt is up 20 now — PC is struuugggggling.

8:59 pm: With a 20 point lead, Pitt is just going to play safely and keep the cushion as it is. From the start of the second half until now, this is the Pitt team we wanted to see.

9:13 pm: Whoa, a minor computer crash. Since about 8 minutes to go, this game has been a snooze fest. Two minutes and we’re done.

9:34 pm: The beginning was a little closer than we’d have liked but the Panthers came out with a spark in the second half and put it away. Were we looking ahead to the big game at Marquette on Friday night? In the post game interview, Dixon hinted that maybe, just maybe, they were. I’ll admit I definitely was (as if it matters what a blogger is looking forward to). Kudos to Ronald Ramon for defending Jeff Xavier well. Xavier made three early treys but was kept pretty quiet for the remainder of the game.

We’re here now, relieving Chas for the night. I don’t expect this one to be too exciting anyways. The game is on ESPN Classic which you probably don’t get, so follow along here.

6:09 pm: Two baskets by way of Blair pounding in the middle and Keith Benjamin with a beautiful three point stroke. Rutgers answered right back with their own 3 though. The fingers continue to stay crossed that Blair stays out of foul trouble. He has one personal foul already.

6:12 pm: If you’re watching, prepare to see “Send it in, Jerome!” at least 5 times.

6:18 pm: Gary McGhee shot what was probably the ugliest foul shot ever. It barely made it 3/4 of the way to the hoop. Rutgers already has five turnovers and their best big man on the bench with two fouls and they only trail 14-12. Rutgers is already at five team fouls — hopefully we hit our foul shots…or at least get them to hit the rim.

6:25 pm: RU gets the Pitt lead down to a point and then goes to the 2-3 zone. Passing quickly and effectively will be important. The Scarlet Knight’s best chance is obviously to black the passing lanes and make Pitt spot up for threes. Blair still at 1 PF and 4 points.

6:27 pm: Tied 20-20. RU nailed a trey and Dixon was halfway on the court to call a timeout before it even fell. He’s not entirely pleased by what’s going on…

6:39 pm: Bill Raftery on the phone to talk about what else, the Jerome Lane dunk. Nice pickup by Keith Benjamin to take it coast-to-coast followed up with a volleyball type of hit by Blair to put it in. Benjamin drops another three and Rutgers answers with their own, yet again.

Benjamin’s stroke reminds me of a young Ronald Ramon — we’ll call it “Ramon Pre-2007″.

Usually a team like Rutgers playing against a ranked team (such as Pitt) is not able to continually answer with big shots. Once Pitt gets over that hump and breaks out the double-digit lead, we’ll just need to hope Rutgers stops the clutch shots.

The announcers mention something I’ve found to be true — other than the Zoo, the other fans at the Pete don’t usually get really into it. Panthers on an 8-0 run, the lead it 7.

6:51 pm: Pitt 39 Rutgers 32 — Halftime

The nice perimeter shooting (until the last few minutes of the half) is what’s keeping this game close. They have a poor inside game, so expect more defense on outside shots. In Dixon We Trust — he’s shown he’s one of the best halftime-adjusting coaches in the nation. Let’s come out very strong right after the half — it would destroy Rutgers’ waining hope and life.

7:04 pm: Panthoor in the comments: “Did Bucky Waters just say that when he coached at WVU, he loved playing against PITT because Pittsburgh was like Paris?”

Pittsburgh > Morgantown

7:12 pm: DeJuan Blair, this is the bench. Bench, this is Mr. Blair. Please sir, be kind to him, for he has three personals.

7:15 pm: Rutgers slowly but surely getting colder from the field. Gil Brown takes a few seconds to get up, and walks away limping. Super…

7:26 pm: We haven’t scored in 5 minutes. Tonight Pitt has either been at one of the extremes: hitting shots at a very good clip or else throwing up a bag of bricks. Tied at 49, 9 minutes left to play. Hand it to Rutgers, they haven’t lost their poise and composure yet.

7:35 pm: The Knights are confident, probably aided by the fact we’re shooting 25% on FGs in the second half. Gil Brown has 10 points, which is a nice sign, but he’s gone cold (like the rest of the team). Rutgers 58 Pitt 49. My finger moves closer to the Panic Button.

7:40 pm: We’re down 10 and forcing ugly shots. Crap.

7:45 pm: One field goal in our last 16 possessions. Barely any good looks, mostly by virtue of our horrible focus and hurried shots. Overheard in te comments: “Crap.” “Unbelievable.” “Holy cow.”

Benjamin has disappeared, no points yet in the 2nd half. As I write that, he makes a basket.

7:52 pm: Commence the intentional fouling. RU is in the double bonus. Let’s at least salvage this somewhat and keep it from turning into an embarrassing blowout. As if the loss wasn’t embarrassing enough.

7:56 pm: Game, set, and match. It’s a tough loss to take, but perspective needs to be kept. We’re playing without two starters and a shallow bench. Sometimes the shots just don’t fall — we’ll recover.

The game is on ESPN Classic.

I’m bouncing between the game, kid duty and other things around the house. Not quite a full liveblog, but not just an open thread. Spurtability will be the issue in the commentary.

6:04: Pitt down 5-2, and I’m tossing it to Dennis for the liveblog duties. Check for a new post.

Keep in mind this is a liveblog, not a gamelog. If you want every shot, play charted, they have computer monkeys for that. This is comments and observations as the game goes along. Number of updates and comments will vary accordingly.

4:09: Wow, nearly 2 minutes before anyone scored. Pitt got it first, but now down a whopping 4-2. This looks to be a brutal, poor shooting game.

4:17: Not only poor shooting, lots of defense, but the video is very dark in this. Poor lighting for this, at least for TV. Pitt down 15-10 with under 12. Cinci showing some really good ball movement on offense.

Can’t say I’m worried. Cinci hitting a lot of shots. They have been very streaky, so they will hit a bad patch.

Pitt looking ragged on the road, but only 2 TOs so far.

4:25: Dixon got a technical foul for something he said to the officials. Right after Blair got called for his second foul. Pitt now down 18-10 with a little over 11 minutes.

4:27: McGhee time with Blair out. Arguably, the right kind of opponent to build his confidence as well.

4:28: Freshman mistake by McGhee tried to go 1-3 to get an offensive rebound and chased too far. Called for a foul.

4:35: Oy, Biggs. You have to be willing to give up the ball. Missed one, got the rebound and never even thought of passing out as 3 Cinci players were dropping on him. Pitt down, 20-18 with 6:07.

Benjamin is being looked at as Mike Jarvis speculates that Benjamin might have a dislocated finger (right hand) on a prior defensive play.

4:37: Benjamin going to the locker. New speculation is a torn fingernail. Ouch.

4:39: Fantastic steal by Brown, even better dish to trailing Young who trails. Scores but couldn’t convert the +1. Damn.

4:42: Vaughn loses the handle then commits his 2nd foul trying to get it back. Good news for Pitt. Keep him silent.

Pitt up 22-20 with under 5.

4:44: Wanamaker getting some minutes. Got a basket on a bit of an out of control fast break (seemed lucky) then gets bailed out a couple minutes later by a foul — but misses both free throws.

Now tied at 22 with under 4.

4:49: Benjamin has a laceration on his pinky. Return, questionable. Uh-oh.

4:51: Pitt trailed by as much as 8, but goes into the half 28-27. Ramon hit a pull-up jumper, and then Cinci hit a big three to keep it close.

Considering that Pitt was with out Blair for over half the half, and Benjamin for the final 6 minutes or so, this isn’t too bad. Cinci is playing some very, very good defense. Have to respect their effort.

Cinci not pressing, or gambling on defense. Arguably, this is the kind of defense Pitt has run. Very difficult, in-your-face, man-to-man that just will be physical and bump. No gambling for steals. Pitt only has 2 TOs.

If not for a little sloppy defense by Pitt inside — late rotating — Cinci would be down more.

The second half won’t be any easier.

5:08: Benjamin back to start the 2nd half.

5:09: Not sure what the foul was on Blair when Hryancuik blew past him? Blair yanked, but I still didn’t see the foul. He got threw him but, what foul?

Now Cinciy up 3 31-28.

5:14: Yeah, Williamson took a scrape across his eye/face by Brown before the strip. No call.

5:20: Credit to Cinci’s ball movement. They are driving Pitt’s frontcourt nuts as they are late on rotation.

Ramon with an easy basket on a goaltend.

McLain looking good taking advantage of Blair.

Young slams home a missed 3 by Benjamin. Pitt down 38-36 with under 14.

5:33: Auugh. Pitt tips in a missed FT. to give Cinci a 45-40 lead.

5:40: Pitt now down 51-40. They just aren’t getting open shots. Cinci’s defense is doing a hell of a job. Limiting opportunities for Pitt more than anything else. Pitt isn’t shooting horribly (except form outside), but not getting second chances.

Pitt starting to rush shots out of frustration.

5:44: Cinci is having a very effective shooting night. They are getting to the free throw line, because Pitt has been late on defense inside. Plus they hold a 12-2 advantage on points off turnovers even though both teams have the same amount of turnovers.

5:50: Perspective moment with UCLA losing to USC and UNC losing to Maryland — both were home losses. Wow.

6:03: Vaughn probably just put it away on the transition basket. Even with the miss.

Just a minute left, Pitt down 59-54.

Cinci has just kept complete control of the pace in this game. It’s been an impressive effort. They have closed fast to limit shots, and just been more aggressive going after the ball.

6:08: Vaughn ices the game with both FTs. 61-57

Damn. Cinci caught a break when there was no +1 when Brown caught the home run and went up with the ball. Instead, they called it a foul before the shot.

61-59 Cinci with 15.9. Cinci inbounds.

6:11: Pitt loses 62-59. Damn fine block on Benjamin’s 3. Risky, but Bishop was clean.

I credit Cinci with a great game. As I said before this game, losing to Cinci wouldn’t be a stunner. The Bearcats –especially at home — are a dangerous team. They were tremendous in almost the entire game on defense. They flew out to prevent good looks on threes, and they absolutely collapsed inside.

If you want to talk about a game where Pitt missed Fields and Cook, this was it. Both would have had success penetrating and driving inside. That was the element missing offensively for Pitt. The way Cinci slowed the pace and forced Pitt to keep using clock to find a shot was the kind of thing Pitt has had to do in the past against more athletic teams.

The Bearcats also converted their FTs. Their best FT shooters got to the line and made them. Cinci was able to penetrate better and follow shots. Getting fouls in shooting action.
Pitt actually had less TOs than the Bearcats.

Keith W. here, reentering the blog-o-sphere. Some of you may recognize my name from the comments or from when I’ve written posts here back in the day. I have been on hiatus for some time, however, via Chas’ generosity, I am now back and will be your host for tonight’s game.

I’ll spare you any further introduction until a later date. Any tips, complaints, praise (HA!) that you’d like to get to me but don’t want to put in the comments you are welcome to send my way via e-mail to KWBlather-at-gmail.com.

Chas gave us the media recap this morning and this afternoon while Dennis recently posted an excellent breakdown of the matchups.

Something to discuss until tip off: the Pitt women are back in the AP Top 25 for the first time since the preseason.

With Pittsburgh’s return to the Top 25, the Big East has six teams ranked for the first time since the first poll of the regular season.

“We had a great week,” said Pitt coach Agnus Berenato, whose team beat Syracuse and Cincinnati last week. “We all have to play each other in this conference and everybody is really good.”

The Panthers (13-3), who are 3-0 in the conference for the first time since the 1993-94 season, don’t play again until hosting Providence on Saturday.

Kudos to the women.

Returning to the men’s side, Pitt is back up to No. 15 in the AP Poll while Georgetown is No. 5.

Time to go shovel the driveway (13 inches of fresh snow here in Maine). I’ll be back for the pregame. Until then, comment away.

6:30 - I’ve been checking out Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats for each team.

Pitt (as expected) is highly ranked in blocks and offensive rebounds, however, they are not so great when it comes to getting to the line and shooting free throws.

Georgetown is just plain scary when you look at its efficiency numbers. They are ranked No. 1 in effective field goal percentage and No. 2 when it comes to its opponents percentage. They Hoyas don’t go to the FT line often and when they do they miss more often than almost any team in the country.

6:37 - It will be interesting to see how Pitt’s young guys react to tonight’s atmosphere. The Duke game in the garden was big time, but this will be different. The Zoo will be electric and the young studs are now playing a much bigger role. I’d actually like to see the team start off without much emotion. The bench has been shortened considerably making the Panthers unable afford foul trouble. If anyone gets early whistles it’ll be a big problem. As with most Big East games, how the game is called could play a big role. Georgetown has enough depth that theyw can afford some foul trouble. Pitt no longer has that luxury. As always, I expect to see a comment or two (or 50) about the officiating.

7:03 - Blair backs Hibbert into the paint for the first two. If the rest of the country doesn’t know who this kid is, they may know after tonight.

As Stuart alluded to in the comments, the non-Zoo crowd has yet to fill out at all. Lets hope it does.

7:09 - Blair gets caught out of position on D, but Gilbert Brown gives some great help to stop Hibbert. I’ve always found Hibbert to be a bit soft.

7:12 - Cook and Fields look asleep on the bench. Sheesh. FYI, according to Ken Pom only 29.8 percent of Pitt’s field goal attempts have been from beyond the arc this season, ranking the Panthers 273rd in the country. Pitt has already taken four (and made two) tonight.

7:16 - My first beer tonight is a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. MMMmm Mmm Good.

7:17 - 8-6 Pitt. I’d like to see better shot selection from the Panthers. Sam Young needs to get going. Send it in JEROME!!!

7:20 - Biggs takes it right in front of Hibbert, using his body to prevent the block. Great move by Biggs while Hibbert again appears soft. The basket ends a streak of nine straight misses by the Panthers, who, to their credit, are still up by three.

7:24 - Since I am not local, I haven’t gotten to see many Pitt game’s on TV. It’s obvious by the number Pitt hasn’t had a big man with as much talent as Blair since Chris Taft, but wow their personality and effort couldn’t be ANYMORE different. Thankfully.

7:34 - And 1 for Blair, who misses the FT. Nice to see some things have remained the same since I left Pitt. Momentum heads back G-Towns way in the next possesion with a 3-pointer, still, Pitt is playing scrappy and has a two-point lead.

7:36 - So much for Georgetown having the momentum. Beautiful 3 with the shot clock at zero by Ramon.

7:41 - Sam Young goes 1-for-2 from the line, but is still without a field goal with under 3-minutes to play in the half.

7:42 - Pitt has slowed its pace considerably, using up almost the entire shot clock on its last two possessions.

7:54 - Halftime: Are you kidding? We’ll be seeing that one a few more times this week. Despite the half-court heave Pitt is still up by one at the half. However, Pitt needs to improve if it is going to win this game. The Panthers are shooting 33 (10-30) while Georgetown is 11-22.

According to Pitt’s stat tracker it is dominating the glass, 21 (11 offensive) to 14 (1 off.), which is keeping the game close.

8:05 - Tenacious D (good band) by Blair and than Ramon to force the shot clock violation.

8:08 - A three by Ramon and and steal by Blair. Pitt is making the game’s first run. And a 3-pointer by Benjamin! Great to see him knock one down after he had at least two great looks rattle out.

8:11 - As asked about in the comments, here is a link to the latest recruiting update on AJ Alexander. No word yet on the results.

8:18 - I am beginning to get word on the message boards that football recruit AJ Alexander has chosen Pitt. Nothing official yet, but it is looking very good.

8:21 - Another 3-pointer by Ramon and things are looking good for the Panthers, up 11. If I didn’t know better I’d think Pitt was the far superior team…

8:25 - Blair with a Krauser-like running floater in the paint.

8:27 - Sorry for the continuous football info, but here is a link that confirms Alexander going to Pitt.

8:28 Ewing with a huge slam as Georgetown pulls back within five. Looks like we (myself include) need to get our heads back in the game.

8:30 - Blair is an animal on the glass, going back up strong with Young’s missed 3-pointer. How does Hibbert get dominated in the paint so badly? Anyone? Update: Hibbert was on the bench. A clear answer to my question.

8:31 - There’s Pitt’s highlight of the night. I liked Benjamin’s choice taking it on his own… and somehow it paid off.

8:44 - Typical Big East officiating tonight, which I am not complaining about. The two big guys in the paint, Blair and Hibbert, have combined for only two fouls. Perhaps you can call that a lack of aggression, but I think the style will favor both players in post-season play with the games are called much, MUCH tighter.

8:44 - Get your Tums ready, this game is looking like it may come down to FT shooting *gulp*.

8:50 - I think I jinxed Blair with my comment on fouls. Wow. Tough, tough calls.

8:54 -On one possession Young hits the rafters for a defensive rebound. On the next possession Hibbert loses an offensive rebound with his feet glued to the floor. A huge reason why Pitt has 17 offensive boards.

A 3-pointer by Benjamin gives Pitt it’s biggest lead of the night. This one is OVER. What a win.

9:00 - Final 69-60. Thanks to everyone who played along in the comments. What a win for the Panthers. I think Pitt can basically count on making the NCAA tournament. All that talk of them maybe not getting in following the injuries was WAY premature.

What a coaching job by Jamie Dixon. They way the Panther’s played I could not tell at all they were two starters. Almost a seamless transition.  Amazing. A great game to build on.

If there is one team that Pitt has inexplicably struggled against in recent years it’s St. John’s. After that, however, it would have to be Seton Hall. The Pirates are 3-3 against Pitt since 2003.

Seton Hall’s style has just seemed to be one that gives Pitt problems, or Pitt has had some bad injuries. This year, both apply. The Pirates like to pressure full court and are pesky. They are also a streaky shooting team.

So, I’ll be liveblogging, but also a fair amount of pacing and moving around and away from the computer. And drinking. Plenty of drinking.

The broadcast crew is John Sanders and Mike Jarvis. I am continually amazed that the Big East tolerates the employment of Jarvis in color commentary for their conference games. The coach who managed to do grievous longterm harm to one of the original BE teams in the largest media market. The fact that he isn’t a particularly good analyst is yet another strike against him.

Jim Burr is the Ref with Curtis Shaw and William Bush the officials for this game.

2:11: Pitt up 9-2. The Panthers look like they will be able to go inside at will on the Pirates. Seton Hall looks a lot less sure of themselves than they did against Marquette. Not getting defensive stops or set up their pressure hurts them.

Blair does have to remember to occasionally kick it back out if he gets an offensive rebound but moves too far from the basket. He invites the double-team on him and has no good shot. It’s something I’m sure he’ll learn.

Young looks hot. Benjamin with a couple dumb mistakes. A bad pass for a turnover and fastbreak opp for SHU and trying to go 1-3 when he had the ball.

2:24: Biggs early does nothing to improve his standing with most Pitt fans. He gets a rebound but tries to toss it up directly underneath the basket. No room to shoot, easy block. Then runs into Wanamaker on the other end as he doesn’t seem to know where he should be going.

Young definitely seems to be feeling it this afternoon. Blair already has 6 rebounds. Ramon has 3 assists and 0 turnovers. Under 12 minutes to the half, Pitt leads 13-9 with Young going to the foul line.

2:32: Pitt up 18-13 with under 8 minutes. Biggs with a couple nice short jumpers open in the middle of the zone. Benjamin not shooting well today. Seton Hall’s defense really picked up once a couple shots went down. Gave them time to set and it makes a huge difference for them.

2:40: Pitt up 23-19 Blair going to the line for a 1-and-1. 3:39 until halftime. Pitt just entered the bonus. Ramon hit a floater in the lane, which were the first points for any of the Pitt guards. Otherwise all the scoring is from Young, Blair and Biggs.

Neither team is shooting well. Eugene Harvey is the scary player against Pitt to me. A guard who drives to the basket constantly. Weak defender, but provides the Pirates with needed points.

2:50: Pitt up 33-30. Having seen the Pirates’ last two games against UConn and Marquette, I’m not shocked. In both games they were leading at the half, but just couldn’t keep it up.

Laing and Nutter played the full 20 for SHU. Ramon and Young both played 19 minutes.

Young and Laing each have 15 points respectively. After that, Eugene Harvey has 9 points that came late in the 1st half. Otherwise, not much else.

Pitt is little better. Only 3 other players have scored. Blair already has 9 rebounds along with 9 points.
Benjamin is having a horrible game. Very jarring after not only playing well most of the year, but absolutely stepping up the past two games.

3:22: The outside shot had been there for Pitt, but now Pitt is making them. Suddenly Pitt is up by 11 with just over 13 minutes left.

Seton Hall is still struggling with its scoring. Something that has been a noticeable problem the second they started Big East play.

3:33: Seton Hall has already used its last TO with over 8 minutes left. That is going to kill them. They have Laing sitting with an injury he got going for a steal. Pitt is up by 14. Threes raining for Pitt now. Just would like to see Wanamaker make one for his confidence.

Benjamin hot now. Actually the guards in general have looked great this half. A spread court will do that.

3:45: I want to thank Seton Hall for making it look like I know what I’m talking about. I said at the half that the Pirates fade in the second half. Boy, did they. The defense fell off tremendously. Offense was still lousy.

70-54 with 3:42 left and Blair coming to the line after the break.

Sam Young has a career high 25 points. Blair has double (14 boards) double (17 points). Ramon has 11 points and 8 assists — and only 1 turnover.

3:53: Mike Davis was once a Pitt commit, but struggled to finish high school — anywhere. Seton Hall took a chance on the guy (he’s no longer a kid), yet he is still raw and a project. He fouled out in only 10 minutes of time.

4:08: Hysterical. Maurice Polen with his first basket of the season and McGhee gets a block before time expires. An 84-70 win.

22 assists on 28 baskets for Pitt.

Sam Young had 28 points. 4-4 on 3s but 6-12 on FTs — go figure. Blair had 20 points and 14 boards. Tyrell Biggs had 10 rebounds and 8 points.

Ramon had 14 points and 8 assists. Benjamin came alive in the second half and with the free throws in the final seconds finished with 12 points, 6 assists, 3 steals and 5 turnovers.

It’s roughly a half-hour until game time. Looks like the Oklahoma-WVU game will go right up against if not over the 8pm time.

I’ve spent the past 8 hours watching basketball and occasional look-ins for the bowl games. I’ve seen LSU blow another game where it was up big. Wisconsin is just a tough team. Winthrop knocked Miami from the unbeaten. St. John’s can’t even beat VT in the Garden. Louisville showed Iona and its former assistant Kevin Willard little pity. Barry Rohrssen and Manhattan made Rutgers sweat at times, but couldn’t close the deal. ‘Nova is killing LaSalle so far.

I love Saturdays.

Back when the gametime gets closer.

Here’s the Dayton schedule page where you can launch the CSTV.com Gametracker.

8:56: It’s halftime and Pitt is down 45-32. Brian Roberts didn’t just step-up, but mauled Pitt with 19 points including a deeeeeep 3 as time expired. He shot 7-10 and it’s not like the rest of the Flyers are slacking with 6-12 shooting and plenty of FT shots 17-18.

DeJuan Blair got in foul trouble (2 fouls) and sat extensively to fuel a Dayton run in the game. Gilbert Brown already has 3 fouls.

Struggling on 3s — again.

Mike Cook being out is looking painful. Pitt may have had more than a week off since he went down, but much of that was lost because of the Christmas break. His experience on defense (and extra fouls) are needed.

Dayton is so up for this game, as well.

Still plenty of time. Have to assume Dayton will cool down and Pitt will make some adjustments. Still going to be tough to comeback a second straight time.

9:15: DeJuan Blair is playing like a freshman tonight. Geez, some dumb fouls. Pitt down 49-35.

9:21: How in a game called this tight, was that not a foul when Sam Young got knocked down going up for an alley-oop?

Then Blair called for a foul trying to block a shot from behind. His 4th and 16:04 left. Pitt down 51-40.

9:23: Now Levance Fields is on the floor holding his left ankle in pain. No weight on it when he is helped off the floor.

Oh, man this is not a good night.

9:27: Ugh. 57-40. I know Blair is out with fouls, but where exactly is Young tonight on the glass?

9:38: Pitt is down 60-44. Just over 10 minutes left. There isn’t much to say. Pitt is lost in the backcourt without Fields. Young is struggling without any help.

Blair returns. Bad call where the refs say it went out on Blair and Dixon gets a technical going down the floor to argue. Defending his players.

Hate to say this, but this is a lost game at this point.

9:44: Biggs. Look, I don’t think you are that bad as a role player. No matter what, though, you are not a ball handler to try and take a guy off the baseline.

9:47: I realize they haven’t seen much playing time. The game is out of reach, however, and it seems like Diggs and McGhee time.

9:53: Pitt can’t sink a 3 and Dayton can’t miss.

10:05: 80-55 Dayton won. Congrats to the Flyers.  They took it to Pitt and played a fantastic game. They won it.

Horrible night for Pitt.

DeJuan Blair got in foul trouble as he got used by the Dayton game plan to go right inside.

Sam Young may have been the leading scorer and rebounder for Pitt with 15 and 7, but it came on 5-17 shooting along with 4 turnovers. He just played a bad game. He really needs Blair there to take pressure off him and prevent defenses from collapsing on him.

Ronald Ramon has had maybe one good game this season. This was among his worst. 0-8 overall and 0-6 on 3s. Add in his shaky attempts to run the point without Fields, and, this was a distilled game of bad play for him

Keith Benjamin’s numbers weren’t too off, except for the fact that he essentially doubled the number of minutes he usually plays. Kind of diminishes it.

Gilbert Brown has to start, but he wasn’t ready tonight.

Bradley Wanamaker demonstrated why he hasn’t seen a lot of action as the competition increased. The true freshman needs work.

Here’s hoping Levance Fields only has a mild ankle sprain and he is back soon.

6:40: Family (huge Duke fans) from North Carolina are here for Christmas and I’ll be watching the game with them tonight. I am prepared to win or lose excessive amounts of money tonight depending on the outcome.

6:50: On PTI today, Tony Korheiser gave Pitt a 4% chance of winning and Michael Wilbon gave us at 25% chance. Jay Bilas says on SportsCenter that Duke is also built more for the postseason. It’s still December…

7:02: The team looked fired up in the pregame.

We have tip-off. Go Pitt.

7:05: The clocks at MSG are performing about as well as the Knicks have this year. Still waiting…

7:08: Finally we’re actually going to play. DeJuan Blair gets an early 2 on a nice move. Already we’re seeing the Duke screen plays at the top of the key lead to a wide open lane. Can’t expect Blair to switch on a pick to cover a quick guard. Duke is picking up the defense at about 3/4 court, much earlier than we’ve seen from any other team this year.

7:11: Maybe Blair should have dished it to Fields for the break, maybe he shouldn’t. Oh well. Four offensive turnovers already — ouch.

7:16: Sam Young with a horrible missed dunk.

I feel like on at least two occasions, Ronald Ramon was maybe going to shoot a 3 but was confused by the NBA three-point line.

Stuart makes a good point in the comments: “Duke seems to have a good plan with making Ramon bring it up - its taking Fields out of the game and causing Ramon to turn it over way too much.”

7:28: Gil Brown has knocked down a jumper and blocked a shot which lead to Blair basically getting tackled. Both teams look sloppy — Pitt more than Duke, though. Duke is up 3 with 9:20 left in the half.

7:35: Even more turnovers. Traveling, stepping out of bounds, offensive fouls, bad ball handling…

Dixon takes his first timeout of the game after Paulus nails a three.

7:41: Duke is just a team of tall white dudes who know how to flop. The refs are starting to lean towards Coach K and we haven’t scored in about 5 minutes. The double teams on Blair are starting to work and he’s getting trapped in the lost post without a place to pass it to. On defense it looks like Pitt has never seen a team use a screen and Duke has all kinds of open shots and drives. The Duke family members have taken over my basement.

13 turnovers and counting.

7:55: So that was a pretty ugly half of basketball. We have no leader on the floor and the entire team needs to collectively calm down. Not at all impressed with Ramon, which makes me realize how much better I felt with Antonio Graves last year. If Ramon isn’t even going to hit his three pointers (0-3) then why does he even play? Sam Young and Mike Cook need to both settle for less jump shots and drive more. Too much of the offense is happening very far from the basket, which is a combination of Duke’s good defense plus Pitt’s offense which is playing like crap. The “help defense” being played on Blair has been working very well for Duke and ‘m sure we’ll see plenty more in the 2nd half. Oh, and hitting some free throws would be nice too.

Halftime: Duke 34 — Pitt 22
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