Gameday: Pitt vs Cincinnati Bearcats

#24 Pitt 12-1 (0-0) vs #8 Cincinnati 12-1 (0-0)

12:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Cincinnati was undefeated but they lost by 1 to New Mexico team that is pretty good.  The new polls come out during this game, so by the time this game is over, Cincy won't technically be ranked #8 anymore.  Their guards are good, probably a top 3 backcourt in the Big East.  This is the Big East opener for the entire conference.

Last meeting: January 1, 2012

What I said in the recap:

"Get used to it, because these are how the majority of Pitt's games are going to go the rest of the year.  Press, press, and more press.  Grade time because I don't feel like talking about this game any more."

Pitt is 12-0 against top 10 teams all-time at the Pete.  Time to make it 13-0.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 13: Pitt 59 Kennesaw State 43

Liveblog again because I'm lazy.

Pitt leads 18-14.  Points have been scored by both teams.

Julius Page is providing the color for this game.

Somewhere Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje is crying.

That's #6 on some countdown of the 50 best college dunks of all-time.  Here's number one on that list for the record.

Kennesaw State just scored for the first time in 8 minutes.  Zanna is beasting right now.  That Cummings guy is shooting 1-10 right now.  I suppose Pitt plays better defense than Radford.

Pitt leads 30-16 at the break.  This bores me.

Kennesaw State is hanging around.  It's a ten point game.  Ugly offensive effort right now.

Steven Adams just sent a shot into the seats.

Pitt leads 56-36 with 3:44 left.  Zanna has 12 and 8 right now.  He's the leading scorer.  Woodall has 4 turnovers.  Trade Woodall.

I'm going to get drinks with a friend.  Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Okay I'm back, let's recap what I ate/drank.

Spinach Artichoke Dip from Stonepepper's Grill - Artichoke dip is always score, but this one was cold way too fast.  Split it with a friend.

Grade C

Mad Elf from Primanti's - Some drink I got because it's what my friend had.  It was okay.  I wouldn't get it again.

Grade B

Pitt continues to play absurd defense against shitty competition.  Zanna had 12, but no one else had double figures.  Pitt only shot 42% but they had 18 offensive rebounds and only 9 turnovers.

Stat of the Night:  Pitt has outscored their last three opponents in the paint 8,000,000 to 2.

Disclaimer on Stat of the Night:  Might not be entirely accurate.

Pitt has a break for Christmas before opening the Big East season against a very good Cincinnati team.  Bring on the Bearcats.  Hopefully, my early Christmas present will be a ranked team Monday afternoon.  Then again Wyoming will probably jump over them and take UNC's spot.

Screw Wyoming.  They only have one member in the House of Representatives.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Kennesaw State Owls

Pitt (11-1) vs Kennesaw State (1-10)

5:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Kennesaw State is in Georgia.  They are terrible.  They beat South Carolina State by 2 for their only win.  Since then they've lost 9 in a row.  They'll probably hang with Pitt in the first half then lose by 40.

They have a guy named Markeith (a combination of Mark and Keith I presume) who is averaging almost 19 a game.

It's Christmas Eve tomorrow.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 12: Pitt 71 Delaware State 43

And we're liveblogging this.

Adams with a block on the open possession for the Hornets, big time play not leaving his feet.  Woodall hit a baseline jumper, and Pitt leads 2-0.

Hornets guard just took it right to Pitt and dished off at the last second for an easy dunk.  Ugh.

I think Tray just did the Sam Young pump fake.  He did some crazy scoop shot that went in.  If he missed it, I would have been pissed at him.

Dad just asked me if the Pete was there when I was a freshman.
Geez Dad, I'm not that old.

J.J. Moore with a rainbow jump shot.  It almost hit the ceiling and he buried it, NBA-type shot.

J-Rob just turned it over.  I'm confused.  Evidently they're interviewing him at half time.

The Hornets are banking in 3's.  I give up.  Pitt leads 12-9.

Offensive pass interference on Steven Adams for pushing off.  I wasn't aware this was football.

Ziegler just reached in, should have been a foul.  Ref felt bad for him and didn't call it because he knows Trey Ziegler sucks.

Johnson with the steal, Ziegler with the lay-up on the fast break and the foul.  He blows the free throw, but then blocks a shot at the other end.

Ziegler with the most polarizing 3 possessions in Pitt basketball history.  Woodall caught the 10a and was called for traveling.

Both teams getting unreal rolls from the rim.

Pitt with a million turnovers.  They just called time-out.

I just remembered the Cincy game is New Years Eve at noon.  I work until noon.  I'll have to rely on the radio for the first half while I drive home.

Pitt's losing, and I'm looking for the nearest bridge.

Oh yeah, I forgot.  I can no longer go to games in the Zoo because I'm not registered for any classes in the Spring.  I'll be doing some Zoo memory posts over Christmas break.

I need a new blog name.

View from my couch?

View from ESPN3?

Loose ball scramble in the paint.  Patterson gains control and dishes to Moore for the flush.  Miss by Delaware State is followed by a transition dunk by Zanna from Robinson.  Robinson has 4 assists right now.

Woodall just threw an alley-oop to Patterson that was about 18 feet too high.

Pitt is shooting 68% to Delaware State's 45.8%, but Pitt's 8 turnovers are allowing the Hornets to keep it close.  It's 31-27 Pitt at the break.

Second half is about to start.

BGW

It's a brick house from both teams to start the second half.

Zanna dunked.  Next possession Zanna was all alone, but Hornets pushed him and he made the layup.  It was a possible and 1, but he missed the free throw.

Woodall immediately stole it at mid-court and threw it to Zanna for another dunk.  Oh and Patterson just dunked.  Yikes.  Three dunks and a lay-up in about 40 seconds.

Pitt is playing like the Mon-Stars right now.  They're dunking everything.  Unless Delaware State brings out Bugs Bunny after this media time-out they're screwed.

Second half is a snooze fest.  Pitt is dominating.

I'm having an argument with my Dad about the color of Panthers.  He thinks they're all black.  I showed him a picture of a Panther from North America.

Why do you think Roc is gold, Dad?

Pitt outscored them 40-16 in the second half.  Pitt typical.

They only had one turnover in the second half.  Zanna had 20 and 9, Adams had 10 and 8 with 4 blocks, and J-Rob and Tray combined for 17 assists.

Adams is turning a corner.  He was dominant defensively.

BGW again

J-Rob with 9 assists versus 1 turnover.  Yessir.

Pitt plays Kennesaw State at 5 pm on Sunday.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Delaware State Hornets

Pitt (10-1) vs Delaware State (5-6)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Pitt continues its non-conference war against the state of Delaware.  This time they do battle against Delaware State.  Both teams have managed to defeat Delaware this season, however Pitt did it by 27 and Delaware State by 6.  According to mathematics, this means Pitt will win this game by 21.

I think Pitt will win by 30.

Last meeting:  Pitt 70 Delaware State 42, December 8, 2010

What I said in the recap:  Somehow I didn't feel like recapping this game back when I wrote Facebook notes.  Dante had his first career double-double that night.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 11: Yikes: Pitt 89 Bethune-Cookman 40

BGW as usual

Well, Bethune Cookman is terrible and Pitt absolutely destroyed them.  Just how bad was it?

Let's go to the numbers.

-Pitt out-rebounded them 37-11.

-The score was once 25-21 Pitt.  Then a 64-19 run happened over the last 25 minutes.

-Their best player Adrien Coleman, who recorded one of only three triple doubles in D1 this season (another was recorded by Schenley HS grad Deandre Kane for Marshall), was held to 6 points.

-The 49 part margin was the largest in Pete history and the 6th largest ever for Pitt.

-Pitt had 28 assists on 37 field goals.

Spoiler alert:  I'm going to give out a lot of A's.

Tray Woodall - He only took one shot (a 3 which he made) but he had his first double digit assist night of the season.  He only played 21 minutes since the outcome of the game was never in doubt.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.64

James Robinson - He ripped the net on a corner three in the second half and a mid-range pull-up in the first.  However, an unusually high 2 turnovers (2!) keeps his grade from an A.

By the way, I love the fact that I'm shocked that a freshman point guard turned the ball over twice.

Grade: A-

Season GPA = 3.89

Steven Adams - This could be considered a coming-out party for Adams since he recorded his first double-double.  Granted, the tallest starter for BC was 6'7" so he should have had 30 and 20 instead of 16 and 10.  He dunked the ball a lot and almost finished an alley-oop but blew the dunk.  It didn't really matter because he got the rebound and laid it in.  He also didn't turn the ball over which is always nice.  Turnovers from big men make me a sad panda.

Grade: A+

Season GPA = 3.14

Lamar Patterson - Your typical Lamar performance last night included 5-7 from the field and 11 points.  Toss in a few steals, assists and rebounds as well.  He's shaken off a slow start to become the Lamar we all expected based on the end of last season.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.67

Talib Zanna - He had 11 points and 5 rebounds.  I don't really remember much from him.  I imagine he would have had more rebounds if Adams and Taylor didn't grab every single one.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.82

J.J. Moore - I think at one point JJ was almost outscoring BC by himself.  He had 14 in the first half, was hitting baseline jumpers, dunking the ball, and basically being the good J.J. Moore.  We've missed that these past few games.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.5

Dante Taylor - He made both of his shots and both of his free throws.  He also had 11 rebounds and 0 turnovers.  Basically a perfect performance from him.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.14

Cameron Wright - He shot 75% and didn't turn it over.  That's good enough for me.

Grade: A-

Season GPA = 3.41

Durand Johnson - Somehow recorded 4 fouls in 13 minutes.  Other than that, he did hit 2-3 from the field.

Grade: A-

Season GPA = 3.13

Trey Ziegler - Managed to only piss me off once during the whole game.  This statement alone is worthy of an A- from me.

Grade A-

Season GPA = 2.85

Game GPA = 3.9

Season GPA = 3.42

Pitt plays Delaware State on Wednesday.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Bethune-Cookman Wildcats

Pitt (9-1) vs Bethune-Cookman (4-7)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Bethune-Cookman plays in the MEAC Conference.  They lost by 6 to North Florida.  This could be very ugly.  Their best player is someone named Adrien Coleman who played his freshman year at Nebraska before transferring in 2010.  He's averaging almost 19 points and just over 8 rebounds so far.  Pitt will shut him down obviously.

Bring the Pain.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 10: Welp, that was easy: Pitt 89 North Florida 47

With 5:43 left in the first half, some guy on North Florida laid it in to tie the score at 27.  At this point, Pitt hadn't played poorly, but they had given up way too many open 3's to the Ospreys.  UNF had hit 5 by this point.

If you do the math, this means Pitt ended the game on a 62-20 run.

BGW doing work again

Yikes.  Here are some grades.

Tray Woodall - Tray had 24 points against Duquesne, but this was by far his best game of the season.  These are the types of efforts that make me love Woodall.  When he realizes that he can get into the lane whenever he wants, he becomes so dangerous.  North Florida is absolutely terrible defensively, but so was Howard.  Let's compare two stat lines from Tray.

vs Howard: 6-13 fg (1-6 from 3) 3 assists 2 turnovers, 15 points
vs UNF: 7-8 fg (0-0 from 3) 9 assists 0 turnovers, 14 points

I understand that if Pitt is trailing (and it will happen a lot in the Big East) that Woodall will have to take some 3's, but really, why does he?  He can continue to have these incredibly efficient games and not force shots.  He was getting lay-ups all night.

Grade: A+
Season GPA = 3.58

James Robinson - The box score says that Robinson had 4 assists, which seems incredibly low.  It was just another day at the office for Mr. Robinson.  He had 7 points in only 21 minutes.  Since it was a blowout, he didn't play much in the second half.  There are always a few instances every game where I just can't believe what Robinson is doing out there.  He might be is the best bounce passer I've ever seen.  He tried a step back deep 2 (something we haven't seen yet) that would have made me lose it had it gone in.  He truly does it all.

Grade: A-
Season GPA = 3.91

Lamar Patterson - The days of questioning whether Moore or Patterson should be starting are over.  It's Patterson all day.  An uncharacteristically low 2 rebounds and 2 assists for him, but that was due more to Pitt shooting a high percentage.  Thirteen points on 3-4 shooting (6-6 from the line) is the epitome of efficiency.

Grade: A
Season GPA = 3.625

Talib Zanna - Zanna continues to be incredibly valuable, and I don't mean that just because he still leads the nation in PER.  He's a big man who can hit free throws (7-9 last night).  Compared to Nasir Robinson, Gary McGhee and Dante Taylor, Zanna is like Mark Price.  He had 15, but could have had a few more if he put a couple lay-ups higher off the window and got the and 1's.

Grade: A
Season GPA = 3.79

Steven Adams - Adams contributed half of Pitt's missed free throws this evening.  That seems like a bad stat, but then you realize that Adams was only 0-2.  Pitt was 21-25 from the line tonight.  This is Pitt's best free throw shooting team ever.  Adams is really the only player who needs work from the line.  Zanna (as previously mentioned) and Taylor are much improved and all the guards are solid.  Adams biggest contribution this evening was his 4 blocks.  He went 3-4 from the field.  I can't complain with those numbers after all the bunnies he missed against Duquesne.  He had the play of the day when he finished an absolutely incredible alley-oop from Tray.  Sadly, it did not make the SportsCenter Top 10 (which is a travesty).

Grade: A-
Season GPA = 3.00

J.J. Moore - He continues his poor shooting (1-5 from the field).  However, if you hit free throws, you can always make up for your shots not falling.  He made all four of his attempts to salvage a B.

Grade: B
Season GPA = 3.41

Dante Taylor - Dante decided to dunk everything he saw.  This led to a game-high 16 points on 7-9 shooting (and 2-2 from the line).  Three steals and a block versus 0 turnovers and you have Dante's best game this season.

Grade: A+
Season GPA = 3.00

Cameron Wright - Cam Wright scored in double figures.  Anytime that happens, the other team should just forfeit right then and there.  It was your typical Cam game.  There were a few times when he missed players coming off picks but oh well.  Cam hustles more than any other player.  He needs to because he lacks the talent.  When giving Cam a grade, there's really only one stat I ever need.  I look to see if he creates more turnovers than he commits.
Tonight's line: 3 steals vs 1 turnover

Grade: A
Season GPA = 3.35

Durand Johnson - Missed both of his shots, but his only job on this team is to fill 10 minutes a game and not turn the ball over (he didn't).  Anything else is a bonus.

Grade: B
Season GPA = 3.00

Trey Ziegler - Ugh.  Another terrible effort from Ziegler.  Pitt only had 5 turnovers, and Ziegler had 3 of them.  I've been trying to figure out why Ziegler hasn't been able to mesh with this team.  You could assume that he wasn't going to average 15 points like he did with Central Michigan due to the change in competition and not being the best player on his team anymore, but Mike Cook was still able to average 12 his first year here after putting up 15 for East Carolina.  I decided to look deeper.  How exactly was Ziegler getting his points.

The numbers:
2011-12:  46% shooting, 49% free throws, 15.8 points
2010-11:  39% shooting, 56% free throws, 16.3 points

Ziegler can't shoot.  He couldn't shoot there and he can't shoot here.  It's possible however that those poor numbers are due to him having to do everything for Central Michigan.  Perhaps, with a lower volume, his percentages would rise.  However, that is not the case.  Let's look at his numbers so far this year (against poor competition no less).
45% shooting, 39% free throws, 4.9 points
Yep.

Grade: C-
Season GPA = 2.625

Game GPA = 3.525
Season GPA = 3.33


That's all I have.  Pitt plays Bethune Cookman on next Saturday.
Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs North Florida Ospreys

Pitt (8-1) vs North Florida (3-5)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Last Meeting: Pitt 95 North Florida 49, November 12, 2010

What I said in the recap:

"It finally might be time to bench Gary in favor of Dante.  A starting lineup of Taylor, Zanna, Brown, Wanamaker and Gibbs would be super athletic without losing any rebounding (which is apparently a strength of predator's according to the Pitt news though I don't see it)."

Lol, benching Gary for Dante.

The North Florida Ospreys play in the Atlantic Sun Conference, which also happens to be the same conference as East Tennessee State, the 16 seed that almost upset our Panthers in the 2009 tournament.  Man, I miss that '09 team.

In 2005, North Florida began the transition to Division 1.  Let's just say, they've lost unlimited games since then.  They have a rivalry with the Jacksonville Dolphins that is called the "River City Rumble."

This just in.

River City Rumble > River City Rivalry

Their coach, Matthew Driscoll, is from Pittsburgh, and he's attempting to turn the program around (hey, they did win 16 games last year).  He went to Northgate High School.  Northgate High School is a piece of poop.

"I am the smartest man alive!"

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 9: Guest Post: Pitt 66 Duquesne 45

I wasn't able to go to the City game because I had to teach a class.  Boo.  Therefore, I enlisted the help of reader Ben to help me with the recap.  Take it away Ben.

Pitt 66 Duquesne 45

Photo Credit: @CrocaKyleDundee

Like all Pitt games it seems like, Pitt started off horrendously. They turned the ball over and gave up a quick 3 and it felt like they were going to be sluggish. On offense, they were. But after that opening 3, a combination of great defense and poor shooting by the Dukes meant Duquesne didn’t score for six and half minutes. Problem was Pitt only got 7 points in that stretch. It stayed close for a few minutes, but Pitt finally kicked the offense into gear and with about 5 minutes to go in the first half, Pitt took control for good. Most of this was due to Tray Woodall. He made a ton of great plays tonight and the score at halftime was Duquesne 17, Tray Woodall 14. Pitt cruised in the 2^nd half, dominating the game and collecting a 21 point win.

No grades from me, but I’m going to go a few bullet points with “Things I Liked” and “Things I Didn’t Like.”

Things I Liked

·Pitt’s Defense- Best defensive effort of the season. Adams and Zanna were solid in the post protecting the rim but the story was the guards. They seemed to get a hand on everything, they had 9 steals but easily 10 more tips/deflections. Duquesne couldn’t cleanly dribble into the lane all night. Pitt also took what felt like 100 charges.

·Tray Woodall- Made everything happen tonight. Kept them afloat in the first half, finished with 24 points. Only had 2 assists, but both led to wide open dunks. Made great decisions and played maybe the best game of his career.

·James Robinson- Another day at the office. 29 minutes, 9 points, 7 dimes, 1 turnover. Ho hum.

·After JJ Moore got a T for jawing at a defender (more on him later) it was Robinson talking too JJ calming him down and telling him to chill and not lose his cool. A frosh taking to a junior. How many freshmen in the country have that kind of leadership and poise? Not many. Robinson continues to impress.

·JJ Moore’s alley-oop from Lamar Patterson.

·Lamar Patterson- Nailed a couple 3s, had a few boards, assists, and steals. So basically every Lamar game ever. Doesn’t mean it isn’t still great.

·Duquesne’s student section of with lots of big heads. 2 players, Oprah, Troy Polamalu, Will Smith, Mister Rogers, and Psy. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey sexyyyyyyy laaaaaaadyyyyyyy. Also chanted “D-U-I” at Trey Zeigler. He deserves what he gets for doing something so stupid. Good job by The Crew doing their homework.

·Pens coach Dan Bylsma jumping in the Zoo. I’m not a Pens fan but pretty cool to see a professional coach hanging out with college kids and getting excited for Pitt. Guess he’s got nothing better to do at the Consol these days. Zing. Sorry hockey fans.

Things I Didn’t Like

·People gushing over the “great game” Steven Adams had. Yeah he had 14 boards. But ESPN is wrong, sometimes numbers do in fact lie. 9 of these boards were offensive. Great right? Well, about 6 came rebounding his own missed shot within 3 feet of the hoop. If he makes the bunnies, he got about 7 or 8 boards. He was awful during some stretches. I’m not saying I hated the game he played, it was only okay. But people are acting like he’s finally arrived and we have Hakeem Olajuwon now. Calm down.

·On one possession, Adams got an offensive board, took a short shot, missed, board. Up again, miss, board. Up a third time. Miss, Duquesne pulls down the defensive rebound. This was shortly after he got lost twice in a row on D and gave up 2 uncontested dunks. Really horrible stretches of play.

·2 possessions after Adams’ 3 missed FG debacle near the rim, he gets an entry pass in good post position from Robinson. Duquesne’s point guard crashes down to double Adams. Steve kicks it out to JRob who nails the triple. What in the hell was Duquesne doing? (As a Pitt fan, I enjoyed that play. But as a hoops fan I hated seeing such a defensive blunder)

·JJ Moore- 1-9 from the field, only bucket was the oop from Lamar. Tech foul. Average defense. Destroy the tape on to the next for him.

·The boxscore says Trey Zeigler played 14 minutes. I played 0 minutes and we had about the same production. He was absolutely invisible.

So enough about the game, it's time for the Pitt Basketball Shoe Power Rankings.

6. Talib Zanna

Talib generally wears white and black shoes which aren’t all that exciting, but I really do like the Nike Air Flight 1s he’s broken out. A good shoe, not a great one. It’s just too bad Pitt doesn’t have throwback uniforms with royal blue so he could wear the royal colorway. 

5. Aron Nwankwo

I had no idea Penny Hardaway was still coming out with shoes considering he’s been out of the NBA a few years and hasn’t exactly been relevant. Aron was rocking the Penny Nike Zoom Rookies. He may not see the floor, but his kicks look good riding the bench.

4. Durand Johnson

Speaking of Penny, Durand was wearing the Air Penny V’s that came out earlier this year. These sweet kicks were a change up from the blue/white Hyperdunks he’s been wearing all year. I fully support this change and maybe we’ll see some other cool shoes from his later in the season.

3. Tray Woodall

It’s well documented how amazing Tray’s shoe game is. All these are from his Instagram and he has an awesome collection. I can recognize a lot of shoes, but admittedly my Jordan knowledge is weak. So I reached out to my friend and resident sneakerhead Kevin Darby (@darbs831) to help me out. He has 9 pairs on top of his locker and I’ve seen him wear a few of them on the court this season, though I don’t know exactly how many or which ones, and tonight he wore the gray Jordan XI’s. Any given night we could see KDIV’s (Kevin Durant’s signature shoe), Jordan 11’s, Jordan 3’s, Jordan 5’s, Jordan 12 Playoffs, or either pair of Jordan 13’s. So with all this game, why is he only #3?

2. Lamar Patterson-

Well, because Lamar has worn the Air Jordan Retro IX “Photo Blue” and the Nike Foamposite One Pink. Even with all the variety of Jordans Tray offers, I like the IX’s the best. The Retro IX’s have come back this year you see them all over and in many different colorways and while the Photo Blue isn’t my personal favorite (I’m a sucker for orange/blue shoes so Fontay Montana is mine) it’s still a great shoe. The Foams have also been really popular this year and look awesome, Lamar wore these earlier in the season but has put his up for sale (pic taken from his Instagram) so unfortunately we won’t be seeing these again. Hopefully he has something else up his sleeve for us this season. Here’s to him getting his hands on the Calvin Bailey colorway to go with Pitt’s throwback uniforms that don’t exist.

1. Cam Wright-

Bar none the best shoe on the team, the Nike LeBron 9 Elites. Who cares that they aren’t school colors. White, black with gold pretty much always looks good on basketball sneakers and these are no exception. While other guys have shown more variety this season, Cam has worn these kicks every game and they always stand out.

The paragraph above is what I wanted to say about Cam’s shoes. However he broke out a different colorway of the Jordan IX’s tonight. I love the Jordan IX’s but the olive colorway which Cam wore tonight is just awful. The LeBron’s are good enough to keep him in the #1 spot, but more games with this shenanigans and he’ll be start freefalling down the list. (Note: I didn’t recognize these and wasn’t sitting close enough to get a good view, but ask and you shall receive)

That’s all, thanks to Jordan for letting me take over the blog, had fun doing it. Next home game is Saturday against the Ospreys of North Florida.

Hail to Pitt,

Ben (@BW628)

Gameday: The City Game

Pitt (7-1) @ Duquesne Dukes (4-3)

7:00 pm

Consol Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA

Duquesne has been up and down this season.  They almost upset a ranked Georgetown team in DC, then lost at home by 14 to North Dakota State 9 days later.

Duquesne had 3 players transfer including T.J. McConnell who went to Arizona.

Last Meeting: Pitt 80 Duquesne 69, November 30, 2011

What I said in the recap:

"It's really hard to get a feel for what this Pitt team can do.  Obviously the turnovers are a concern, but it seems that every game when one particular facet doesn't go well (e.g. Gibbs shooting poorly, turnovers, etc.)  There's always something else that bails the Panthers out (not including LBSU game, they were just outplayed in that one)."

Pitt turned the ball over 23 times in that game.  Vomit.  Woodall also got hurt.

"I have a plan.  Attack."

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 8: So cold in the D: Pitt 74 Detroit 61

It's so cold in the D.  If you never seen this viral video, here's an explanation.

h/t to BGW

The University of Detroit Mercy is the largest Roman Catholic university in Michigan.  Go them.

Detroit plays their home games on Dick Vitale Court because he used to coach there and even led them to a tournament.  They beat eventual champion Marquette in 1977 and Vitale danced.

Detroit has one good player named Ray McCallum, Jr.  He had offers from Kansas, UCLA and Arizona, but he chose to play for his father at Detroit.  It's a touching story.  They made the tournament last year and lost to Kansas.

Okay, that's enough about Detroit.  I'm probably going to start writing game previews in addition to the recaps so I can put all of this background info there.

Pitt still can't solve a zone, and it's awful frustrating.  The first half was a disaster. McCallum dropped 17 and Pitt was a turnover machine.  Robinson almost equaled his yearly turnover output (4) in the first half alone.  They had 12 points with 6 minutes to go in the half and were down by 13.  In the second half, McCallum cooled off and Detroit didn't even score for the first 6 minutes, allowing Pitt to close the 8 point half-time deficit to 2.  Pitt eventually took the lead and coasted the rest of the way.  It's time for me to give out some grades.

Tray Woodall - He kept Pitt in the game in the first half by hitting a couple of corner threes.  Overall, he shot 5-7 from the field for 14 points.  This was vintage Tray Woodall all night.  With the emergence of Robinson, Woodall is free to pick his spots more.  He had a beautiful drive in the first half.

Grade A+
Season GPA = 3.5

James Robinson - It's really amazing that, Robinson shot 5-9 and had 6 assists and I'm acting like he had a bad game.  He played very well, but he has been just about flawless in previous games.  I hate to admit it, but Robinson will have plenty of games in which he turns the ball over 3 or more times.  You can complain all you want about the quality of Pitt's non-conference schedule, but they have played 3 games already against NBA-quality guards.  James and Tray have gone against CJ McCollum (Lehigh, projected 12th pick 2013 by Draft Express), Trey Burke (Michigan, projected 17th pick 2013), Tim Hardaway, Jr. (Michigan, 13th pick 2nd rd 2014 Draft) and now Ray McCallum, Jr. (Detroit, 14th pick 2013 Draft).  McCallum owned Robinson in the first half.  Pitt played better team defense, and McCallum cooled off in the second.  These are great measuring sticks for the freshman.  I'd like to talk about two plays in particular.  In the first half, Robinson drove and threw a bounce pass threw 2 defenders to Zanna for an easy bucket.  In the second, he got into the lane, stopped and calmly hit a 12-footer off the glass.  We must all bow down to the new King James.

h/t to Fitz

He also went diving into the media section at one point and came out with a bloody hand.  When asked about it, he responded that he did not have time to bleed.

He actually had to leave the game because there's sort of a rule where you can't bleed on the court.  Weak rule.  He was back in 5 minutes.

Grade A-
Season GPA = 3.95

Steven Adams - He needs a lot of work.  He had 2 points and 2 turnovers in his 12 minutes.  The few times he got the ball, the Detroit guards swarmed him and Adams had to immediately get rid of it.  Adams needs to get better if Pitt wants to compete in the Big East.  However, this probably means he's going to stay at least 2 years because he does not look like an NBA-prospect at all.  Well, unless he's an idiot and I don't think he's an idiot.  Then again, NBA general managers have taken crappier college players in the draft (Patrick Ewing, Jr. got drafted one year for crying out loud).

Grade C-
Season GPA = 2.85

Talib Zanna - If you click on that 2014 Draft link, you'll find that Zanna is now projected as a middle second round pick, which is awesome.  He dropped 16 points and was the recipient of a few dynamite passes from Robinson.  He very easily could have had 20, but he tried a few baby hook shots down low in the first half when he should have dunked it.  In the second he had a man's 3 point play.  After he converted it, he probably ate a steak rare on the sideline.  When Zanna shoots free throws, some of the Oakland Zoo has started to do the Zoltan (Z for Zanna I suppose).

My thoughts on that:

Talib did shoot 10-11 from the line though, which automatically ranks as the greatest performance shooting foul shots by a Pitt big man ever.  Not that there was much competition.

Grade A+
Season GPA = 3.75

Lamar Patterson - 12 points + 5 rebounds + 7 assists = typical Lamar stat line.  Nothing more to say about that.

Grade A
Season GPA = 3.55

Dante Taylor - He blocked a shot.  He also was involved in perhaps the funniest sequence of the season.  He got the ball on the left baseline and was immediately trapped.  After what seemed an eternity of pivoting around to try and get a pass off, he finally decided to drive.  In typical Dante fashion he blew the lay-up.  It was his only shot attempt.
@BW628 and I lost it.

Grade D+
Season GPA = 2.8

Side note, there were a lot of traveling calls in this game.  Chris Duhon was happy about it.

J.J. Moore - He had one bucket and finished with 7 points.  I honestly can't remember it.  It was probably a lay-up.  Dixon played Zanna, Moore, Patterson, Robinson and Woodall in crunch time last night because Adams and Taylor were so terrible.  Zanna is a four, but I have no problem with him playing center for a few minutes here and there.  It was terrible last year when he was forced to play it almost exclusively.

Grade B-
Season GPA = 3.5

Cameron Wright - He had two fast break buckets and made both of his free throws.  Pitt shot 78% as a team from the line, which pleases me greatly.

Grade B-
Season GPA = 3.1875

Durand Johnson - He only played 9 minutes but he had two HUUUUUGE threes (including one that gave Pitt a 45-41 lead and effectively broke Detroit's will to live).

Grade B
Season GPA = 3.00

Game GPA = 3.02
Team Season GPA = 3.30

Pitt plays in the City Game on Wednesday night.

Detroit Sucks.
Hail to Pitt and Go Pens.

So cold,
J.O.