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.