Game 6: Pitt 88 Stanford 67

This was a dominating performance from Pitt. Stanford has some NBA talent in big man Dwight Powell (2014 mock drafts have him going early second round ). Powell put up a 20 9 and 6 line and had a monster dunk in the first half, but he turned the ball over 5 times and missed a couple easy ones.  Stanford also had a guy shoot 4-4 from three.  That was about it from their offense.

Key stats:

Turnovers:  Pitt 5 Stanford 14

Free throws: Pitt 30-34 (88.2%)  Stanford 14-20 (70%)

Anytime you have a +9 turnover differential and make 10 more free throws than the opposition attempts, you're probably going to win.  Stanford played a 2-3 zone.  Pitt laughed at them.

Lamar Patterson - Patterson had a career high 23 points against Texas Tech.  He now has a new career high after dropping 24 on the Cardinal.  Lamar is unconscious from deep right now.  He had a nice recovery block when his man beat him early in the game.  Patterson looks like an All-ACC performer right now.  I'll say 2nd team because ACC will be deep this year.  He was obviously voted MVP of the Legends Classic.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

Cameron Wright - It was another typical Wright game.  After Stanford won the tip, Wright stole the ball, found Zanna for a dunk, then rebounded a Stanford miss on the other end.  Wright probably more than anyone else on this team is aware of what his strengths are.  He was efficient (6-9 from the field) and disruptive (3 steals).  He even made his only 3 attempt, which obviously made it into the 40 second ESPN.com highlight of the game because it was Cameron Wright hitting a three with a defender in his face.  That doesn't happen often.  He made the all tournament team with Patterson.

Grade:  A+

Talib Zanna - Zanna made 50% of his shots, which should be the minimum requirement for him.  Zanna has alternated good games and bad games all season.  Here are his scoring outputs from the first 5 games.

19

4

23

3

14

Zanna is really the only inside offensive presence Pitt has at the moment.  They'll need to get regular contributions from him because despite everyone saying this is Pitt's best shooting team in years, they'll have cold nights.  If Zanna puts up 4 points against Duke later in the year, Pitt will lose by double digits at least.  I'm not trying to take away from what Zanna did against the Cardinal, he was good.  He even made all four of his free throws.

Grade:  B+

Michael Young - Young's only highlight came early in the second half when he grabbed an offensive rebound surrounded by 3 Stanford players and scored on the put-back with a foul.  Then he made the free throw.

Grade:  B

James Robinson - If you break basketball down to its simplest form, it is about shooting an orange ball 9 inches in diameter at a hoop 18 inches in diameter 10 feet above the ground.  Sometimes it goes in, and sometimes it doesn't.  When James Robinson shoots, it usually doesn't go in (1-6 from the field).  I'll never understand it.  I'm not talking about missing a shot with a defender in your face.  I'm talking about being wide open with no defender within 5 feet and putting up a brick.  Robinson will learn to shoot eventually.  Right now, it's his only glaring weakness, but it's a big one.  In the first half, he got the ball in the left corner and nobody came out to challenge him.  Thankfully, he didn't shoot, but instead drove, found Cam Wright who made the extra pass to Zanna for the lay-in.  Robinson is still an excellent point guard.  He makes free throws (7-8) and takes care of the ball (5 assists vs 0 turnovers).  However, at some point in his career, Robinson will have to be a scorer for Pitt, probably starting next season after Patterson graduates.

Grade:  B+

Derrick Randall - 4 fouls in 9 minutes and didn't score.  He is awful.

Grade:  F

Durand Johnson - Durand is always going to shoot threes (2-5 in this one), but in this game he at least attempted to have a game inside the arc.  He had a nice offensive rebound and put-back late in the first half.  He was rebounding his own missed three, but it was great to see him not give up.  I'm always surprised players don't rebound their own shots more.  You of all people, know exactly where that shot is going.  He also made all of his free throws like everyone else seemed to do tonight.

Grade:  A-

Josh Newkirk - He missed all three of his shots and that was about it in his 10 minutes.

Grade:  C-

Chris Jones - He made his only shot and committed a foul in one minute of action.

Grade:  C

Jamel Artis - Artis has been very solid for the Panthers so far.  He shoots the ball well (54% fg, 78% ft) and takes care of the ball (only 4 turnovers in 6 games).  He made his only shot attempt (a 3-pointer) and both of his free throws.

Grade:  A

Joshua Ko, Mike Lecak - Ko missed a shot and Lecak committed a foul.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Pitt plays Duquesne on Saturday in the City Game at Consol.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.