No one on Syracuse's team had ever beaten Pitt. That is now no longer the case. Pitt had won 5 in a row at the Carrier Dome (longest streak ever by an away team). Also no longer the case.
I still believe in this team.
I do not know why.
They played well in this game and could have won if not for just some awful free throw shooting. More on that later.
Let's give grades now before I get too upset about Pitt starting 0-6 in the Big East for the first time ever.
Syracuse started the game on a 13-0 run.
Then Pitt sacked up and got it to 19-15. But they could never get any closer. Syracuse would open up a huge lead (highest of 14 in the second half) but then Pitt would battle back. A Zanna jumper made it 49-45 with about 8 minutes left and I was thinking about believing in Miracles. Then Captain Boeheim called a timeout, designed a perfect play for an open 3, a Pitt miss, and another uncontested 3 and the lead was back to ten and Pitt never challenged again.
Epps - After playing well against Marquette, Epps did nothing really in his 9 minutes. He missed another 3 (that's like 0-14 or something on the year) and he didn't play in the second half. When Pitt got down 13 early on, there's no way Dixon could keep Epps on the floor with his poor shooting. Grade C-
Patterson - Patterson wasn't awful but he didn't stand out either. He had 10 points 5 rebounds 3 assists, but he did miss all three of his 3 point attempts as well as going 4-7 from the line. Grade B-
Gibbs - Gibbs had no space whatsoever against the Cuse 2-3. The fact of the matter is that the Orange are just huge. And Pitt starts 4 guys 6'5 and under, which can work (see Villanova's 06 team) but only if they're small and quick.
Nasir Robinson is not very quick. Gibbs shot 2-11 from 3, which is remarkable considering he didn't see the basket all night. Grade B-
Zanna - Zanna has hands of stone. He wasn't credited with any turnovers, but I think that if he gets his hands on a rebound and then fumbles it out of bounds (something Pitt did at least 5 times tonight) then they should give them a turnover. The most impressive thing about Zanna's game tonight was the fact that he made 3-4 from the free throw line. He along with Taylor, Robinson and Patterson all missed infinite Bunnies down low. They'd get an offensive rebound (18 total) and then Syracuse would be in their mouths and the bigs would block it or the guards would knock it loose. Just unreal hands from all of Cuse. Grade B
Robinson - Wow. Just wow. I don't even have words for how awful Nas was in this game. 1-5 from the field. 2-8 from the free throw line. Three straight possessions early in the second half, Nas made a power move and got fouled, the 2nd and the 3rd shots were this close to going down for the possible and 1. Each time it just rimmed out and Robinson had to go the the Charity Stripe (which I will now refer to as the LeMont stripe because for Pitt, that shit is never free.
Also of note: Jay Bilas has a boner for Robinson. "Robinson is a playmaker in the middle of that zone." Bilas said that statement at least 10 times this evening.
I like Bilas, but he was just infuriating tonight with his commentary. Of course they had to bring up the Butler game and then have the nerd to say that many people thought Pitt would have won the national championship had they gotten past Butler ("they were a better team for most of the year than UConn") Yeah, well they probably would've choked against Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.
Nasir Grade: Made me want to cut my wrists then go walk barefoot in the ocean on some coral.
Sleepy Taylor - Let's see. Taylor would get an offensive rebound. Then try to go back up strong and get stuffed. That is Taylor's performance in a nutshell. 11 total rebounds (7 offensive) but only 2-7 from the field. He is a joke. Grade D
Moore - He hit an early 3 that was huge in cutting into the Cuse's gift-wrapped 13-0 cushion after tip-off, then he had a nice take in garbage time. 30 minutes of game action in between that he was invisible. Grade C
Johnson - He hit his first 3 triples, but he was a little reckless with the ball. He only had one turnover but he was losing control too much for my liking. 9 points from those 3's, at least he's finding his stroke again. Grade B
Wright - His line 10 7 and 3 is actually not bad, but it was aided by a ridiculous last 2 minutes. He hit a 3, had a nice pull-up in the lane in the last minute and a half. In the first half he had a really nice coast to coast layup for an and 1 that he actually converted. Grade B
Pitt was down 9 after the first half. In the second half they actually outplayed the Cuse in the second half (37-36). They had 10 turnovers in the first ten minutes of the game and then only 3 over the last 30. So let's see, they won the first half against Marquette and the 2nd half against the Cuse. They're close to putting it together. Get Woodall back and let it ride. Gameday in your mouths on Saturday.
I believe,
JO
Showing posts with label loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loss. Show all posts
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Game 18: Pitt 57 Marquette 62
Another game, another loss. What is encouraging is that Pitt actually played well in the first half. They even had a five point lead. I'm not much for recapping all of what happened so this will be brief. Point is that Pitt had another second half meltdown and they're 0-5 in the Big East. In my four years as a Pitt undergrad, Gameday never came to Pitt. They didn't come when they were #1 for 3 weeks and had a first team all american (Blair) and another guy who was honorable mention on some aa lists (Young). They didn't come when Pitt won a conference outright that got 11 ncaa bids. Yet it is becoming increasingly likely that this year, Gameday will come to Pitt to feature a Panther team that is 0-6 in the Big East and losers of 7 straight. They play @ #1 Syracuse tomorrow night. They seem to have the cuse's number but with the way both team's are playing, I don't have high hopes for this one. As strange as it sounds, this game may be Pitt's last chance to salvage an NCAA tourney bid. I know there are 11 BE games after this but 0-7 is damn difficult to come back from seeing as how I think around 10-11 conference wins will be needed to get a madness invite. A win over the #1 team could be just the kickstart the panthers need to salvage a 9-9 record in conference. And it would certainly help the RPI when the Panthers end up on Bubble watch in March. A loss here and they're done for real.
For the first time in I'd say 10 years Pitt will go into a game as massive underdogs. Even when they were facing teams with a higher ranking than them, you were never incredibly surprised when Pitt pulled off upsets. Pitt was always a tough game, especially at the Pete, but everywhere really. It's because Pitt really hasn't been overmatched in a game since the 2001 Big East Tourney Final. That would have been the year before Pitt started their Madness run. They won 3 straight (remember at the time no one had won 4 straight to take it). They beat Miami, then shocked an ND team with Troy Murphy on it, and then a decent Cuse team before getting obliterated by Troy Bell and Boston College on Saturday night. Pitt had no chance. They lost by about 30. Another game might have been the Regional Semi in 2007 against UCLA. It was a #3 vs #2 matchup but did anyone really think a team led by Aaron Gray was gong to have any chance against a UCLA team in the midst of a 3 straight final four run that featured idk maybe like 6 players who got drafted. No chance. Anyway, that's the type of matchup pitt faces tomorrow. But quickly, let's go over Marquette since that's the point of this post.
Marquette coach Buzz Williams has beaten every BE team, except Pitt. Until now.
I'm not giving everyone grades but there are a few things I'd like to highlight.
Gibbs put the team on his back. If Pitt is going to be successful this will have to be the norm the rest of the way. He put up a career high 29. Something that is unfortunate is that Gibbs having a huge game is usually a sign that Pitt loses.
Robinson and Patterson flat-out sucked. Every time I think, "Hey the Panthers should give Nas the ball more, he's like their only low post presence," he finds a way to turn the ball over 7 friggin times from the forward position. Unforgivable. Patterson had his fair share of turnover problems as well.
Epps started and he actually played well. He still hasn't made a shot all season (like 0-12 from the field now) but this game had to be a huge confidence builder. He ran the point well, he was driving into the lane then dishing off. And most importantly he took the ball out of Gibbs' hands and moved him to the 2. It's a shame that Johnson and Epps are two players because we could combine Flipp's shooting with the way Epps ran the point today we'd be in business.
Lastly, concerning Dante Taylor, I'll let a quote from the comments on PittBlather take it from here.
From some guy named Keith:
"I think Taylor became a McD’s all american by eating 67 McNuggets in 90 seconds,because it surely couldnt have been for basketball"
Well said my friend,
JO
For the first time in I'd say 10 years Pitt will go into a game as massive underdogs. Even when they were facing teams with a higher ranking than them, you were never incredibly surprised when Pitt pulled off upsets. Pitt was always a tough game, especially at the Pete, but everywhere really. It's because Pitt really hasn't been overmatched in a game since the 2001 Big East Tourney Final. That would have been the year before Pitt started their Madness run. They won 3 straight (remember at the time no one had won 4 straight to take it). They beat Miami, then shocked an ND team with Troy Murphy on it, and then a decent Cuse team before getting obliterated by Troy Bell and Boston College on Saturday night. Pitt had no chance. They lost by about 30. Another game might have been the Regional Semi in 2007 against UCLA. It was a #3 vs #2 matchup but did anyone really think a team led by Aaron Gray was gong to have any chance against a UCLA team in the midst of a 3 straight final four run that featured idk maybe like 6 players who got drafted. No chance. Anyway, that's the type of matchup pitt faces tomorrow. But quickly, let's go over Marquette since that's the point of this post.
Marquette coach Buzz Williams has beaten every BE team, except Pitt. Until now.
I'm not giving everyone grades but there are a few things I'd like to highlight.
Gibbs put the team on his back. If Pitt is going to be successful this will have to be the norm the rest of the way. He put up a career high 29. Something that is unfortunate is that Gibbs having a huge game is usually a sign that Pitt loses.
Robinson and Patterson flat-out sucked. Every time I think, "Hey the Panthers should give Nas the ball more, he's like their only low post presence," he finds a way to turn the ball over 7 friggin times from the forward position. Unforgivable. Patterson had his fair share of turnover problems as well.
Epps started and he actually played well. He still hasn't made a shot all season (like 0-12 from the field now) but this game had to be a huge confidence builder. He ran the point well, he was driving into the lane then dishing off. And most importantly he took the ball out of Gibbs' hands and moved him to the 2. It's a shame that Johnson and Epps are two players because we could combine Flipp's shooting with the way Epps ran the point today we'd be in business.
Lastly, concerning Dante Taylor, I'll let a quote from the comments on PittBlather take it from here.
From some guy named Keith:
"I think Taylor became a McD’s all american by eating 67 McNuggets in 90 seconds,because it surely couldnt have been for basketball"
Well said my friend,
JO
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Games 13-15: Crap, Crap, Mega Crap. Pitt loses to Wagner, ND and Cincy
Let's see three losses to talk about.
1. Pitt 54 Wagner 59
Why we lost -
Gibbs and Patterson combine to shoot 6-26. Yikes. That'll make you lose.
2. Pitt 59 ND 72
Why we lost -
Notre Dame in the second half = this
Which brings us to
3. Cincinnati 66 Pitt 63
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.
Wright - There was a really nice 3 or 4 possession sequence where Wright did everything he would do in the game. He made a free throw, had a really nice block, had a driving layup and a nice offensive rebound. There I just described everything Wright did in his 18 minutes of pt. Grade C-
Taylor - Let's see 0-4 from the field with 2 points. 3 turnovers vs 0 assists. Might as well have not gotten dressed this morning, because he was awful. Cincy's small lineup attacked Taylor and Zanna like piranhas. Grade D
Robinson - Will someone please give Nas some help. It's really sad that Pitt's only legitimate low post presence is a 6'5" forward. Steven Adams came all the way from New Zealand to watch this game. Bet he's really glad about this decision because he could have played in his street clothes and been Pitt's best post presence.
We interrupt this recap to drool over Steven Adams and his awesomeness
Back to Nas. 19 and 10 from him. What a beast. Grade A
Patterson - He had 13 points and made 3 three's but his three pointer to tie it at the buzzer was a brick. Nothing from his game really blew me away. Grade B
Gibbs - My new nickname for Mr. Gibbs is 1-d as he is one dimensional as a player. He can't do anything but catch and shoot. He can't pass, he doesn't rebound. He gets abused on defense. You can make an NBA career from knocking down open 3's (Kyle Korver anyone?) but see the problem with that is you actually need to be able to shoot over people for that to work. Korver is 6'7" Gibbs is 6 1 maybe. That's not gonna work. The entire nation has figured out how to defend Gibbs and it's only going to get more and more difficult for him. He had 18 points somehow, but he also got blocked at least thrice. Grade B-
Moore - He had a dunk off a great pass from Flipp. That's about it. Grade C-
Epps - Haaaaa. Grade n/a
Zanna - He had 4 rebounds in 9 minutes. Then he fell on his face and had no idea where he was. He didn't return. Grade: Incomplete
Johnson - He couldn't knock down any three's, but his playmaking on a few fast breaks was a pleasant surprise. He fed both Taylor and Zanna their only two buckets of the game with slick passes. He had 5 assists in total. Unfortunately, his charging call late in the game with Pitt down 3 was a killer. He had the right idea just have to learn to avoid the charge in that situation. Pitt eventually got another chance (actually several) but Gibbs and Patterson clanked a bunch of threes.
Grade B
So what am I taking away from this game?
1. Pitt can't break a press. Pitt's plan to break a press is as follows:
Have two guards in the backcourt, slowly exchange bounce passes back and forth until one guard realizes that they have 2-3 seconds left to get the ball across midcourt, making them spring across the half court line and pick up their dribble, which is totally fantastic because then the other team can double you force a backcourt violation or an easy turnover. Pitt likes to have two forwards lined up right inside the half court line for a pass from the guards to get it over. This is just setting them up to get trapped on the sideline and halfcourt line. Zanna with the ball in his hands 40 feet from the basket is a recipe for disaster. The downside to a press is sometimes you give up easy layups because once a team breaks it it leads to some odd-man breaks. The way Pitt tries to break it doesn't ever allow this. I'll probably make a whole post about the press sometime later.
2. Cincy got away with a lot of reach-in fouls that should've been called. Oh well. You have to adjust.
3. Woodall needs to come back healthy and Steven Adams needs to just stay here and play and not go back to New Zealand.
Pitt plays Depaul on Thursday. If they lose, I'm handing in my fan card.
Meh,
JO
Meh,
JO
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