Moore is the only one who showed up. He had a career high 21.
Preview for next season when Moore plays like this every game.
Actually the equation should look more like this.
Poop - (Hustle - Talent) + Actual 2 Guard who does more than shoot yet still can + Junior Jumps + One and Done - One dimensional player + Healthy abdominals = Return to tournament
So let's review the math. We take our current team which is poop, subtract Nasir Robinson, who offered Hustle without talent. But according to the distributive property, we gain in talent by getting rid of Nas. We add in James Robinson a guard who does more than shoot yet still can and factor in what I hope to be typical junior year increases in play for Moore and Patterson (even if this is Lamar's 4th year). We add in a potential one and done big man in Steven Adams and some healthy abdominal muscles for Tray as well as subtract Gibbs and his one dimensional play and we have a return to the NCAA tournament.
The end of an era. This will be the last backyard brawl, perhaps for a while. Next year wvu will be in the big 12, and getting to see at least 2 basketbrawls per season (and sometimes 3 in the BET) will be a distant memory.
I enjoy when Pitt beats wvu more than any other school (UCONN is up there as well) but I'm not too bummed about it. I hope wvu enjoys getting 60 pts hung on them from some of those big 12 offenses next year.
I guarantee you Pitt wins the Big East next year and gets slaughtered by someone in the BCS. Only because Pitt is a master of winning watered down conferences.
Alex Smith still gives Pitt nightmares.
So now that we don't have to see the hoopies anymore, let's take a walk down memory lane to all 5 home games against wvu since I've been at this lovely university.
Freshman year - February 8, 2008 Pitt had a rough year this season, "The General" Levance Fields hurt his ankle in non-conference and Pitt struggled without its top point guard and leader for a good 2 months (sound familiar?) By this time though, Fields was back and Pitt was making a run toward winning the BET. WVU wasn't very good this year, but you knew it would be a close game. Pitt would get destroyed by wvu in morgantown in about a month because some joke named Joe Alexander would score unlimited points. He used 5 or 6 good games at the end of that year to get drafted #8 overall by the Bucks. He played a year then was out of the league. This was actually the one game freshmen year I didn't go to because I got Pens tickets. I got to watch some of it during intermission by trolling the people who had tvs in their sections, then my dad called me when this happened. What a shot. Also that play by Blair earlier is amazing. WVU choke city on the free throws.
Sophomore year - Feb 9, 2009 Dejuan Blair and Sam Young. WVU had no chance this year. Pitt won both by double digits including this one at the Pete. WVU would beat us in the BET but only because we wanted to lose and rest up for a final four run, which we failed to attain. Friggin scottie reynolds.
Junior Year - Feb 12, 2010 WVU had the superior team this year. They were ranked #4 headed into this matchup with a rebuilding Pitt (still ranked #23 though). Nine days earlier they had slaughtered the Panthers by 19. I can't do this game justice by talking about it. It was the greatest game I've ever witnessed in any sport. Luckily the last 6 minutes of regulation and onward are all on youtube. The hoopies would get the last laugh though. They made it to the final four.
Senior Year - Feb 24, 2011 Pitt shot 57% as they swept WVU for the second time in 3 years. Box Score
Which finally brings us to this year. Pitt won in wvu a few weeks ago. Read about it here.
Unfortunately, my undefeated streak against wvu ended tonight, much like my undefeated streaks against a lot of teams ended this season.
WVU controlled most of the first half, holding leads of up to 7. Pitt went in front briefly at 23-22, but it ended with wvu up by 1 26-25 at the half. Brawls are usually low scoring so this wasn't a cause for concern. It would be a big second half. Side note, the Pete passed out Gold T-shirts for a "GoldOut". They also gave the Zoo towels to wave with the phrase "Brawl So Hard" on them. There are several things wrong with this. 1. "Brawl so Hard" 2. The towels were like terrible towel color gold, which matches up with the gold trim of the wvu unis and not with the vegas gold of the pitt logo and of all the zoo shirts they gave out. 3. Again, "Brawl So Hard?" Really?...
I went to get food during halftime because I had to work tonight and hadn't eaten in forever. Got the chicken finger french fry combo. Smart. The fries were kind of plain so I decided to put a little salt on them. I opened a pack and sprinkled a little on. Way too much! Ahh! Oh then I started to eat them. Turns out that wasn't salt it was sugar. Sugar fries? Don't try it. It's not good.
Then the buzzer went off and it was time to start the second half. Pitt stayed in the locker room. I'm pretty sure my 6th grade rec team that went 2-7 played the second half. Unlimited bricks. Now I'm going to give grades because the whole point of this post is to talk about what happened but I really don't want to. I had to sit up in peanut heaven because I didn't get out of work in Monroeville until 8. But I had the lovely Miss HK with me so it wasn't a total loss.
Oh one more rant. Pitt oversold tickets to this game. They sold out the bottom bowl of the zoo, and the two overflow sections, then they sold SRO tickets for that little concourse area. Effin don't sell SRO tickets, because then I get screwed and end up there with my 5230523523 loyalty points, and the people that probably only get a ticket because of the SRO chances get to sit in the lower bowl.
Here's how they should fix it. If you're one of the last names to get picked in the lottery, you're automatically in the upper deck. Save the lower bowl for people who care (and those who write blogs about the games) and not jokes who only go to big games.
Grade time:
Gibbs - When Gibbs gets his name called for the starting lineup, his little celebration or whatever is to get patted down by a teammate. This is simple and yet clever. Because Gibbs is a deadly shooter, so he is armed and dangerous, get it? Or at least I thought so. But in reality when Nick Rivers pats down, Gibbs he finds nothing. If Gibbs was armed, then Rivers would find something, then take him back into the locker room and give him a full cavity search. Gibbs shot 2-11 tonight and missed all 5 of his 3's. Clearly unarmed. Grade D
Woodall - Remember when Tray scored like 800 points that one week against wvu and Villanova? Well that's a lifetime ago. He shot 5-16 this game, missed all of his threes like Gibbs and made several careless decisions in the second half. Grade: C-
So Pitt's two best players combined to shoot 7-27 from the field and 0-9 from three. For the record, every other Pitt player shot 10-19. That's how you lose games.
Robinson - This would be another one of those games where you wonder why Nas is trying to play the power forward position in the Big East. He just couldn't get anything going down there among the trees in the post. Only 5 points. Also, he had the assignment of trying to check the best player in the Big East and probably a 2nd team All America, Kevin Jones. Jones is like 6'8" with 3 point range. Nas is 6'5" maybe with 3 ft range. Mismatch city on both ends. He did pick Jones' pocket once down low which was probably his only highlight. Grade for Nas C+ because at least he didn't foul anyone 90 feet from the basket today.
Patterson - Patterson is the one player on this team who could stand to be a little more selfish. He's a big guard who can drive and has the strength to finish with contact. Unfortunately, he didn't attempt a shot inside 20 feet 9 inches (that's the length of the 3 point line fyi). He was 1-3 from deep with 5 rebounds and that's all she wrote. Grade C
Zanna - Zanna actually tried. He had a nice tip-in and attempted to play defense on the Turkish Hammer Deniz Kilicli. Grade B-
Dante Taylor - JJ Moore - The FAN postgame show made JJ their player of the game. He shot 3-3 from the field and made both of his free throws for 10 points. His second three cut the wvu lead to 10 with like 4 minutes left and you thought for a second they might make a comeback, but then they didn't. Grade B+
Epps - It was so bad that Dixon actually had to put Epps in for an offense/defense switch in order to foul people then put Gibbs and company back in for offense. Epps managed to not foul anyone in his two minutes despite that being his primary purpose. Also once Dixon was not able to switch back so you had a backcourt of Epps, Wright and Johnson trying to lead a comeback for one possession. Dixon should be fired for allowing those three guys on the court together for any amount of time. Nothing against those guys, but there should never be a moment when Gibbs Woodall or Patterson have a pulse that at least one of them isn't out there. Grade n/a
Wright - Same thing as Epps, only he played 5 minutes.
Johnson - He made a jump shot and missed a pair of threes. Grade C
Gilbert - Love the kid, but he is absolutely terrified of having the ball in his hands for more than two seconds. He got an offensive board in the first half, and very easily could have gone up strong and either dunked it or got fouled, but instead he frantically tried to pass the ball out. I know he wants to be a team player and he knows his limitations (which is to say everything on offense) probably better than anyone on this team, but come on big fella, take a shot. He did provide the defensive highlight of the night when he sent some guard's floater into orbit. Grade B
Pitt stands at 15-12 (4-10 BE) with 4 games left + the BET They are home against USF, away against Louisville, home against St. John's and away against UCONN. So you can pretty much book Pitt's first non-20 win season since the 2000 season. I think it will be more of a race to see if Pitt can avoid a losing record. One win would clinch at least .500 record regardless of what happens in the BET. Though Pitt might get invited to the CBI at 16-16 and lose to some joke school like Wagner in the first round.
Wait a minute? You mean to tell me Pitt already lost to Wagner this year? And at home? Son of a...
Only a few more weeks and this season will mercifully end. Praise God, JO
Okay, so Pitt played Seton Hall today. And as is always the case when Pitt plays the Pirates, I must talk about Herb Pope.
Simply put, Herb Pope is one of my favorite players of all time, of all time. And now a brief history. He played basketball at Aliquippa High School and graduated the same year I did (2007). He was a beast there. But he also grew up with the wrong crowd. He verbally committed to Pitt as a sophomore, but he realized that he had to get away from here. He had bounced around to several different homes and schools his entire life.
A timeline:
2006 - Was the Post Gazette player of the year as a junior
On another note, the fabulous five that year was Blair (NBA), Pope, DJ Kennedy (4-year starter at St. John's), Terrelle Pryor (#1 football recruit in nation and 3 year professional at the ohio state university) and Jonathan Baldwin (you're reading a Pitt blog, you know what he did). For western Pa not having a big reputation for basketball, that's a hell of an all-star team. Pryor and Baldwin both had several d1 offers for basketball as well.
Fall 2007 - 2010 - Enrolls at New Mexico State, but is ruled ineligible for the first half of the season because some class he took online didn't count. (Oh I'm sorry, it was kind of hard for him to keep track of his credits when he was in 4 different high schools and had 4 bullets in him). Anyway he played the second half of the season and was a beast. He transferred to Seton Hall, sat out the 08-09 season then proceeded to lead the league in rebounding during the 09-10 season.
Honestly, it's impossible to not root for this guy. He's been through more crap than any 22 year old should ever have to deal with. He's become a cult hero to my dad and me. The phrase "yeah but he's no Herb Pope" is said quite frequently.
Example:
Me: [Insert player name] scored 25 last night.
Dad: Yeah, but he's no Herb Pope.
Me: Few people are.
He's currently projected as a second round pick. I really hope he makes it.
Oh, there was a basketball game played today...oops.
Why you shouldn't hate the Hall: If Herb Pope wasn't enough, one of my best friend's fiancee works as a missionary there. Oh and it's a Roman Catholic school. Boss.
This game wasn't supposed to be on television, which is probably some type of evil sorcery orchestrated by people who are threatened by this blog (cough cough The Pitt News).
I haven't ripped on them in quite some time.
The Pitt News is awful. In fact, if you write for the Pitt News you shouldn't even be on this blog, you should be at home, coloring.
"Aren't you going to talk about the game?"
Shut up haters.
The game was eventually picked up by WTAE so it was all good.
Recap city: The first half was all about some joke player from the Hall named Cosby hitting unlimited 3's. He was 5-6 at one point. Patterson kept the Panthers in it, and the Hall led by 2 at the break.
Pitt had a player named Attila Cosby during the dark ages. He was a decent shot-blocking forward. He was also crazy. He was kicked off the team for fighting assistant coach Orlando Antigua. Then he transferred to George Washington where he beat up a 46 year old prostitute. A lot of people how messed up the Pitt program was when Howland took over in 1999. At one point, I am pretty sure almost every player had been arrested. Two players who weren't involved with the popo? Brandin Knight and Jaron Brown, and you know how they turned out. Howland kicked like 6 guys off his team and basically started fresh. Anyway, the coach who recruited all of these criminals and almost directly caused the end of the Pitt Panther basketball team, Ralph Willard, also has a son. And of course that son, Kevin Willard, now coaches you guessed it, the Seton Hall Pirates.
Ahhh man, I told you there was a point to that story.
Is this post even about this game?
I don't even know anymore.
Anyway, Pitt had a 61-55 lead in the second half, and I was starting to believe. Gibbs was carrying the team (he had 26). But then they went ice cold and the Pirates got hot again from 3. Back to back triples and suddenly Pitt was down 66-62. It was 67-66 when the Pope got lose off a pick and roll and layed it in with 30 seconds left. Zanna completely lost him. So then on the next possession Woodall had his pocket picked, and when Seton Hall tried to play keep-away Robinson tried to murder Pope and was called for a flagrant one. Okay, it wasn't that bad. Total bs call.
Pope hit the free throws, was fouled again and hit 2 more and Pitt didn't score again. Final.
Robinson was a combined 0-10 from the line and field until 5 minutes left when he got a layup. Woodall was 2-10, and none of the bench helped out. It was the Patterson and Gibbs show and it wasn't enough. This officially ends Pitt's streak of 10 consecutive seasons with at least 10 Big East wins, the streak of 20+ wins is also in jeopardy.
NIT! NIT! NIT!
I predict Pitt will get to the Average Eight of the NIT and then blow it in spectacular fashion because they can't make the Final Four of any tournament.
Another game, another win for Pitt. I'm sitting here at the place I'm watching the Super Bowl so I'm going to try to do this recap quickly before it starts to get crazy. That and I have a short assignment I have to finish before then as well. I could always do it during half time, or during the commercials.
"But the commercials are the best part." You are what is wrong with this country.
I'm being serious, if I hear one person (and I'm watching the game with about 60) say, "Shhhh" during the commercials, when they weren't quiet during the game. Well, I might just punch them.
Anyway.
Giants 31 Patriots 27 (that's what Dirk said and I have to side with him)
Why you should hate Villanova:
I had final four tickets if Pitt won. Courtside. For twenty dollars. Heartbreak city.
Villanova hit a couple shots early on. They were up 21-16 midway through the first half.
And then Tray Woodall took over.
He hit back to back threes, then found Gibbs who got fouled and threw up a desperation shot that went in for the and 1. Unbelievable run and Pitt was suddenly up 15. They got up as much as 18 in the second half before nova made a bit of a run, getting to within 3 and having a chance to tie it, but Maalik Wayns (pronounced like wayans) is a joke and missed the three (7-22 on the day for their best player including 1-10 from three). Nova's big Mouphtaou Yarou (just checked it I nailed that spelling first try) had about 14 boards but shot 3-13.
Anyway, Pitt won and here are the grades.
Woodall - 29 points from him. That's all you need to know (Career high). He and Gibbs combined to go 19-19 from the line to put the game out of reach. There were a couple awful passes from Tray (he threw the ball into the stands twice) but still what a performance. If he ever learns how to reduce his turnovers he could be a Ty Lawson type player for this team. Ty Lawson won a championship. Grade A+
Gibbs - 25 points, vintage Gibbs is all you need to know, shot 50% from three and above 50% overall. Grade A+
Patterson - He and Nas both got into foul trouble. He had 8 points but he spent a lot of time on the bench. He fouled out in the last 30 seconds on a bogus charging call. Grade C
Robinson - After going 13-13 in his last two games, Robinson came back to earth percentage wise with a 2-7 performance. He also had 4 fouls and 3 turnovers. Bad game from Nas. Grade C-
Taylor - He had 9 points and 5 rebounds and made a couple nice plays but the one thing I remember from him is absolutely blowing a layup when he was all alone. He was on the right block and tried to bank it, but missed the rim completely. Awful. Grade C
J Johnson - Not much from him. 9 minutes, missed his only shot. Grade C-
C. Wright - He missed two layups. One he got stuffed and another he just blew it. Bad game. Four steals though, so I guess that's good. Grade C-
Moore -
(Just so you guys get it, I didn't forget to write a recap of Moore's performance, it's actually in invisible ink...or font...or something)
Zanna - 4 points 8 rebounds. He had a nice putback in the first half, that's all I remember from him. Grade B-
Pitt's 4-7 in the Big East. They're slowly climbing back into it.
I'm trying something different here. I'm going to be making comments about the game as it is going on. There are a lot of Pitt-WVU stories I could share right now, but I'm going to save it for the February 16 home game. For that one there will be unlimited videos and pictures and jokes.
Why you should hate wvu: Refer to your Pitt acceptance letter or receipt from the last piece of furniture you bought.
The Hoopies are coming out hot. They've made their first four shots and lead 10-5. Zanna had a nice offensive rebound and putback after missing his first attempt.
Announcer: "Jamie Dixon has a winning record against every team in the Big East."
-Unreal Stat
Thank God, hoopies finally missed on two chances and Pitt ran the other way with Nas finishing the layup.
Kevin Jones (the BE's leading scorer and rebounder) finally made an appearance. Pitt is getting killed on the offensive glass.
Pitt recruited Jones and he was down to Pitt and WVU. He chose wvu because he makes poor decisions. Pitt signed Dwight Miller instead, who played here sparingly before transferring to Tennessee. He redshirted in 08-09, played a little the next year, then went to a jc in Texas before coming to Tennesse this year.
Jones meanwhile has had a successful career as the 5th teenage mutant ninja turtle.
Hoopies in a half-shell?
Hoopies continue to make shots, I am not pleased.
Idiotic shot selection from Pitt. Pitt down 17-9 midway through the half.
Huge sequence from Pitt. Patterson stripped Kilicli (the Turkish Pitt assassin)
Then Taylor finished after several chances. Patterson missed. Taylor missed a dunk, but had the intelligence to let go of the rim as the ball bounced out so he wouldn't be called for basket interference. Then he grabbed the board and got a 3 point play out of it.
5 minutes without a field goal for the hoopies as Pitt is making a run, had a chance to take the lead but Tray threw the ball into the stands for the umpteenth time this game.
Passes in this game are horrendous from both sides. Woodall is playing out of control, and yet he just tied it at 21 with an and 1.
Fun fact, watching gamecast on espn.com and the feed is 3-4 seconds ahead of my tv at home. My dad thinks I'm a prophet, just told him how I'm predicting Nasir Robinson turnovers (well actually it's not that hard since he does it quite frequently).
Tray just buried a huge 3 just in front of the buzzer. 33-29 Pitt at the break. Woodall has 16. Kilicli held to 1-5 from the field. He had 19 at home against Pitt last year.
Huge sequence from Taylor to start the second half. He got an offensive board at the free throw line then dished underneath to Robinson for easy bucket. Then they switched roles and Robinson gave to Taylor for the and 1.
Huggie Bear is pissed. He just got a technical before the free throw. Hoopies throwing shit on the court, most likely their corn cob pipes. Gibbs makes 1-2 of the technicals and Taylor completes the And 1. Pitt by 10. Jones is all wvu has. What a soft team. Or should I say "soff."
They're trading baskets right now, not too much to talk about. Pitt leads by 7. Gibbs is invisible.
Johnson had a breakaway and took 7 steps before laying it in. No traveling call.
Nas just picked up his 4th foul with 9 minutes left and Pitt has only one timeout left. Buckle up. Turnover Pitt but wvu freshmen with a careless charge. Pitt still up 4. Gibbs with a great cut but the Turk blocked it. Pitt leads 54-52 under 8 minutes.
My Dad: They [wvu] sure do love that corner 3.
wvu: Woooooo! Love me some corner!
Last media timeout: Pitt 63 wvu 58 and headed to the line. 2:26 left
Woodall with a very nice Dwyane Wade drive and pull-up off glass to give Pitt the 68-62 lead with under a minute to play. Time to make some free throws.
Pitt made them.
Game.
Pitt's making their run. Unquestionably their best performance of the season.
Why you should hate Georgetown: In addition to cooking meth in their free time, we can look back on the end of the world and the role the Hoyas played in it. You see, in August, Georgetown played a friendly exhibition game against the Bayi Rockets in China. Then this happened.
Way to piss off 1.2 billion people G-Town. Jokes. One kid from the zoo wrote on a white board "Fight this kid?" and had an arrow pointing to one of his friends (who was Asian naturally). That's pretty darn creative, offensive maybe but the guy I was next to (also Asian) thought it was hilarious. So it's okay then, I guess?
Oh and Hoya Fans stink. Here's them talking all kinds of smack on one of their blogs. So smug
Anyway, Pitt went on a huge 15-1 run in the first half. Midway through that run, this happened.
That would be me on the far right
Grades:
Ashton Gibbs - Quiet game from Gibbs. He only hit 1-3 3's, and finished with 13 points with 4 of them coming off garbage free throws in the final minute. He got blocked a few times, but generally I liked his game. He tried for the mid-range. His biggest moment was probably a baseline jumper in the middle of the second half that keyed a Pitt run after G-town had closed to 6. The shot was a rainbow that just got over one of the Hoya bigs. Unfortunately, he had 4 turnovers vs 0 assists and for that I gotta bring him down to a
Grade: B+
Woodall - He continues to be a turnover machine (4) and shoot poorly (a combined (1-12 now in his return) but he still had 10 assists and Pitt is much better with him out there. Once the rust is off and we get the Woodall of November, Pitt will be dangerous. Grade B+
Patterson - MVP of the night. Patterson was on fire (6-8 fg 5-5 ft for 18 points) to go along with 4 rebounds and 7 assists vs 0 turnovers (the only Pitt player who played significant minutes not to give it away). Patterson has incredible body control, he'll start to drive and you'll be like "Oh God he's outta control" but then he'll twist his body in some weird way and lay it in with ease. Play of the game goes to him. After the Hoyas had cut the lead to 6 again with just under 8 minutes to play, Lamar went right at their bigs and laid it in and got fouled. After the TV timeout, he knocked down the free throw and Pitt was safe again.
Grade: A+
Nasir Robinson - Nas made all 9 of his shots and 5-6 of his free throws for a season-high 23. Huge coaching adjustment by Dixon to play Patterson in the high post where Nas usually is and letting him instead backdoor all day for countless layups. This is the Nas we should expect if he plays to his strengths, which is down low and using his body to muscle it in. Anytime he handles it, well bad things will happen. He also had 8 rebounds.
Grade: Anytime he makes 83% of his foul shots, an A+ is the only grade I can give him.
Zanna - Talib had 8 points and 10 rebounds (I swear he had at least 20, I question those stats), doing most of his work in the first half. He hurt himself in the second half and played limited minutes (giving way to Dante down the stretch). I'm pretty sure he got hit in the nuts, in fact I know he did.
Grade A, mostly for the sympathy, nobody likes to get hit in the nuts.
John Johnson - He took a couple open threes when it was given him, and he made one of them. It was an important three (as all of Pitt's second half baskets were) helping keep the Panthers comfortably ahead by 8-10 points.
Grade: B
JJ Moore - Crap in 10 minutes. Didn't make a shot. High point was getting fouled on a 3 and only making one ft. Grade D
Dante Taylor - I give up on Taylor, he's just not good. I was super hard on Taylor last year, then optimistic that he would make the Dixon junior season jump but yeah it's not happening. He was strong defensively actually but overall just disappointing. He did have a dunk on a defensive lapse by G-town for his only basket.
Grade C
Malcolm Gilbert - I love this kid. He is so happy to be out there. He always looks over and waves when we yell his name (not during game action obviously he's not easily distracted). Pitt has yet to pass him the ball on offense in his Pitt career (at least I think), but he'll get better. He'll get a post game.
Grade: Not really enough to warrant a grade.
Cameron Wright - 6 minutes and recorded 0 stats
Grade: n/a
Telling Stat: Pitt shot 19-22 ft and Gtown 7-12. Well look at that. Pitt won by 12. Coolbeans
