Gameday: Pitt vs Virginia Cavaliers

#18 Pitt 18-3 (6-2 ACC) vs Virginia 16-5 (7-1 ACC)

12:30 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Thanks to a Christmas present from my now fiancée, I will be attending this game.  I also have to leave in like 8 minutes to go pick her up to go to said game, so I'll allow friend and Cavaliers fan @BDF4 to preview this game. Take it away.

Since the December 31st loss at Tennessee (52-87), Virginia is 7-1.  The lone loss was a close game at Duke where the Wahoos climbed back from a double digit deficit to take the lead, only for a Rasheed Sulaimon three pointer to bounce in with 18.8 seconds left to seal a Blue Devil victory.  

Virginia has held at least a 20 point lead in each of their 7 ACC wins, including a 31 point win at NC State and 2 wins versus Florida State.  Last Tuesday the Wahoos travelled to Notre Dame and built a 20 point first half lead against the Irish before cooling off just a bit, eventually winning by 15. This is Virginia’s best ACC start since 1982-1983. The Wahoos reached the Final Four that season.

Who to watch:

Joe Harris – All ACC Senior shooting guard.  11.5 PPG, struggled early on and is averaging 12 PPG in ACC games.

Malcolm Brogdon – Sophmore – redshirted last season.  Team’s leading scorer, 15 PPG in ACC games.

London Perrantes – Freshman point guard.  


A Virginia fan’s take:

Virginia leads the ACC in scoring defense.  This season their offense has shown quite an improvement. Sure, Joe Harris isn’t scoring as much but he really hasn’t needed to score 20+ for UVA to win.  Virginia has been pigeon holed by the media as a slow pace team, but they’re actually 4th in the ACC in scoring.
Virginia and Pittsburgh match up well physically.   I can’t see UVA building a 20 point lead in this game, but I do think they’re slightly better and I’m predicting a 66-60 UVA win.

Excellent writing, but his last sentence is wrong.

Prediction:  Pitt 68 Virginia 62

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Game 21: Pitt 65 Duke 80

Pitt jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, but after that the score remained very close for 30 minutes.  No team led by more than 3 points for a 20 minute stretch.  Jabari Parker flat out dominated Pitt in the first half.  In the second half, it was 3 pointer after 3 pointer after 3 pointer after 3 pointer from Duke.  The Blue Devils made 13-25 from long range.  Andre Dawkins basically couldn't miss.  I say basically because he did in fact miss one three point attempt.  Unfortunately, he made 6 others.

Duke making three pointers shouldn't really be a surprise.  They shoot over 40% as a team, but Pitt lost the game when Lamar Patterson couldn't get anything going against Rodney Hood.  Patterson only shot 4-14 and had only 1 assist vs 5 turnovers.  This loss was a good indication of where exactly this Pitt team is.  The Syracuse close loss had people thinking that maybe this team was a better team than their schedule indicated.  The Cincinnati loss continues to look better since the Bearcats now seemingly can't lose and have won 13 in a row now (a streak that started with Pitt).  However, Pitt was familiar with both of those teams.  Duke was the first unfamiliar elite team that Pitt played and they were run out of the building in the second half.  All this adds up to about a 7th seed for Pitt and a tough bet to make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

I'll still probably pick them to win it all.

It's time for grades.

Lamar Patterson - Easily Patterson's worst game of the season.  He was completely shut down.  This game officially ended any hope of Patterson being an All-American.  He'll have to settle for first-team All ACC, maybe.  Normally when Patterson has an off shooting night, he makes up for it with his passing.  It didn't happen on Monday night.  He only had one basket in the first half and 6 of his second half points came when Duke had already built a double digit lead.

Grade:  D

Talib Zanna - He had a double double and made 7-10 from the line, which is good for him.  He also only shot 2-7 from the field.  The only play I remember was a nice offensive rebound and putback he had to tie the score at 34 on Pitt's first second half possession.

Grade:  B-

Cameron Wright - Wright hit a three and a couple mid-range jumpers.

Grade:  B-

Michael Young - He had 9 points and 7 rebounds, but was abused by Parker all game.

Grade:  C

James Robinson - No matter how Pitt performs, Robinson is always solid.  He had 10 points and 5 assists versus 0 turnovers.  He did have a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds of the first half with two free throws, but he missed the front end of the one and one.  Pitt eventually did tie the game on Zanna's putback to start the half, but had Robinson made those free throws, Pitt would've taken a lead on that.  They did tie it a few times early in the second half, but they could never break through.

Grade:  A-

Jamel Artis - He had two huge first half threes.  That's about it.

Grade:  B-

Josh Newkirk - He made a jumpshot.

Grade:  B-

Chris Jones - He too, made a jumpshot.

Grade: B-

Derrick Randall - He missed a shot.

Grade:  C

Pitt plays Virginia in approximately 2 hours.  I'll be in attendance.  It's a must win.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Duke Blue Devils

#18 Pitt 18-2 (6-1 ACC) vs #17 Duke 16-4 (5-2 ACC)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

This is it.  This is the game everyone looked at when Pitt's ACC schedule was released.  Yes, the Syracuse game in a few weeks will be nice, but we've played them before.  Duke is coming to the Pete for the first time.  It's going to be a dandy.  Duke was picked to win the ACC this year, and while they already have four losses, one was to #1 Arizona and another to a very good Kansas team.  They have wins over #10 Michigan and Virginia, whom Pitt plays on Sunday.  Duke is still Duke.  Krzyzewski is still their coach.  They still have McDonald's All Americans at every position.

Pitt has Lamar Patterson.  I like our chances.

Player to watch: Freshman Jabari Parker is a force.  He's Lamar's biggest challenger for ACC Player of the Year.  He's so good that ESPN has his stats on their college basketball home page under "Freshmen Focus."  The other five players listed are Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid from Kansas, Julius Randle from Kentucky, Aaron Gordon from Arizona, and Tyler Ennis from Syracuse.  Screw Tyler Ennis.

ESPN has all kinds of articles about this game.

• Defending Lamar Patterson
• Is Pitt an ACC Title Contender?
• [Rodney] Hood serves up a plate of patience

These are the two highest scoring teams in the ACC (Pitt #2, Duke #1).

Prediction:  Pitt 82  Duke 75

Levance Fields forever.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 20: Pitt 83 Maryland 79

With two huge home games against Duke and Virginia next week, Pitt avoided the letdown by getting another ACC road win.  Maryland came out inspired and tried to run Pitt out of the building.  They led 9-2 early.  Pitt settled down and took their first lead at 17-16 on Patterson free throws with 8 minutes left in the half.

Lamar Patterson - Lamar is finally getting a little NBA draft love.  Draft Express has him going #55 overall to the Clippers.  Also David Titus of Grantland put Pitt at #12 in his power rankings.  That's nice, but what's really interesting is that Titus says Lamar has the greatest jump shot he's ever seen.

"I know that Pitt’s best win this season was a close loss at Syracuse, I know the Panthers scored 43 points in a game against Cincinnati in December, and I know that on a neutral court Oklahoma State would probably beat them eight out of 10 times. But Pitt is getting the Cowboys’ spot in the most powerful power rankings in college basketball this week. Why?  Two reasons: (1) Marcus Smart’s flopping has reached critical mass and this is my way of protesting his shenanigans, and (2) I can’t go another week without writing about Lamar Patterson’s jumper.

Let me be up front: I would make sweet, sweet love to Patterson’s jump shot. Patterson is a fifth-year senior who has been a solid 3-point shooter his entire career, so I’m not sure why I haven’t noticed his jumper’s flawlessness until this season. But now that I have, it’s like the clouds parted and angels started singing Enya songs. Actually, as someone who prides himself on his rainmaking abilities, watching Patterson shoot a basketball for the first time was more like Patrick Bateman looking at his colleagues’ business cards. Look at that subtle elbow placement. … The tasteful way he squares his shoulders. Oh my god — it even has a perfect off-hand and follow-through.

Ray Allen is the best shooter in the history of basketball and he’s often praised for having perfect shooting form. Well, Lamar Patterson makes Ray Allen look like Shawn Marion or Bill Cartwright. Compared to shooting icons like Larry Bird and Reggie Miller, Allen’s form is a thing of beauty, but he still uses his left thumb to help push the ball and he often puts so much emphasis on a quick release that his shot resembles a catapult. Patterson has an aesthetically perfect jump shot. He squares his body, he keeps his elbow in, he loads his shot just above his right eye, and his left hand remains so obnoxiously still during the follow-through that it’s borderline taunting. Every youth basketball coach in America should show their players slow-mo replays of Patterson’s game, specifically that stretch in the second half against Syracuse when he hit three 3s in a little over a minute."

Lamar Patterson > Jesus Shuttlesworth

I am contemplating making this exclusively a Lamar Patterson blog.

This game wasn't really as close as the final score would indicate.  Pitt kept making 1-2 free throws down the stretch to let Maryland back in it.

Instead of grades, I just want to point out a few things.

• Lamar had 28 pts 7 assists 7 rebounds and 4 steals.  Just wow.
• Young was the only starter not to score in double figures.  He only had 2 points.
• Jamel Artis continues to make me think he should start over Young.  He had a huge 8 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes compared to Young's 2 and 5 in 28 minutes.

That's it for Maryland.  Pitt's playing Duke in 20 minutes.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 19: Yikes: Pitt 76 Clemson 43

Before I begin talking about the beating that took place at the Pete last night, I want to mention this article from ESPN.  John Gasaway wrote a column ranking the 25 best college basketball players.  It is important to note that he is not talking about NBA potential or career accomplishments.  His list is the 25 best players based on what they've done this season.  Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart are 1 and 2 respectively, but guess who comes in at number 3.  Since some of you might not be ESPN Insiders (seriously it's worth $1.50 a month) I'll paste it here.

3. Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh Panthers
McDermott was a first-team All-American last season, but who could have possibly foreseen the senior year that Lamar Patterson is having for Pittsburgh? Patterson wasn't even honorable mention All-Big East in 2012-13.

Jamie Dixon's star should poll a little stronger than that in the ACC this season. In fact it's conceivable that by the end of the season Patterson may rise to the top of this list as my national player of the year. His start has been that strong, as he has been both a 6-5 scoring wing and, in effect, a second point guard on the floor alongside James Robinson. We've seen point forwards before, but I can't recall another player who combined assists and scoring at the wing in quite the way that Patterson is doing it.

Lamar Patterson - National Player of the Year?  Pinch me.

Pitt won this game by 33, and it wasn't even that close.  This team beat Duke somehow.  The Pens are on so I want to finish these grades quickly.

Lamar Patterson - He's just so solid.  He had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, made all his free throws, and hit 3 three pointers without even breaking a sweat.  Okay, maybe there was a little bit of perspiration, but not much.  His 4 turnovers were the only negative.

Grade:  A-

Talib Zanna - Zanna made his first 8 shots.  Then he missed one, so he is a bum.  At one point, Zanna had 18 and Clemson had 24 as a team.  This was almost halfway through the SECOND HALF.  He finished with 22 points in 21 minutes, which is insane.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

Michael Young - Young is just there.  He made a jumper in garbage time, but didn't do much else.  He is very raw offensively.  Young starts because Pitt has no one else.  It's almost an even split between Artis and him.  He played 21 minutes, and Artis played 18.  Artis is better right now.

Grade:  C-

Cameron Wright - Cam made another 3.  If Cameron Wright gets a jump shot, the Player of the Year for the 2014-2015 season has already been decided.  I'm kidding of course, but shooting is the only flaw in his game.  Putting the ball in the basket is important in basketball, so we'll have to hold off on the All American talk for Wright...for now.  Oh, he also had 12 points in this one.

Grade:  A

James Robinson - Oh you know, just 9 points 8 assists and zero turnovers.  Robinson shot 66% from 3, but only 50% from the line (1-2), which is just bizarre.

Grade:  A

Jamel Artis - He missed both of his shots, but made two free throws.

Grade:  B-

Chris Jones - Jones has 9 rebounds and 3 assists in his Pitt career.  He had 6 rebounds and 3 assists in this one.  He wasn't particularly impressive, but anytime someone almost equals their career assist and rebounding numbers in one game I have to give them an A.

Grade:  A

Derrick Randall - He made his only shot, and blocked another.

Grade:  B

Joseph Uchebo - He had 3 rebounds in 4 minutes, and his knees are still holding up.

Grade:  A

Josh Newkirk - He scored 10 points in garbage time.  Actually, the last 30 minutes of this game could be considered garbage time, but I mean it for Newkirk.  His points all came in the second half.  He did shoot 4-4, but he fouled out in only 15 minutes.

Grade:  B-

Aron Nwankwo, Mike Lecak, Joshua Ko - Nwankwo had two turnovers and Ko missed a shot badly, but Pitt played 3 walk-ons for 2 minutes in a conference game.  Clemson should just drop basketball.

Pitt travels to Maryland on Saturday for a rematch with the Terps.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Game 18: Pitt 54 Fruit 59

I will say it right now.  Pitt has no bench.  They are now officially a 5 person team.  Pitt did some things well.  They got 19 second chance points (to 2 for the Cuse) from 16 offensive rebounds.  However, they shot 13-23 from the line and allowed Syracuse to shoot 52%.  The media will say how Pitt proved it was a contender by hanging with the #2 team in the country on the road, but it was still an opportunity wasted.  After trailing in the 2nd half by 10 points on numerous occasions, Pitt finally took a 52-49 lead on some Patterson free throws with 4:41 left.  If you do the Math, that means Syracuse ended the game on a 10-2 run.  Credit their defense.  Pitt could not get anything going inside as Syracuse's length caused all kinds of problems.  The Orange blocked 7 shots.  I'm complaining about Pitt's lack of depth, yet Syracuse had 3 guys play 40 minutes.  They are also dealing with injury as center DaJuan Coleman is out for the year.

Pitt plays Clemson in an hour so I need to hand out some grades.

Lamar Patterson - Syracuse took control in the first part of the second half.  A three-pointer from Tyler Ennis pushed the lead to 10.  Then Patterson did this over the next minute.

Seriously, here's the last of those triples.

"From Downtown!"

Oh and he made another 3 to give Pitt the lead, and the two free throws to extend it to a 3 point advantage.  Pitt played Syracuse tight all game, but there was that stretch when the Orange threatened to pull away.  Patterson wouldn't let them.  He eventually cooled off and missed some shots down the stretch.  Also, Boeheim decided to foul Patterson rather than let him tie the game with a 3 in the closing seconds.  Patterson would have to make the first and miss the second.  I told my dad, "I bet he misses the first."  He missed the first.  He purposely missed the second, Syracuse got the rebound, and two more free throws finished the scoring.

Grade:  A-

Talib Zanna - Zanna did some nice things.  He had 12 points and 11 rebounds, but Rakeem Christmas basically made him his bitch.  Christmas shot 4-4, mostly on Zanna.

Grade:  C+

Cameron Wright - Cameron Wright made a three pointer (announcers said he was 3-20 on the year), but didn't record a steal.  I'm submitting this to Sports Illustrated so it can be included in their "Sign of the Apocalypse" feature.

Grade:  B-

James Robinson - Robinson made 3 jumpers in the first half, but he picked up a crucial 3rd foul early in the second half with Pitt only down 2.  When he came back, Pitt was down 10.  He has to stay out of foul trouble.  He also had a turnover, which stinks because they're so rare.

Grade:  B-

Michael Young - The kid is a pretty clutch free throw shooter.  His two free throws were the only 2 points Pitt scored in the final 5 minutes.  He did miss one a few moments before that, though.  Other than the free throws he was non-existent and contributed to Pitt's poor interior defense.

Grade:  C

Chris Jones -  With Pitt down 4, he missed two free throws.  That's all I remember from his 7 minutes.

Grade:  D

Josh Newkirk - He turned the ball over once in 5 minutes.

Grade:  D

Jamel Artis - He made a nice hook shot in the second half to cut the lead to 4.

Grade:  C

Derrick Randall - He had an assist, a rebound, and a steal in his 3 minutes.  He missed both of his shots, but he did not commit a foul, which is always a pleasant surprise.

Grade:  C+

That's it.  Pitt and Clemson are about to tip off.

Prediction:  Pitt 63 Clemson 57

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Syracuse Orange

#21 Pitt 16-1 (4-0) ACC vs #2 Syracuse 17-0 (4-0 ACC)

4:00 pm

Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York

It's finally time for Pitt to play a worthy opponent, though Cincinnati just keeps winning.  Syracuse was picked to finish 2nd behind Duke in the ACC preseason poll.  Allow me to introduce friend and Syracuse fan @theblumandonly to talk a little bit about his team.

Welcome back to the Carrier Dome Pitt in this Big Eas...I mean ACC battle of the top teams in the conference. The conferences may have changed, but this is still easily one of my favorite college basketball rivalries. So anytime Pitt loses it's a great time.  Last time these two teams met it was the Big East tournament and  thankfully the Orange held on and won thanks to Michael Carter-Williams free throws 62-59 http://espn.go.com/ncb/playbyplay?gameId=330730221! 

Syracuse hasn't exactly been a dominant team for being ranked 2nd in the country. Boeheim said it best, "we could have easily lost a few of those games". This can't be more true since this team doesn't like to have leads in the 1st half and seems to prefer the 2nd half of contests. Maybe a team like Pitt can get lead big enough and sustain it, but just ask the Hurricanes, BC Eagles, and Tarheels about that. 

Now it's a different time James Southerland and MCW are now gone, but Cuse has reloaded with sophomore guard Trevor Cooney and the great Canadian recruit Tyler Ennis (no not the one that plays for the Buffalo Sabres). Cooney averages 14 points a game and Ennis is also averaging 11.6 points a game, but he's growing into his role.  The main guy to look out for on the Orange is senior forward C.J. Fair putting up 17 a night. 

lolPitt.

Since 2001, Pitt owns a 14-5 record vs. Syracuse. Since Jamie Dixon became head coach, Pitt is 10-4 vs. Syracuse and 5-1 vs. the Orange in Syracuse. In games played against SU at the Carrier Dome, Pitt has won four of the last five and six of the last eight meetings. That span also included a five-game Pitt win streak vs. Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.  Speaking of the Carrier Dome, for the longest time I thought it was just a name, like Three Rivers Stadium was a name.  Apparently, the air conditioner manufacturer Carrier bought naming rights.  Fun fact, the Carrier Dome is not air conditioned.  That would be like the Steelers serving Huntz ketchup at Heinz Field.

Player to watch:  C.J. Fair was the ACC preseason player of the year.

Pitt has a habit of ruining Syracuse's perfect seasons.

2010 - Syracuse would win its first 13 games of the season before falling to unranked Pitt 82-72 at the Carrier Dome.  Syracuse would earn a #1 seed in the tourney that season before losing in the Sweet 16.

2011 - Syracuse won their first 18 games before losing to 5th ranked Pitt 74-66 at the Pete.

2012 - Syracuse finally broke through as they improved to 20-0 by beating by far the worst Pitt team since the 1990s.  Even then, they only won by 8 at home.  Here's what I had to say.  Syracuse was so shocked about not blowing their undefeated season against Pitt that they promptly laid an egg against Notre Dame a few days later.  They would again earn a #1 seed in tournament before losing to Ohio State in the Elite Eight.

2013 - Syracuse actually lost two games before losing to unranked Pitt at the Pete again 65-55.  They would make the Final Four as a #4 seed.

In short, Pitt has dominated Syracuse in the regular season, but they have lost the past two times the teams have met in the Big East Tournament.  As Justin mentioned, Syracuse eliminated Pitt last season.  The Orange also beat Pitt in the 2006 final.  Stupid Gerry McNamara.

This game is in the regular season.

Prediction:  Pitt 72 Syracuse 69