Gameday: Pitt vs Cincinnati Bearcats

#24 Pitt 12-1 (0-0) vs #8 Cincinnati 12-1 (0-0)

12:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Cincinnati was undefeated but they lost by 1 to New Mexico team that is pretty good.  The new polls come out during this game, so by the time this game is over, Cincy won't technically be ranked #8 anymore.  Their guards are good, probably a top 3 backcourt in the Big East.  This is the Big East opener for the entire conference.

Last meeting: January 1, 2012

What I said in the recap:

"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."

Pitt is 12-0 against top 10 teams all-time at the Pete.  Time to make it 13-0.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 13: Pitt 59 Kennesaw State 43

Liveblog again because I'm lazy.

Pitt leads 18-14.  Points have been scored by both teams.

Julius Page is providing the color for this game.

Somewhere Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje is crying.

That's #6 on some countdown of the 50 best college dunks of all-time.  Here's number one on that list for the record.

Kennesaw State just scored for the first time in 8 minutes.  Zanna is beasting right now.  That Cummings guy is shooting 1-10 right now.  I suppose Pitt plays better defense than Radford.

Pitt leads 30-16 at the break.  This bores me.

Kennesaw State is hanging around.  It's a ten point game.  Ugly offensive effort right now.

Steven Adams just sent a shot into the seats.

Pitt leads 56-36 with 3:44 left.  Zanna has 12 and 8 right now.  He's the leading scorer.  Woodall has 4 turnovers.  Trade Woodall.

I'm going to get drinks with a friend.  Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Okay I'm back, let's recap what I ate/drank.

Spinach Artichoke Dip from Stonepepper's Grill - Artichoke dip is always score, but this one was cold way too fast.  Split it with a friend.

Grade C

Mad Elf from Primanti's - Some drink I got because it's what my friend had.  It was okay.  I wouldn't get it again.

Grade B

Pitt continues to play absurd defense against shitty competition.  Zanna had 12, but no one else had double figures.  Pitt only shot 42% but they had 18 offensive rebounds and only 9 turnovers.

Stat of the Night:  Pitt has outscored their last three opponents in the paint 8,000,000 to 2.

Disclaimer on Stat of the Night:  Might not be entirely accurate.

Pitt has a break for Christmas before opening the Big East season against a very good Cincinnati team.  Bring on the Bearcats.  Hopefully, my early Christmas present will be a ranked team Monday afternoon.  Then again Wyoming will probably jump over them and take UNC's spot.

Screw Wyoming.  They only have one member in the House of Representatives.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Kennesaw State Owls

Pitt (11-1) vs Kennesaw State (1-10)

5:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Kennesaw State is in Georgia.  They are terrible.  They beat South Carolina State by 2 for their only win.  Since then they've lost 9 in a row.  They'll probably hang with Pitt in the first half then lose by 40.

They have a guy named Markeith (a combination of Mark and Keith I presume) who is averaging almost 19 a game.

It's Christmas Eve tomorrow.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 12: Pitt 71 Delaware State 43

And we're liveblogging this.

Adams with a block on the open possession for the Hornets, big time play not leaving his feet.  Woodall hit a baseline jumper, and Pitt leads 2-0.

Hornets guard just took it right to Pitt and dished off at the last second for an easy dunk.  Ugh.

I think Tray just did the Sam Young pump fake.  He did some crazy scoop shot that went in.  If he missed it, I would have been pissed at him.

Dad just asked me if the Pete was there when I was a freshman.
Geez Dad, I'm not that old.

J.J. Moore with a rainbow jump shot.  It almost hit the ceiling and he buried it, NBA-type shot.

J-Rob just turned it over.  I'm confused.  Evidently they're interviewing him at half time.

The Hornets are banking in 3's.  I give up.  Pitt leads 12-9.

Offensive pass interference on Steven Adams for pushing off.  I wasn't aware this was football.

Ziegler just reached in, should have been a foul.  Ref felt bad for him and didn't call it because he knows Trey Ziegler sucks.

Johnson with the steal, Ziegler with the lay-up on the fast break and the foul.  He blows the free throw, but then blocks a shot at the other end.

Ziegler with the most polarizing 3 possessions in Pitt basketball history.  Woodall caught the 10a and was called for traveling.

Both teams getting unreal rolls from the rim.

Pitt with a million turnovers.  They just called time-out.

I just remembered the Cincy game is New Years Eve at noon.  I work until noon.  I'll have to rely on the radio for the first half while I drive home.

Pitt's losing, and I'm looking for the nearest bridge.

Oh yeah, I forgot.  I can no longer go to games in the Zoo because I'm not registered for any classes in the Spring.  I'll be doing some Zoo memory posts over Christmas break.

I need a new blog name.

View from my couch?

View from ESPN3?

Loose ball scramble in the paint.  Patterson gains control and dishes to Moore for the flush.  Miss by Delaware State is followed by a transition dunk by Zanna from Robinson.  Robinson has 4 assists right now.

Woodall just threw an alley-oop to Patterson that was about 18 feet too high.

Pitt is shooting 68% to Delaware State's 45.8%, but Pitt's 8 turnovers are allowing the Hornets to keep it close.  It's 31-27 Pitt at the break.

Second half is about to start.

BGW

It's a brick house from both teams to start the second half.

Zanna dunked.  Next possession Zanna was all alone, but Hornets pushed him and he made the layup.  It was a possible and 1, but he missed the free throw.

Woodall immediately stole it at mid-court and threw it to Zanna for another dunk.  Oh and Patterson just dunked.  Yikes.  Three dunks and a lay-up in about 40 seconds.

Pitt is playing like the Mon-Stars right now.  They're dunking everything.  Unless Delaware State brings out Bugs Bunny after this media time-out they're screwed.

Second half is a snooze fest.  Pitt is dominating.

I'm having an argument with my Dad about the color of Panthers.  He thinks they're all black.  I showed him a picture of a Panther from North America.

Why do you think Roc is gold, Dad?

Pitt outscored them 40-16 in the second half.  Pitt typical.

They only had one turnover in the second half.  Zanna had 20 and 9, Adams had 10 and 8 with 4 blocks, and J-Rob and Tray combined for 17 assists.

Adams is turning a corner.  He was dominant defensively.

BGW again

J-Rob with 9 assists versus 1 turnover.  Yessir.

Pitt plays Kennesaw State at 5 pm on Sunday.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Delaware State Hornets

Pitt (10-1) vs Delaware State (5-6)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Pitt continues its non-conference war against the state of Delaware.  This time they do battle against Delaware State.  Both teams have managed to defeat Delaware this season, however Pitt did it by 27 and Delaware State by 6.  According to mathematics, this means Pitt will win this game by 21.

I think Pitt will win by 30.

Last meeting:  Pitt 70 Delaware State 42, December 8, 2010

What I said in the recap:  Somehow I didn't feel like recapping this game back when I wrote Facebook notes.  Dante had his first career double-double that night.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 11: Yikes: Pitt 89 Bethune-Cookman 40

BGW as usual

Well, Bethune Cookman is terrible and Pitt absolutely destroyed them.  Just how bad was it?

Let's go to the numbers.

-Pitt out-rebounded them 37-11.

-The score was once 25-21 Pitt.  Then a 64-19 run happened over the last 25 minutes.

-Their best player Adrien Coleman, who recorded one of only three triple doubles in D1 this season (another was recorded by Schenley HS grad Deandre Kane for Marshall), was held to 6 points.

-The 49 part margin was the largest in Pete history and the 6th largest ever for Pitt.

-Pitt had 28 assists on 37 field goals.

Spoiler alert:  I'm going to give out a lot of A's.

Tray Woodall - He only took one shot (a 3 which he made) but he had his first double digit assist night of the season.  He only played 21 minutes since the outcome of the game was never in doubt.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.64

James Robinson - He ripped the net on a corner three in the second half and a mid-range pull-up in the first.  However, an unusually high 2 turnovers (2!) keeps his grade from an A.

By the way, I love the fact that I'm shocked that a freshman point guard turned the ball over twice.

Grade: A-

Season GPA = 3.89

Steven Adams - This could be considered a coming-out party for Adams since he recorded his first double-double.  Granted, the tallest starter for BC was 6'7" so he should have had 30 and 20 instead of 16 and 10.  He dunked the ball a lot and almost finished an alley-oop but blew the dunk.  It didn't really matter because he got the rebound and laid it in.  He also didn't turn the ball over which is always nice.  Turnovers from big men make me a sad panda.

Grade: A+

Season GPA = 3.14

Lamar Patterson - Your typical Lamar performance last night included 5-7 from the field and 11 points.  Toss in a few steals, assists and rebounds as well.  He's shaken off a slow start to become the Lamar we all expected based on the end of last season.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.67

Talib Zanna - He had 11 points and 5 rebounds.  I don't really remember much from him.  I imagine he would have had more rebounds if Adams and Taylor didn't grab every single one.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.82

J.J. Moore - I think at one point JJ was almost outscoring BC by himself.  He had 14 in the first half, was hitting baseline jumpers, dunking the ball, and basically being the good J.J. Moore.  We've missed that these past few games.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.5

Dante Taylor - He made both of his shots and both of his free throws.  He also had 11 rebounds and 0 turnovers.  Basically a perfect performance from him.

Grade: A

Season GPA = 3.14

Cameron Wright - He shot 75% and didn't turn it over.  That's good enough for me.

Grade: A-

Season GPA = 3.41

Durand Johnson - Somehow recorded 4 fouls in 13 minutes.  Other than that, he did hit 2-3 from the field.

Grade: A-

Season GPA = 3.13

Trey Ziegler - Managed to only piss me off once during the whole game.  This statement alone is worthy of an A- from me.

Grade A-

Season GPA = 2.85

Game GPA = 3.9

Season GPA = 3.42

Pitt plays Delaware State on Wednesday.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Bethune-Cookman Wildcats

Pitt (9-1) vs Bethune-Cookman (4-7)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Bethune-Cookman plays in the MEAC Conference.  They lost by 6 to North Florida.  This could be very ugly.  Their best player is someone named Adrien Coleman who played his freshman year at Nebraska before transferring in 2010.  He's averaging almost 19 points and just over 8 rebounds so far.  Pitt will shut him down obviously.

Bring the Pain.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.