Where to start. Pitt won 74-71. Pitt did not play a particularly inspiring game, but they weren’t lucky to win or such. The box score actually tells most of the story. Still, I took notes
This was the 7pm game on ESPN’s “Big Monday,” but it wasn’t the big game. Apparently the hype was going to the Syracuse/Missouri game. ESPN-HD was showing that one (for all 5 people that actually have it), and more importantly, that meant that would be where Dick Vitale would be calling the game. I really wish I could recall where I read it recently, but someone was writing about watching a college game from the mid-80s on ESPN Classic where the color guy was smart, insightful and didn’t overpower the game. Then realized it was Dick Vitale before he became a caricature of himself.
For the ND-Pitt match-up, it would be a 3-man crew of Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas. None of these guys really annoy me, and I found no reason to consider plunging an ice pick into my ears.
Pitt had a lot of trouble staying patient on offense. There were noticeable spells where Pitt was just hoisting shots and giving up the easy board. At the 11:40 mark in the first half, Pitt took a time out and when play resumed you could tell that Coach Dixon must have said something. The team really took some time setting up the half-court offense and looking for the open man. This would be something that happened throughout the game, even the commentating crew noticed a couple times. I think it was Bilas (with around 2:15 left in the first half) who said that Pitt’s lack of patience on the offense was “bailing Notre Dame out.” By halftime it was Notre Dame by one, 31-30.
Chris Thomas was smoking in the first half, and it continued for him in the second half. He finished the night with 29 points on 11-22 shooting (7-13 from 3-point) and 9 assists.
Pitt was outrebounded in the first half. Chris Taft was doing great work underneath, blocking shots and disrupting drives to the basket, but Chevy Troutman was not playing inside. He was often out beyond the free throw line guarding someone. ND was much more active in the first half to get after the loose board.
The first 5 minutes of the second half was very sloppy from both sides. The teams struggled to score, and shot poorly. Notre Dame, which does not have much depth, started committing more fouls. Of course, this is Pitt’s weakness. Pitt could not seem to make free throws for a while. By the 6:07 mark in the second half, they flashed a stat showing Pitt going 4-11 from the line.
Notre Dame held on to their lead for almost the first 11 minutes of the second half, but Pitt started to dominate physically after a while. Pitt started to slowly take a lead and extend it. With 3 minutes to go, Pitt had a 63-54 lead.
At that point, the Irish began raining down the 3 pointers. They made 4 straight 3-pointers, went 5-6 from the 3-point line in the last 2.5 minutes. Pitt made some easy buckets and then had to earn their points from the free throw line.
Julius Page, usually one of the better FT shooters for Pitt, went 2-5 in the final minutes; but was bailed out because Taft and Troutman made their two FTs each. Jaron Brown — who has an ugly FT shot — added 1-2.
Pitt held on. ND went 12-26 from the 3-point line, which was what kept them in the game. Pitt went only 5-16.
Free throw shooting made this game closer than it should have. Pitt went 11-22 from the line. That is pathetic. At home. No screaming fans trying to distract. The team shot nearly that same percentage with contested shots — 29-60. Jay Bilas talked to Dixon after the game and asked him about the lousy free throw shooting. Dixon, taking a page from his mentor, Ben Howland, dismissed the concerns. He pointed out that Pitt made the free throws when they needed them. Of course, if they made some of them earlier, they wouldn’t have had to worry about making them later. Free throws will cost Pitt at least one victory this season.
Good balance in the scoring again. Jaron Brown led with 19 points, then Julius Page with 18, Krauser had 15 and Troutman and Taft each had 10. Chris Taft also had 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. He is playing amazingly well as a freshman. Yuri Demitrius will keep playing fewer minutes for a reason. He can’t contribute. He only played 6 minutes, missed the front end of a one-and-one, and didn’t provide any defense.
Pitt needs to remember to be patient on offense. Krauser still gets a little too excited at times, and tries to score without looking to see if someone might have a better shot. There are times when Krauser and Page just don’t seem to be in the same sync that Page had with Knight. Otherwise, Pitt looked good.
