Seems to be a veritable avalanche of stories now. Big Wins will do that. Expect some follow through for a couple days.

The Horse’s Mouth

Pitt put out a list of key quotes from interviews following the game. Jamie Dixon is totally boring coachspeak. Compare it to Calhoun, and you can get part of why the Husky fans love him. He is blunt and direct. He actually says things that are worth quoting.

Opening Remarks:
“Congratulations to Pittsburgh on their win today, they played great defensively as a team. They wore us
down because of how physical they were. Pittsburgh deserved to win this game.”

Comments on the Built up to the Game:
“I was really excited about this game, but the team wasn’t at least they didn’t show it. This team really
doesn’t show emotion, but I wish they did, I’m a very emotional person.”

Comments on Pittsburgh offense:
“No matter how good we played defense, Pittsburgh still executed offensively. This is because Pittsburgh
has great basketball I.Q. and believes in the system that Coach Jamie Dixon has brought to the team.”

Expect the lack of emotion from the UConn team to be a continuing theme. Especially up in Storrs.

Coverage

The game itself — payback or roughhousing. The payback article, is practically giddy about Pitt.

It might be premature to make reservations to San Antonio, site of the Final Four, but Pitt sent a statement heard around the nation Sunday afternoon with a resounding 75-68 victory over Connecticut at Petersen Events Center.

Given the disappointments of the past in Pitt sports, there is a part of me that cringes at seeing things like this.

Looks like the desperation from UConn, and their inability to keep it together was seen by more than just me.

Every time the Huskies made a run, the Panthers did not panic, but rather responded with a run of their own and never relinquished the lead. In almost every crucial situation down the stretch, according to Gordon, the Huskies crumbled under the pressure.

“You have to be poised out there and we weren’t,” Gordon said. “I think if there is one weakness in our game it is being poised in certain game situations. If we look back on this game, there were a number of times we had a chance to make something happened and didn’t. We got out of our game a little bit at times.

“Pitt seemed to take one possession at a time and they were consistent at it. A combination of their defense and us just not being mentally focused enough to stay with what we do, even if a shot wasn’t there, hurt us. We have to be more patient and use the whole shot clock if that is what it takes to get a basket.”
…
Boone said the Huskies never got into a rhythm and every time they made a mistake, Pitt would make them pay for it.

“It is heartbreaking when we get within four points there in a critical possession and something happens like we turn the ball over,” Boone said. “Then they come down and score to make it a four-point swing. Moments like that have really killed us. It is a matter of us keeping our heads together, keeping our composure. We need to settle down, run our offense, run our fast break and play good defense.

“We got rattled but we’re going to have a lot of tough games in the Big East tournament and the NCAAs and so we need to learn how to play through that.”

Well, at least they recognize there is a problem.

UConn believes there will be a Round 3 in less than a month. There’s a good chance.

One focus article on McCarroll’s game. Apparently he had a good practice on Saturday.

Then there was the atmosphere leading up to the game. Tickets were at a premium

It was the hottest ticket in town, with sets of tickets on eBay listed anywhere from $50 to $600 the weekend before the game. Ticket scalpers were out in full force, wearing their “I Need Tickets” signs and cutting deals in the shadow of the Pete.

“Wouldn’t you rather sell them to students?” said Megan Kelley, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a ticket scalper as they both leaned into the open window of a car in which two men were trying to sell two game tickets.

In the end, the men didn’t care for Kelley’s $200 offer or even the scalper’s bid at $250. Her boyfriend, Mark Esterheld, 26, of the South Side, was somewhat dismayed because he recognized one of the men in the car as a former high school basketball coach of his. But his old coach showed no favoritism for him on that day.

“It all comes down to money,” said Kelley, 26, of the South Side, now an elementary school teacher.

Undaunted, they continued their quest.

“Anybody want to sell tickets? $200,” she said.

Ticket scalpers reported business was “going good, REAL GOOD!”

A man who identified himself only as Scalper Dan said ticket scalpers were working every corner within a quarter-mile radius of the Pete and getting upwards of $100 a ticket.

Opinions

Speaking of giddy, Ron Cook is so far on the bandwagon it’s hilarious.

It’s all there for Pitt with five regular-season games left. The inside track to a Big East championship. The top seed for the conference tournament next month. And, if things go well in New York, a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

A team needs that high seed and so much more to have a real chance. It needs strong guard play. Great team defense. Depth. Toughness. Senior leadership. Big-game experience. Poise.

Pitt looks like it has it all.

Two weeks ago, the guy was calling for a little perspective. So much for that.

Here, the win means the glass is half full.

Technically speaking, Pitt and UConn have split a pair of basketball games this season, just as the Penguins technically ended a losing streak by losing in overtime the other night.

These are the situations that scream for a “Yeah, but … ”

In the case of Pitt and UConn, despite how hard both sides were trying to sell the split angle after the Panthers’ 75-68 win Sunday afternoon, this felt much better than a split for Pitt, much worse than a split for UConn.

Yeah, they’ve split, but the teams have played four halves of basketball this season, and Pitt has been the better team in three of them.

Still comes down to the final score, though.

Finally, a little mean-spiritedness to the losing team.

And the Huskies, the nation’s No. 1 team in the preseason, are in damage-control mode when they ought to be peaking.

“We split with them,” Calhoun said, citing UConn’s 68-65 win over Pitt on Jan. 19, when the subject of psychological fallout was broached. “I’ll sell it that way.

“I can lie with the best of them.”

He’ll have to if the Huskies are to rebound from the drubbing they absorbed at the Petersen Events Center.

Calhoun will have to lie like a rug to shake the malaise from his current collection of underachievers in time to save Connecticut’s season (given the talent and expectations, only a trip to the Final Four can accomplish that).

Like I said, Calhoun’s a great quote. Not many other coaches would take shots at his own team. That shows a little bit of their own toughness, in being able to take the public criticisms from their coach.

Final thoughts

Pitt has some tough games ahead. The season isn’t over.

The let down game isn’t until Saturday at West Virginia. A week of lionization of the team, before going to face a desperate bunch of Mountaineers.

At Georgetown after that. Then Syracuse and at Providence in the space of 3 days. Then ending the season with Villanova — who always seems to give Pitt trouble.

Plenty of possible slip-ups.