Slight correction from my comments last night. I said that no Pitt player broke the 30 minute barrier. I was wrong. Krauser played 36 minutes in the game. I must have misread the box score.
Here’s the press release from Pitt, along with the box score/play by play (PDF version).
It was supposed to be tougher. That seems to be the reaction in Pittsburgh to the way Pitt absolutely dominated Memphis. Memphis just couldn’t handle Pitt inside.
Free throws, though, were not good. Graves was 1-5, Taft was 3-6, McCarroll, Ramon and Gray were all bad. Krauser was great at 15-18. Troutman was a respectable 4-6. Compared to where he was last year, it is marked improvement.
Despite poor shooting — Taft missing 2 straight dunks(???) — Pitt still had 5 players in double figures (Krauser, Taft, Troutman, Graves and McCarroll).
In the sightings department lots of past Pitt stars: Charles Smith, Demetrius Gore, Bobby Martin, Jerry McCullough, Toree Morris and Curtis Aiken all in attendance. Forgot to mention last night. There were two shots of Isiah Thomas during the game. What were the odds? Camera. MSG. Isiah Thomas. The camera just loves him. Actually, Thomas was downright reclusive leering out of a sky box as opposed to standing by the players locker room entrance as he usually does during a Knick game.
In Memphis, they see a team that is in complete shambles.
The Jimmy V Classic? How about The Jimmy V Disaster?
That’s actually a more fitting description of what Tuesday night turned into for the Tigers, who dropped a 70-51 decision to 11th-ranked Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden.
…
Though the game lacked any real intensity, the postgame scene did not, thanks to the Tigers holding a players-only meeting in the locker room.Calipari spoke with media. The players were still talking.
Calipari fulfilled his radio obligations. The players were still talking.
For about 30 minutes, this went on. Then, after about three minutes of shouting that could be heard through the wall, the staff entered and shuffled some players out.
Anthony Rice, the senior captain, confirmed what has long been speculated about this team:
There are chemistry issues.
“There’s a lot of jealousy around here, and some people finally just said what they had to say and got it all out,” Rice explained. “I think it’s good, but if it doesn’t carry over, then it doesn’t mean anything. You can have all the meetings in the world. But if people don’t change, it’s still going to be the same old …”
Not a good day to be a Memphis fan.
You know, it’s kind of reassuring to know that it can be NYC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, or Coshocton, Ohio. The one thing you can count on in reading a paper, is that if there is a local connection it will be mentioned/played up. All the NYC papers did not fail to mention where in the NYC area Pitt players were from in their coverage. All were impressed with Pitt’s win. The Post called it a ‘Punishment.’ Newsday saw a Pitt defense that looks even tougher than last year. The Daily News focused on Krauser’s leadership.
Assuming Pitt wins on Saturday, against Penn State, Pitt probably won’t move anywhere in the polls this week. It looks like the only team ahead of them to lose was/will be Syracuse, and I don’t see the Orange dropping behind Pitt for losing to a really, really good looking Ok. St. team.
