I took a ton of notes during this game, this will be long. I like it, because it’s like reliving the whole thing. Haven’t read the papers yet, just have the play-by-play and box score to keep things straight.
Pregame
Started with the College GameDay. Missed the 11 am debut. Doesn’t look bad. Digger Phelps has his problems with names and teams. Disconcerting. Big fear: that they decide that they need someone with more energy in the mix at the table — Phelps and Bilas are low key guys — and they shoehorn Gottlieb in there.
Show a taped interview with Coach Jamie Dixon by Andy Katz. Dixon is still one of the worst interviews. He hems and haws and clings to cliches like they are gold. On the issue of Krauser’s play he completely ducks the question. I don’t expect or want him throwing players under the bus, but I just want him to let a little of his personality to show.
The ticket exchange apparently netted some 2500 extra students for the game. Over half the crowd will be students. The place should be loud and enthusiastic.
During the “All-Access” segment with UConn practices and Coach Jim Calhoun, the coach says he sets a goal of about 75 shots taken in a game by his squad, because even if you make some mistakes it reduces their importance if you get more chances. After seeing Pitt shoot well, but not have enough attempts in this month, that sounds so very, very right.
In their game breakdown, they give a slight edge in the frontcourt to Pitt (both Phelps and Bilas). Bilas talking about Krauser needing to play under control and get quick passes to his teammates. If you see Krauser overdribbling, then you know he is trying to do it all himself.
The backcourt has a huge edge to UConn with Boone, Villanueva and Gay. I left the room because Vitale was there to screech. I’d like to make it until the second half before my ears start bleeding.
Everyone picks UConn to win this game.
First Half
In the starting lineup, McCarroll and Graves are both in there. Hmm. I thought that Ramon might get the start over Graves. Coach Dixon still isn’t changing the line-up much.
Pitt wins the tip. Graves drives inside before pulling up for a jumper that missed. Graves was actually trying to take it inside, though, something I haven’t seen him do very often. UConn gets the rebound and runs. In the paint, Freshman Rudy Gay misses his shot, but Josh Boone has the position to grab the rebound and put it back.
Pitt works the ball to McCarroll who is fouled by Gay while shooting. Dumb foul by the freshman. Of course, it is for no harm, as McCarroll misses the first and airballs (airballs?) the second attempt. Crap. The same thing happened to McCarroll in the St. John’s game. Gay picks up a second foul less than a minute later going for a rebound on the other end.
Pitt still hasn’t scored when Taft gets whistled for a charge. Seemed kind of questionable, but there was no replay. Taft was out of position to shoot, though. Just like his first shot. He is not getting position. At the other end, Graves fouls the ice cold Rahsard Anderson while shooting. Anderson sinks them both and it is now 6-0, with less than 2:30 played.
McCarroll comes out and in comes Ronald Ramon. Josh Boone commits a dumb foul trying to apply the pressure defense. That’s 3 fouls by their front court already. Ramon misses his first attempt — a 3 pointer — and UConn grabs the rebound. UConn misses, but gets the offensive rebounds — twice, before Krauser fouls. Denham Brown then shoots an open shot on the inbounds play. 8-0 and Pitt has to take a timeout at 16:40.
Pitt is not getting any position under the glass early. UConn, though, is getting plenty of second chance opportunities and forcing Pitt into one and done possessions.
Out of the timeout, though, Pitt starts playing a little better. Troutman gets a put back when Villanueva comes out to block a drive and shot by Krauser, then Graves hits a quick 3. Now it’s 8-5 and for a few minutes it looks like it will be a close game. Both teams seem to be playing their game. Pitt setting up its shots, especially looking outside. UConn running, and exploiting Pitt’s weakness on transition. Anderson, also seems to be hitting some shots.
Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall come in and play at the same time, confusing the daylights out of me. Had trouble keeping them straight. Never saw them on the court at the same time. Both though, provide some energy. Gray even ties the game with a slam and is fouled by Boone. He makes his shot and it was 15-15. More important, though, it was Boone’s 2nd foul with 12 minutes left. Boone had to sit. Both Boone and Gay — 2 of 3 of UConn’s heralded frontcourt — are sitting with 2 fouls.
Then after another UConn jumper, just inside the line, gives them a 17-15 lead, Calhoun picks up a technical for over-barking at the officials. Last year at the Pete, Calhoun was given a technical early and Pitt proceeded to run over the Huskies the rest of the game. Krauser sinks both shots and the game is tied at 17-17.
Unfortunately, unlike last year, UConn gets fired up. They go on an absolute tear inside and out. Troutman commits turnovers and is blocked in some attempts. Troutman can’t seem to get position against Villanueva. Around the 10 minute mark, ESPN flashes a stat showing Pitt being out-rebounded 15-8. UConn absolutely dominates for about 10 minutes. Outscoring Pitt 26-9 to have a 43-26 lead with 2:31 left in the half. Pitt couldn’t get anything going, and there were so many subs as Dixon was emptying the bench looking for some any combinations to get Pitt going. Benjamin, DeGroat came in along with Gray and Kendall. Everything wasn’t going right. UConn was scoring with ease, all the calls seemed to be going to UConn. Anderson was scorching during this stretch shooting outside.
In the final 2:31, though, UConn seemed to take their foot off the gas a bit. Pitt actually made a 6-0 run to be down only 43-32. Krauesr got to the line and so did Taft. Both sank all their free throws. Taft even showed some aggressiveness going for some offensive rebounds and a put back. Still in my notes I wrote, “Too big a deficit against this team.”
UConn had control. Anderson was 5-8 in the first half (4-6 on 3s) and had 16 points. Guard Denham Brown had 8 points on 4-7 shooting. Villanueva played well for most of the first half picking up 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. And their point guard Marcus Williams was seeing everything. He had 7 assists in the first half. UConn only had 1 turnover. Were it not for the foul problems for Boone and Gay, this could have been the best half played by UConn on all facets. 17-35 shooting overall.
Pitt on the other hand was bad. Krauser was looking to pass. He only had 3 assists and was 0-4 shooting, but still had 4 points off of free throws, but only had one turnover. His assists would have been better, but Pitt committed 6 turnovers. Troutman accounted for half of them. Troutman did not look good in the first half. He seemed out of position, and not getting position. Same for Taft. Taft seemed to be forcing a couple shots, refusing to give up the ball. May have been part of the reason he only played 13 minutes. Pitt just played poorly. Shooting a pathetic 11-30. Pitt was outrebounded in the half 23-17. The closest thing to a bright side, was that Pitt was 7-10 on free throws.
Second Half
The start of the second half looked like it would be more of the same. In fact, I was thinking they would run Pitt off the court when Troutman missed 2 put backs in the first minute then Anderson drained another 3. UConn was still getting second chance shots. When McCarroll committed another turnover in the first minute of the second half, I couldn’t help but think he was doing his best to play himself further down the depth chart. Especially with the energy Kendall seemed to provide in the same amount of time in the first half. A minute later, McCarroll seemed to confirm that view by being called for a blocking foul.
UConn was coming out attacking to start the second half. Pitt was on its heels. Krauser tried to drive and got called for an offensive foul. It looked like a flop to me, but this was UConn’s home court, they were on the roll, so they were going to get the call. Then Troutman fouls Boone on a shot. Boone goes only 1-2, but the lead is back to 15, and a little more than 17 minutes left.
Taft gets a score when UConn goaltends, and then Boone commits his 3rd foul when his team is on offense. Ramon tries a 3, but Villanueva came way out for a block. Pitt ends up with the ball and Krauser hits a huge 3 as the shot clock was running down.
UConn quickly answers with some good ball movement and an easy lay-in. It’s 51-39 with more than 15 minutes left. Pitt counters with a solid possession of its own and Troutman gets a lay-up. UConn however, again blows through Pitt’s transition D for an easy Villanueva lay-up.
Pitt then turns the ball over when Krauser and Kendall don’t communicate. After the TV timeout, Kendall atones with a steal. He runs the floor well, but was fouled on the shot. Vitale complains he should have given it up to the trailing Krauser for the easy lay-in. I doubt Kendall even was sure where Krauser was. Kendall makes 1-2 FT to make it an 11 point game. 14:23 left.
On UConn’s next possession, they miss a couple shots in the paint, before Gray gets the rebound. UConn’s frontcourt has an amazing series of breakdowns as Anderson, Brown and Williams all commit fouls in a 14 second span. The last was a big mistake as Williams fouled Krauser as he was attempting a 3. Krauser nails all 3 and it is now an 8 point game.
UConn seems off-balance. Williams throws an ill-advised 3. Gray grabs another rebound. Gray is having a big effect playing for Taft. He gets the ball to Krauser who gets a great pass to Troutman for the easy lay-up. The team seems to be playing with a lot more energy. UConn takes a quick timeout.
Kendall gets Denham Brown in a bad spot and forces a turnover. Unfortunately, Gray turns the ball over on a bad pass attempt to Krauser. Even worse, Gray sprains his ankle trying to get the ball back, stepping on Graves’ foot. Krauser also fouls holding trying to prevent the steal on the pass. Just a bad series.
As Gray is on the floor, they show the replay of the sprain. Ouch.
UConn, though, is completely rattled. Another turnover. Graves misses a 3, but Troutman who has really come alive grabs the offensive board and is fouled going back up. After a TV timeout, Troutman sinks both free throws (amazing in and of itself), and the game is now 53-49.
Another quick shot by UConn, this time a missed 3 by Anderson. Taft gets a rebound and the moment of the game for Pitt fans, the moment when they know Troutman is feeling it and Pitt can win this game. Troutman drains a 3 pointer! Pitt is only down 1, 53-52. If this was at the Pete, the place would be exploding. Instead, Gampel has started to sound like a tomb. Pitt has gone on an 11-0 run in just under 4 minutes. Troutman accounted for 7 points
Pitt has started dominating. Playing team ball. UConn is going the opposite way. Starting to play as individuals. How else to explain why Villanueva tries to answer with his own 3-point shot?
Kendall grabs the rebound. Graves tries to drive to the hoop, but misses his layup. Someone must have been getting on Graves to try to penetrate more. That was his second or third drive inside. That’s 2-3 more times than he usually does. Despite the miss, Pitt does a good job this time to get back on defense, and not give up the bucket in transition. Boone, back in the game for UConn, grabs an offensive board and is fouled on the put back. He only goes 1-2 and it is 54-52 with 10 minutes left.
Pitt’s next possession is all Troutman. He wants the ball. He takes 3 shots, gets blocked by Villanueva on the first, but Troutman out-muscles everyone for the rebounds. Troutman is just playing different in the second half. It’s like he woke up. Realized how much he wants this game. Finally, Villanueva can’t keep up with Troutman’s energy on the glass and fouls him. Troutman only hits 1-2 (his first missed FT). 54-53 UConn.
UConn again does nothing with the ball. Troutman grabs another rebound. Pitt, however, has a bad possession as Krauser ends up with the ball, but not aware of the shot clock has to throw one up that misses the rim and UConn gets the ball back.
UConn is just desperate. Denham Brown hoists a quick 3 that misses. Of course it is Troutman who grabs the rebound and runs the floor to get the lay-up and Boone commits his 4th foul trying to stop him. Troutman converts the +1 FT and Pitt has its first lead of the game 56-54 at 8:13 left. Amazingly, Troutman is then taken out of the game. A WTF? moment. I mean, I get that there will be a TV timeout when the clock goes under 8 minutes and there is a stop in play, but why? How much extra rest does it really provide. You have to keep Troutman in the game. He’s the best player out there right now. Step on the throat! I was actually screaming that at the TV. McCarroll comes in for him, and Gray is taped up and comes back in.
Showing how much I know, McCarroll is feeling the energy as he blocks a Villanueva shot. Gray ends up fouling Villanueva as UConn got the rebound. After the TV timeout, Villanueva sinks the shots to tie the game. Troutman is right back in there.
Gray showing a nice touch puts in a jump hook, then runs the floor to grab the defensive rebound as Anderson hoisted yet another quick, errant 3. UConn has not been getting set for their perimeter player shots. Their perimeter players are set shooters, they need time to get their place.
Pitt looks to step on the throat as Graves drains a 3. Only his second basket of the night, but both were key 3s. Armstrong nails a jumper to stop the bleeding at 6:33. Pitt has outscored UConn 20-3 in over 8 minutes. 61-58. It was UConn’s first basket since the 15:06 mark.
Pitt nearly gives up the ball when UConn traps, but during the scrum, the refs call a held ball. The possession arrow favored Pitt. Unfortunately, Graves misses another 3-point attempt. Marcus Williams chases down the ball, then bounces it off Kendall’s leg before falling out of bounds. A smart play that Kendall didn’t expect.
UConn, again fails to take advantage, as Rudy Gay decides to throw up a 3 that misses. Pitt pushes the and Troutman gets a lay-up in transition. 63-58 Pitt, 5:21 left.
UConn answers to make it 63-60. Then gets another quick score off a Pitt miss to be down by only 1 with 4:20 left. Lots of time. UConn is trying to deny the ball inside. Trying to keep Troutman from getting a shot.
Denham Brown steals the ball from Krauser, but Kendall has a huge block to prevent a score. The ball goes out of bounds to Pitt and there is a TV time out.
Out of the timeout, Pitt gets the ball inside to Troutman. Troutman just is too much for Boone who fouls him as he shoots. Boone fouls out with 3:28 left. Big. Troutman sinks both of his FT. Bigger. Pitt up 65-62.
UConn is falling apart. They can’t get the play together on offense, and nearly turn the ball over. Forced to call a time out rather than risk the held ball. Villanueva is blocked by Kendall on a jumper. Ramon grabbed the rebound and Troutman scores on an up and under basket. 67-62, 2:32 left.
UConn is ready to play with both hands grasped around the neck. They throw the ball away on a pass while trying to find an open man. Pitt has the ball with 2:04.
Unfortunately, Pitt chooses not to go for the kill. Instead tries to run off clock. I’m screaming at the TV at this point. Sure enough, it gives UConn time to get a trap on Ramon far from the basket. Turnover as Ramon threw it away. I blame Coach Dixon for that. He made the decision not to try and get the ball inside and get the points. Instead, he kept the ball on the perimeter to run 30 seconds off.
Gay gets the ball inside, and Kendall commits the foul while he was in the shooting motion. Gay sinks both (his first points of the game) and it is 67-64. Krauser then gets trapped and throws the ball away. Vitale and Nessler (both of whom I’ve done an outstanding job of not hearing all game) mention that Pitt has lost all 3 of its games in the last minute or so. Thanks for the reminder.
Rudy Gay, who hasn’t hit anything all game, tries another 3 and misses. Taft grabs the rebound. Pitt nearly trapped again, calls a quick timeout. Pitt regroups. They start running their play, and time, but nearly blow it again. Ramon makes a bad pass to Krauser, but Armstrong panicked and fouled Krauser. A big bailout, and Krauser sinks both free throws. 69-64 Pitt, 28.3 seconds left.
As UConn gets into their end, point guard Marcus Williams gets blocked on his move by Troutman, and the ball gets loose. Could have been a foul called in the scrum, but Troutman gets the ball and drives the court to score with an intentional foul called. Troutman, who has played the best game of his career, of course nails both free throws to make it 73-64. Pitt will get the ball back on top of it all with 17 seconds left.
Directly from my notes as Troutman shot: Pitt did it, they put the game away. They finished. They stepped on the throat. I don’t know why that phrase was in my head all night.
Troutman gets an easy lay-up on the inbounds play as UConn just gave up. 75-64.
Villanueva scores with 9 seconds left, then they foul Krauser who hits 1-2 (his first missed FT) .
Villanueva shoots at the end but misses, Taft rebounds and Pitt gets the huge upset 76-66.
Amazing.
Player Thoughts
Troutman. This was his game. He took it over in the second half, and Pitt realized and fed him. He scored 25 of his 29 points in the second half, shooting 8-13 in that half and hit 8-9 free throws. 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. He outscored the entire starting frontline of UConn, and had only 2 less rebounds. Considering how poorly he seemed to be playing for the first half, this was amazing.
Taft. Another invisible game for him. 10 ponts, 6 rebounds, but 0 blocks in only 28 minutes. I expected him to step up against the competition, but he seemed willing to settle at times, not push inside. No fight.
Krauser. Folks, he is not Brandin Knight. Never will be. Stop wishing he was. He didn’t shoot well, but created a lot. Got 15 points, mostly by getting to the free throw line. He had 5 rebounds, 8 assists, but still had 5 turnovers. An improved game compared to the way he had been playing. Much more in control and definitely looking to get the ball inside.
Graves. His inconsistency on offense, coupled with not playing great defense, has become more noticeable as the competition improved. 23 minutes in the game, and only 9 in the second half, where Pitt’s defense noticeably picked up. He drained 2 big 3s, and was the only perimeter player not named Krauser who drove to the hoop occasionally, but that was about it.
McCarroll. The only reason he will start against Syracuse, is because Coach Dixon wants to reward the loyal senior. He only played 11 minutes. 0 shots, 1 block and 1 steal.
Ramon. First off the bench. Played the most minutes of anyone, 35. Selective in his shooting, but not great. Solid defense on the perimeter. Still not driving to the basket. Needs some more chances to shoot.
Gray. If Taft doesn’t start showing more heart and energy, he will keep losing minutes to Gray. Showing far more aggression and willingness to shoot. 7 points and 3 rebounds in12 minutes.
Kendall. Best game he’s played. Should start ahead of McCarroll. High energy guy, willing to get inside and muck. 3 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks, but he was on the court when Pitt was getting back into the game and being aggressive. Was always around the ball.
Benjamin. Actually grabbed 3 rebounds in 4 minutes. Not very noticeable, though.
Team. Horrible defense in the first half, but total lockdown in the second. Seemed to spook UConn when they didn’t wilt by being down by 15 in the second half. After letting UConn shoot nearly 50% in the second half, Pitt held them to only 8-29 shooting and limited the second chance shots by out rebounding in the second half 21-13. UConn’s big men, could not stay physical with Pitt’s for the entire game. Started shying away from contact. This allowed more pressure to go outside on the perimeter. Once the perimeter guys started having their shots contested they lost confidence.
Now if only Pitt could play a full 40 minutes.
