The way the refs call this game will be a big issue. Both teams like to bang and bump inside. Both teams like to get the ball inside. If the refs call this tight, the game could be ugly from the perspective of flow as the fouls mount. If they let them play, it could be “ugly” from an aesthetic sense, but would be a good tough game.
The best match-up should be between Chevon Troutman and Craig Smith. Both like to bang and bump inside for position. Both are about the same size, but Smith actually has about 10 pounds on Troutman. Both get to the free throw line about the same amount and make at nearly the same rate. Troutman is a better shooter in terms of percentage, but Smith has a higher scoring average and shoots more than Troutman. Ultimately, these two could cancel each other out.
Chris Taft should have an advantage on Nate Doornekamp. Taft is 2 inches shorter, but the same weight. Doorenkamp is in there for defense, and is actually a good passer for a big man. He also shoots free throws at 66.7% rate. Taft should have an advantage on him on offense, so it is likely Doornekamp may get some help at times to force Taft to pass. Doornekamp is one of two seniors on this team. Jermaine Watson is a guard and their 6th man. The seniors at BC have never beaten Pitt. Did I mention this is Senior Night at the Conte Forum?
The biggest match-up headache for Pitt will be Forward, Jared Dudley. Dudley would be my pick for player of the year in the BE, but he likely won’t because of Smith on his own team splitting off votes and a possible anti-BC bias by the coaches voting. Dudley is an inside-out player like Pittsnogle, Gay and Sumpter. (My hands just went clammy typing that, and I think 4 more hairs fell onto the keyboard –and like Pitt I can’t afford those kind of losses.) Levon Kendall will have to play some very, very good defense and avoid the foul trouble he had against Gay. Graves and McCarroll will be torched by this guy. Dudley is a very emotional player, and if he doesn’t get some calls going his way, he can be taken out of his game. The problem is, when he steps out for a 3 and if it goes he is right back into things.
As for Pitt, take your pick on which is the bigger problem right now — bad perimeter defense or bad guard play/shooting. Today it seems the bad shooting by the guards is the topic.
Pitt, which led the Big East in 3-point shooting for most of the season, is seriously struggling from behind the arc.
During the three-game losing slide, Pitt is shooting 23.9 percent from 3-point range (11 for 46). The Panthers shot a season-low 18 percent (4 for 22) in Saturday’s 73-64 loss to Connecticut.
The guards are just plain struggling. If it continues early, I don’t see how or why Benjamin isn’t at least given a bit of time out there.
The fact is, Pitt is getting desperate and needs to play with some urgency. Not panic, but with intensity and determination for 40 minutes. Coach Dixon may be trying to ease the mind of some of the players or the fans, but no one believes it right now.
Coach Jamie Dixon and senior forward Chevon Troutman offered diametrically opposing views in assessing the current state of the Pitt basketball team, which is riding a three-game losing streak for the first time in four years.
Dixon stopped short of downplaying the recent swoon, while Troutman clearly suggested that things are getting shaky for the 18th-ranked Panthers (18-7, 8-6 Big East), who face No. 3 Boston College (23-2, 11-2) tonight at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
“I don’t like that word or phrase,” Dixon said, when it was suggested that the Panthers are facing a sense of urgency. “We want to play better than we did (in Saturday’s 73-64 home loss to Connecticut). Now, we have to come together in all areas against Boston College.”
Troutman’s spin was much different.
“There is a sense of urgency,” he said, matter of factly. “We have to finish out the rest of these games. We have to do it any way possible.”
I hate to call this a must win, but it is. Not necessarily for the sake of making the NCAA Tourney, but for the team’s psyche. Even a top team like Kansas just had a 3 game slide, losing 2 of 3 at home, but they just pulled it back together and ended it against Oklahoma State — one of the best teams out there.
Pitt needs to go out there tonight and show its mental fortitude as well as its ability.
