In the stories before the game, the theme was to get the ball inside first. Get the inside baskets and the outside shots for the guards will come. So much for that gameplan.
In the first half Pitt took 26 shots, and 12 were from outside the arc (making only 3). It would appear to have been some impatient guard play — led by Krauser. The guards took 12 shots, of which 10 were 3-pointers. Gray, Kendall, Biggs and DeGroat only took 9 shots, and 2 of them were 3-pointers. There wasn’t a lot of penetration in the first half. Some of that should be attributed to the South Carolina defense which swarmed the ball very well, and created 9 turnovers in the half — by 7 players.
What kept Pitt in the game was the offensive rebounding. Pitt held a 9-2 offensive rebounding advantage in the first half. This was keyed by Sam Young continually following shots to the basket (including his own once). He had 4 offensive boards and immediately followed with a lay-up or jumper to go 3-4 (3-5 in the half). Considering Pitt shot 8-26 in the first half, there is no way to underestimate the importance of Young’s impact.
The only other positive to take from that horrible 1st half — other than somehow being down by only 2 — was that there was an assist on half of the baskets. A not so subtle hint that ball movement gets better looks.
The second half saw the adjustments and refocusing of getting the ball inside more often. Pitt only took 6 3-pointers. The concerted effort was clear in that Gray — while shooting horribly in the game (3-10) — had 7 shots in the second half and making 3. Kendall also saw the ball inside a lot more, but was very sloppy. He had 4 of his 5 turnovers in the second half — never actually getting a shot off.
Pitt shot 10-21 in the second half while absolutely limiting South Carolina’s opportunities. The Gamecocks only had 1 offensive rebound in the second half, 3 for the entire game.
Pitt’s second half offense was keyed by 3 different players at different points. Keith Benjamin in the first couple of minutes with an offensive rebound and 2 baskets to give Pitt the lead. Sam Young was in the middle of everything from around the 17 minute point to about 9 minutes left in the game — 10 points (5-5 on FTs), 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist. (He also was whistled for a couple fouls, bringing him to 4, which was why he came out of the game at that point.) Carl Krauser in the final 5:43 where he had 8 of Pitt’s final 13 points.
