The local South Bend paper has an article on the game. Chris Quinn admitted afterwards that he just felt like he hit the zone:

Heckled by the home crowd late in regulation and hounded by a host of defenders all night, Quinn was actually having a quiet, but efficient evening before getting going late in the second half. At one point during a 3:27 stretch, he scored 16 consecutive points, including a four-point play. That helped the Irish slice a nine-point deficit to three with 33 seconds remaining in regulation.

It got to a point where everything he tossed up — runners down the lane, floaters from the baseline and 3-point shots well behind the NBA line — found the net.

“Oh, man,” Gray said afterward when asked of Quinn’s 13-of-23 shooting display. “You’ve just got to marvel at him.”

It was, Quinn said afterward, a feeling and a focus he had not had since high school back in Dublin, Ohio. Every time he rose up, whether he had a hand in his face or not, Quinn felt the ball was going to drop.

“The only way we were going to get back in it was if we forced some stuff and score pretty quickly,” said Quinn, who scored 30 of his 37 in the second half and the extra sessions. “I didn’t pay attention (to the fans). Everywhere you go, you’re going to hear stuff from the fans.

“I just continued to play my game.”

With little working for the Irish in the low post, Brey finally decided to put four perimeter players around Quinn and let the senior guard go for it.

That last sentence, by the way folks, is why Graves was out there and Biggs, DeGroat and Benjamin did not see a lot of time especially near the end of the game and OT. With a small, guard-laden line-up and playing out on the perimeter, Pitt couldn’t have forwards who the guards could get a step on or around. Pitt needed to play the guards who could keep the players in front of them, not get burned or commit the foul.

The article alludes to fan abuse of Quinn, as did Keith — who seemed quite bothered by what he heard. I couldn’t catch it, so I have no solid opinion.

Inexplicably, there is nothing about Torin Francis riding the pine for most of the second half. The color guy on the ESPN feed, commented after Francis got blocked cleanly by Gray — again — early in the second half that it looked like Francis completely lost confidence in his shot. That he didn’t want to try again, even though he had scored on 2 of their first 3 possessions to start the second half. The more I think about it, the more that seems to be what Mike Brey saw from the sidelines. Yet another big guy with skill, but soft inside.

Frank Burlison for Fox Sports/Scout.com had a column prior to the game last night giving some love to Pitt.

What makes this potentially the best offensive team Pitt has had since the revamping of the Panthers by Howland and Dixon is the fact that there are so many places Dixon can turn to for offense.

In 7-foot, 260-pound Aaron Gray, the Panthers have a guy who has evolved into one of the best low-post threats in the conference while averaging 11.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.

And the two classes of recruits signed by Dixon and his staff after Howland left have both proven highly productive.

Among those six players, Dixon is getting a cumulative 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists per game.

And, even with guards Devan Downey of Cincinnati and Dominic James of Marquette having marvelous non-conference performances, Dixon — in 6-foot-6 Sam Young — has a player who could be rated the Big East’s best freshman by the time conference tournament action rolls around in March.

With this win, Pitt is, at the moment, 6th in the RPI. Pitt’s overall strength of schedule is now a close to respectable, 83. It will be interesting about how the SOS for the non-con looks closer to the end of the season. Right now, it is in the same ball park as Ohio State, Florida, Illinois and BC. Teams, that are all ranked ahead of Pitt in the polls. If that continues to remain so, it will be harder to ding Pitt for its non-con while not making the same complaints regarding the others.

UPDATE: Remember that the non-con RPI is likely to fall a bit. A lot of the teams Pitt played are in mid-major conferences where once they play each during the season it will serve to drag down their RPI and by extension Pitt’s RPI and SOS. So remember, root for St. Peter’s, Coppin St., Robert Morris, Auburn, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, St. Francis (NY), Duquesne and maybe even an upset or two for PSU.

Still for comparison’s sake, Pitt’s non-con SOS in 2005 was 262, in 2004 — 234, and in 2003 — 226.

I know a lot of folks find Dick Vitale irritating. It may be his purple prose, overheated game-time commentary, or his enduring man-crush on the likes of Jim Boheim (sorry, but I can’t spell Mike Kryzewski), but even those who admire him can find him a bit wearying.

Still, we Pitt fans should cut the man some slack. It would only be fair, seeing as how as he’s done the same for us recently:

Look across America, and there are only a handful of unbeatens left in college basketball. Well, the Panthers are one of them, and sports fans across the nation are no doubt surprised by that fact. Yes, some may question the schedule and ask who Pittsburgh has played; some may say they are pretenders. Forget about it.

He then predicts (if vaguely) good things and goes on to name names:

The Panthers will cause problems in the Big East all season. They play tough defense, are tenacious and hungry. Pittsburgh has a nice blend of young talent and experienced performers. Diaper dandy Sam Young can put points on the board and rebound. Veteran point guard Carl Krauser knows how to win. Up front, Aaron Gray is one of the nation’s most improved players.

Suddenly, my estimation of Mr. Vitale has gone up a few notches. Heh. Guess I’m easy that way. Still, there are worse things than being praised by College Basketball’s most famous pundit.

You have your usual box score, with halftime split along with play by play. Then there is the slightly more detailed information.

For Pitt:

Poss 88.9 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 112.5 D-Rating 109.2 (Eff. Margin +3.4)
eFG% 53.8 PPWS 1.15
A/TO 2.0 TO Rate 16.9% A/B 93.8%
Floor Pct 56.3% FT Prod 46.2

And Notre Dame:

Poss 88.9 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 109.1 D-Rating 112.5 (Eff. Margin -3.4)
eFG% 49.4 PPWS 1.03
A/TO 1.9 TO Rate 11.2% A/B 55.9%
Floor Pct 52.7% FT Prod 18.1

You can find a little more explanation of the what these numbers are here. Both teams played the same pace despite ND shooting 18 more shots, because Pitt literally doubled them up on Free Throws Made and Attempted (ND: 15-23, Pitt 30-46).

Pitt shot a little better than it’s season eFG (before the game 52.5%), while ND was held below its (52.9%).

Overall, Pitt shot a little better than its season average. Here are some individual PPWS (points per weighted shots) from the game.

———- game —season avg.
Pitt: —– 1.15 —– 1.12
Krauser: 1.42 ——- 1.21
Gray: — 1.23 ——- 1.13
Kendall: 1.15 ——- 1.12
Young: – 1.12 ——- 1.27
Fields: – 0.98 ——- 1.24
Ramon: – 1.36 ——- 1.15

Interesting to see that while Young and Fields were vital down to the end, their offense wasn’t nearly as good as it has been. For Fields, despite 11 points, it came on 1-6 shooting and 8-14 on FTs. Fields was vital in ball handling and running the point with Ramon, but it has to be conceded that he struggled with his shot. For Young, the drop-off wasn’t so drastic, and was quite literally that missed slam of his in the game. Make that, and he’s at 1.27.

(Brief aside, it’s another thing to note in the change to Coach Dixon this year, that Young kept playing. Last year, there is no doubt that he would have been pulled and sat for the entire game for blowing the easy basket trying to make it earthshattering. Of course it is also due, in no small part, to Young’s tremendous talent and Pitt’s need.)

Ramon had one of his best days in quite a while. Krauser and Gray were nicely above average.

Now on the subject of Chris Quinn. Where to start. How about how far above average he played. His season PPWS is 1.17. In this game it was 1.46. What immediately stands out about that is how close to Carl Krauser his season and game PPWS mirrored. Obviously, Quinn took more shots in this game and was out there far longer by virtue of not fouling out until the final minute of the 2nd OT, but their production was very similar. Obviously, though, not the same way.

Quinn had an eFG% of 69.6 for the game, well above his season average of 52.7. The rest of the team only had a eFG% of 40%. Unbelievably bad in any definition since the straight FG% for the rest of the team was 35% (21-60) without him. It is just astounding to realize how much he carried that team.

You know, I feel like it was my fault Pitt nearly lost. At the very least ended up in OT. In the final couple of minutes I started typing some of my thoughts of the second half, and had even typed that Pitt won. I should know better.

I’d say the general consensus on the ESPN Full Court On-line set-up is thumbs down. It didn’t seem to matter what kind of broadband connection — cable or dsl — people had periods of picture freeze and skipping around. The sound was consistent throughout, which was good. I don’t see how, other than for those who have to be at a computer or somehow have a cable system not offering the package you would pay the same price for the plan that you would for the TV deal. Now if the price point was about 1/2, then I’d see the value and interest. Not at that price and for that quality, though.

I’m not sure how the schedule worked out that way, but it is a good thing Pitt has over a week off to rest. Especially to let Gray’s ankle and Kendall’s back heal.

Despite ND losing, let’s face it, the story was Chris Quinn.

No matter what defense Pitt tried against Chris Quinn, no matter what defender was used against him, he made shots — some from beyond the NBA’s 3-point range. But on a night no lead was safe against Notre Dame and its Quinn-led comebacks, what proved the Irish’s undoing was their inability to hold one of their few leads.

Ronald Ramon hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in the second overtime and No. 22 Pittsburgh withstood Quinn’s 37 points and frantic Notre Dame rallies at the end of regulation and the first overtime for a 100-97 victory Wednesday night.

Quinn was just hitting shots, and there was nothing to stop him. The defense was there, it wasn’t like he was getting clean, open looks. He was catching and shooting without any thought. Only 3-7 in the first half with 7 points, he just started hitting shot after shot late in the game and throughout the overtime. 10-16 the second half and OT, which included 5-5 at the line and 5-7 on 3s.

What Pitt had going for it was the fact that the rest of the ND team did not raise their game. It helped that the rest of their guards were fouling out along with Rick Cornett — removing the only inside presence they had.

Time to ponder the fate of Torin Francis. How shot must his confidence be? Once more, he wilts when he actually faces another team that plays strong inside. He played 29 minutes for the game. Only 14 in the second half and OTs. The only reason he played that much was because Cornett and the other guards had fouled out. He was stuck on the bench after a brief flash of effort to start the second half. And just how much smaller does his game look, when Quinn was literally carrying the Irish on his back.

In the end, and despite some shaky (to be kind) free throw shooting in the final 12 minutes of the game and OTs — with Krauser having fouled out of the game — Pitt came through.

With Pitt trailing by one, Ronald Ramon made a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left for the victory the Panthers tried to give away twice, once at the end of regulation and once in overtime.

Sam Young set a pick up high, Levance Fields penetrated and kicked it out to a wide-open Ramon for the winner. The Panthers did it without senior leader and leading scorer Carl Krauser, who had fouled out with 2:06 left in regulation.

“It was perfect execution by two freshmen and a sophomore,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Five guys did exactly what we wanted to do.”

And that not only should provide confidence for those players and the coach, it should make every Pitt fan very optimistic about the future. And, I’m almost ready to say that Coach Dixon deserves a little more confidence in him from the fans. Question a lot of things, but this team is showing noticeable improvement from the first game to now. From how they played last year to this season.

The basic numbers for Pitt were excellent.

Gray recorded his seventh double-double of the season, leading Pitt with 25 points and 11 rebounds. He also contributed four blocks, three assists and two steals.

Before fouling out, Krauser had 21 points and six assists, while freshman Sam Young had 15 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double. Ramon added 12 points, and Levance Fields had 11 points.

“It’s tough not having Carl out there,” Ramon said. “He’s the energy guy, the guy going out there and making plays.”

Pitt shot just 6 for 15 from 3-point range and was 30 for 46 from the free-throw line. The Panthers shot 49.2 percent (32 for 65) overall from the field.

Free throws could have been better, but I think that goes without saying.

Some numbers later, but here’s something that astounded me. Pitt had 30 assists on 32 baskets. That’s an Assist/Basket % (A/B%) of 93.2. Even more stunning to learn that Antonio Graves led with 7 assists, Krauser 6, Fields 5 and Ramon 4.