If the write-ups on the game use verbs like “survive” or “recover” or such, I won’t be arguing. Pitt found itself in a fierce game with Marquette. I don’t think Pitt took Marquette lightly. Only a fool would do that to the only team that has beaten UConn this season.

In the first half there were a lot of things not going right. Pitt was simply missing some easy baskets. Their defense was confused, and not getting through the screens very well.

DeGroat came out and just seemed possessed — but not in a good way. It was like he had gotten himself hyped up to the game and thinking this was going to be his break-out performance. Instead, he fumbled the ball away on the first touch, and missed an open lay-up on the second. I don’t know why but I have the mental image of two Pitt players on the bench having the following conversation in the first few minutes of the game.

Bowman: John’s playing like a wild man out there.

Small: Yeah, said before the game that he was “feelin’ it” today.

Bowman: Really?

Small: Uh, huh.

Bowman: [Watches DeGroat fall down trying to get around a screen] … Think it might be the flu?

Gray at least had the flu as an excuse for bouncing the ball off of his knee and missing a bunch of easy buckets in the game. The bright side, it allowed him to pad his rebounding stats.

Marquette, by contrast came out measured but quick. They moved the ball so crisply and found the open guy for the shot. They not only were playing the pace they wanted, they were getting Pitt to play their pace. Pitt’s defense in the first half was late and overpursued. Marquette kept getting a shooter free.

In the second half, the Pitt defense finally settled and played much tougher. The open shots for Marquette were fewer and prevented a rythm from going. It also has to be made clear that Marquette’s offense was severely crimped when Freshman PG Dominic James went out with the shoulder injury. He apparently hurt it in the first half, running into a Gray screen (nice catch, Keith), but really aggravated on a steal in the second half, when Fields bumped him. James went out at the 13:17 mark and didn’t return until 4:34 was left in the game. Marquette had done okay for a while, but at that point Pitt had a 6 point lead. You could see James was in visible pain as he played. No doubt the kid is tough and had everyone’s respect in the building to come back in and play.

The loss of James, though, completely disrupted the Marquette offense. In the first half their Assist to Basket made percentage (A/B%) was 64.7 (11 assists on 17 FGs). In the second half, it was 25% (3 assists on 12 FGs). While part of that is also a credit to Pitt’s defense improving, you can’t understate the loss of a team’s starting point guard. Especially considering the way he was playing. Very creative and playing an impressive defense.

Pitt, even when it was struggling in the first half, was still making the passes. For the game, Pitt had a 71.4 A/B%. In the first half, Pitt was actually better at 75% A/B. Just a lot of missed shots.

Offensively for Pitt, it was Antonio Graves that kept Pitt in the game and then led the way in the second half. He scored 7 points in the first half off of 3-4 shooting and then had 12 more in the second half.

Ronald Ramon continues to look more confident in his shooting and on offense. It is like he is finally regaining that shooter mentality he had early last year as a Freshman before the injuries.
Sam Young didn’t seem to do much on the stat sheet, but he was a presence. He seemed to be relishing the physical play and didn’t mind battling.

Kendall was solid with his game grabbing 9 rebounds and shooting 50%. Fields and Benjamin weren’t doing much on offense, but did provide some decent defense. Fields also had 4 assists.

Gray seemed to play better as the game continued. He had one for the highlight reel in the last minute when Pitt got the ball back to him alone at the other end for an open shot. He paused and ducked as Jamil Lott (I think that’s who it was) dove right over his back trying to block the shot or foul. Lott cleared him. Gray paused, looked at the guy now lying in front of him, and slammed the basket home.

I hope they show that clip the rest of the season whenever Pitt plays.

Now a word about the announcers. Blech.

Donny Marshall, the color guy, apparently couldn’t be bothered to read the injury report. If he had, he might have been aware that Marquette’s Steve Novak is playing with a high ankle sprain. Right now, Novak can’t create his own shot and needs the team to screen for him to shoot. Pitt was defending against that, so Marshall for some inexplicable reason spent most of the second half oblivious to the injury info and talked about how Novak wasn’t being aggressive enough.

Don Criqui is an average football announcer. I really can’t stand it when announcers refuse to give you the vital info like who fouled and how many they have. Not to mention assists and things like that.

Big props to Marquette for that game. The rematch in Milwaukee on February 18 is going to be something.

As per the routine, comment freely before during and after.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt down 40-33.

Cold doesn’t even begin to describe the way Pitt started the game. Just plain missing good shots. Very frustrating.

They were unable to control the pace for the first 15 minutes. Finally showing a little more defensive transition.

Marquette is a very accurate team, and it is showing. They are getting great ball movement and penetration to have good shots. They are having open looks and really trying to free up the shooter.

Pitt’s problem, disturbingly, is in the paint. They aren’t getting their shots inside, and keep having break downs on defense because of the perimeter threat Marquette’s shooters pose.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt won 77-71.

Marquette scored 2 quick 3s at the end to totally screw anyone who bet on Pitt and had to give up the points.

Pitt was coming back and maybe they still would have won, but when Dominic James went out with the shoulder injury, that really did it. Weird how it happened. Didn’t look like a hard hit, when Fields tried to recover the ball, just seemed that it was where he hit. I’ve had a few shoulder injuries, and there are times when I’m astounded that more don’t happen in sports. It seems as much about the spot than the force.

Graves had a tremendous game. His shots were falling, and he seemed less tense when he was out there. Gray was cleaning up on the boards, but still couldn’t hit nearly the number of easy baskets. Not to mention his troubles holding on to the ball (or bouncing it off of his knee).

Marquette, amazingly, had a horrible day at the line. Really struggling.

The stories for today seem to be about Marquette Coach Tom Crean puffing Pitt’s toughness or the shallow similarities of the teams — mainly expectations and how they’ve performed with a lot of youth.

No doubt everyone is surprised that it is Marquette who is doing the best job of the C-USA newbies in adjusting to the Big East. Like Pitt they were placed somewhere in the mushy middle of the BE in preseason polls with all of their new players. So naturally, it is easy to say they are similar.

They have surpassed all preseason expectations. They have a talented senior with NCAA tournament experience and three talented freshmen who have elevated their play and the play of those around them.

They play in a football-mad state where the winter weather is biting.

Sound like the Pitt Panthers?

Yes, but those very words also describe Pitt’s opponent today in the Petersen Events Center — the Marquette Golden Eagles.

Yes and know. As I hope the Q&A showed, this is not a similar team except for youth. Marquette starts the freshmen, plays at a faster tempo, is a better shooting team (especially at the free throw line), turns the ball over a lot and is weaker on defense.

Crean did talk about Pitt’s toughness in admiring terms.

A huge believer in hard-nosed basketball himself, Crean has been enamored of how hard the Panthers play ever since they took his team down to the wire in the Sweet 16 in 2003. MU won that matchup, 77-74, behind an incredible 20-point second half by Dwyane Wade.

Aside from the faces – only senior point guard Carl Krauser returns from that team – not much has changed at Pittsburgh in the nearly three seasons since.

“I don’t know if they’re the toughest team in the country – I don’t know enough about the other teams – but I’d have a hard time believing they’re not one of the toughest teams in the country,” said Crean, who spent one season as an assistant at Pittsburgh in 1994-’95.

One of the big issues in this game is the health of Marquette. Their leading scorer, Senior Forward Scott Novak has a sprained left ankle. It limited him in the DePaul game (only 5 points). Add in the fact that one of the freshmen who had been starting Wes Matthews is out with injury. While Novak will play, he will be a little limited and Crean indicated that the team is going to have to create some screens to give him chances to shoot.

Sticking with the Pitt is tough theme, more from Coach Crean.

“The system is in place, (meaning) the toughness never changes,” Crean said. “Pitt is not going to get beat in the defensive battle because they can guard and they cover for each other so well. What separates them so well right now is the pressure their guards can put on you.

“They’ve got the whole package. On offense, (center) Aaron Gray is such a great passer. He sees the cutters so well and he’s on the same page as (forward) Levon Kendall with their interior passing. They’re hard to prepare for. They have a lot of different ways to make plays.”

Crean, who has averaged nearly 20 victories during a seven-year stay at Marquette (15-5, 5-2), served under former Pitt coach Ralph Willard during the 1994-95 season, which produced a forgettable 10-18 record. He moved on to Michigan State the following year, joining coach Tom Izzo, who presently heads the 11th-ranked Spartans.

Nonetheless, Crean, a native of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., “loved being in Pittsburgh. My wife is a Pitt graduate, so it’s a chance for her to come home. Our daughter was born right there in Oakland. I never ate more Italian food in my life.

“I loved going to Pirates games and Steelers games. I regret that I never saw a Penguins game. I had a chance to go home to Michigan State, or I have been happy there. It was a really special time.”

I’ll give the local papers credit. They didn’t beat into the ground Crean’s Pitt connections — his father-in-law, Jack Harbaugh was a Pitt assistant under Mike Gottfried. His brother-in-law is former Bear/Indianapoplis/Charger QB, and now head coach of the University of San Diego Toreros, Jim Harbaugh. That would also mean that Jim played for one season under Pitt Head Football Coach Dave Wannstedt (1993).

Late doing this, I know. Wanted to do it yesterday, but everything seemed to be about 4-6 hours behind.

You can see the game notes for Pitt and Marquette (PDF). Obviously the 2003 Sweet 16 game is a subplot/storyline. Though, since Marquette won the game, they are playing it up a little more:

Unlike some of its BIG EAST matchups, Marquette’s meeting with no. 12/10 Pittsburgh will not be the first between the two schools in recent history. The Golden Eagles and Panthers hooked up on Marquette’s way to the Final Four in 2003 in a hotly contested round of 16 contest in Minneapolis.

Marquette head coach Tom Crean remembers Pittsburgh as an aggressive, tough-minded team, something he says carries over to the Panthers’ team of today.

“That was one of the most fierce battles of basketball that I’ve ever been a part of,” Crean said referring to the two team’s NCAA meeting. “Their system is in place for them to be great defensively and to be highly efficient offensively. When I say the system is in place, its the toughness that never changes.”

I’m really not able to talk about this.

Greg Doyel at Sportsline lists this in his top ten weekend games to watch.

Marquette at No. 12 Pittsburgh: Most surprising team in college basketball? It’s one of these two. Marquette and Pittsburgh are a combined 31-6, and you couldn’t combine their rosters and get a team that would beat Duke. (No way Marquette beat UConn. No possible way.) Pittsburgh’s an NCAA Tournament lock. Marquette, even more shockingly, is moving in that direction. Crazy. Pittsburgh’s winning with older guys like Carl Krauser, who turns 30 next month. Marquette’s doing it with whippersnappers like Steve Novak, who looks 14, and Dominic James, who is 14. Pick: Geezers.

The paper in Syracuse picks today’s game as the “must watch” in the Big East.

Watch this game: Marquette at Pittsburgh

Two of the Big East’s biggest surprises face each other on Saturday as Marquette travels to Pittsburgh. The Golden Eagles are off to a 5-2 start in the conference, while Pitt is 5-1.

Marquette drew some attention with its upset of Connecticut in the conference opener. Since then, the Golden Eagles’ victories have come against DePaul (twice), Seton Hall and Notre Dame – teams with a combined Big East record of 4-14.

After suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday at St. John’s, Pittsburgh bounced back with a decisive victory over Syracuse on Monday. Because it’s a home game, this is an important contest for the Panthers, who travel to Connecticut and Georgetown next week.

They also speculate as to what else this game could determine.

Early front-runners for conference coach of the year? Pitt’s Jamie Dixon, Marquette’s Tom Crean. Panthers (16-1, 5-1), Golden Eagles (15-5, 5-2) were picked by coaches to finish seventh, 12th, respectively. They’ll meet Saturday at The Pete. They met in a dandy in the 2003 Elite 8, and Crean’s team went to the Final Four with a three-point win in Ben Howland’s last game as Pitt’s coach (Dixon was associate head coach).

It was the Sweet 16. Don’t they have editors for this stuff?

The Marquette Scout.com site has a pretty good preview of Pitt. They seemed to have done more than simply look at some preview guides and check the records.

The best match-up preview comes courtesy of Big East Basketball Blog.

One of the areas in which the Panthers tend to struggle is in allowing too much dribble penetration from opposing guards. One of Marquette’s biggest strengths is their ability to breakdown defenses off the dribble led by freshmen guards Dominic James and Jerel McNeal. James is by far and away the leading candidate for freshmen of the year in the Big East conference is listed at only 5’9, but he is one of the quickest and most athletic point guards you will see…

Read all of it.