Before, during and after — let it fly.
HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt losing 30-37.
Very mixed feelings. Pitt could have been down so much more with 11 turnovers and WVU just hitting some really, really deep shots. At the same time, WVU should be shocked to be up this much considering the way Pitt came back on them.
Problem for Pitt was they cannot stop playing tight on the man. They came out hesitating on that, and then again late. Have to stay tight. Especially against Pittsnogle. He doesn’t have a first step to take the drive from outside the arc.
Kendall’s biggest defensive failing — and he did do a lot right — was that he kept playing off the Hoopies when they were outside. He stayed near the line, letting them take deep 3s, which they can make.
Less turnovers and tighter defense is the only way.
FINAL UPDATE: Pitt loses 62-67.
The moments when I felt the game just wasn’t going to go Pitt’s way were all — tips. When Frank Young got the tip in to go over Sam Young, and then Gansey got a seemingly random tip up and in it felt bad. Then, at the end when Krauser’s out-of-control drive missed but Kendall’s tip-in somehow didn’t.
I don’t like blaming one player. Especially one of my favorites, but Krauser cost the team. Not because he had a bad shooting night. Because he forgot to trust his teammates in the end. When he stood there dribbling the crap out of the ball when Pitt was down 61-58. He was going to take it himself, and everyone knew it. He wasn’t even looking to see if anyone would come open. It froze all the Pitt players in their tracks, because they knew the ball wasn’t coming to them under any circumstance. It sucked everything out for those key moments. All of the sudden, all they could do is try to create the space for him to drive, but it took too long, and WVU wasn’t biting.
It was selfish, egotistical and a critical mistake.
It was Krauser trying to atone for all of his misses, some ill-advised drives and bad decisions in the game all at once. He was going to drive get the hoop and the harm. Not going to happen. Not in this game, not against a team that just doesn’t foul, in a game where the refs let players bump.
Krauser forgot everything, to try and do everything.
