I see more and more in the comments, people living outside of the ‘Burgh trying to find a place to watch the game. Others, suggesting to people that they meet at some bar or go to a place they know has ESPN Full Court. That’s great, and hopefully it is helping people.

I will point out that a couple Pitt alumni groups are gathering to watch certain games. The Boston-based group is planning to watch the Pitt-WVU rematch at the end of February. Next Saturday, the Chicago-alumni are road-tripping to Milwaukee to be at the Pitt-Marquette game. And tomorrow, there will be a gathering in Tuscon to watch Cinci-Pitt.

Unfortunately, that’s it. Or they are the only ones alumni chapters that have posted to the calendar.

So here’s the thing, if anyone is feeling ambitious and wants to try and organize a group or even just a few people to watch in your area. Let me know and I will post information. I will put your e-mail, in the post for people to contact, but not as a direct link to prevent harvesting by spammers.

If an alumni group just never got it on the calendar, and you want to let others know, send me an e-mail and I will put the information out there.

Amazing how a win over a top-10 team and the rivalry team can make everyone seem happy. Well, everyone who’s a Pitt fan.

I thought Pitt fans could lose perspective at times. From the letter’s section at the Charleston Gazette:

Dave Hickman’s attempt to put a positive spin on West Virginia’ss loss to
Pittsburgh was pitiful. After building up a fine record over weaker teams, they
have folded. The Mountaineers were outplayed and outcoached by Pitt and,
thereby, embarrassed all West Virginia fans.

Can you imagine what his reaction was when the Hoopies lost to Marshall?

Coach Dixon spent his Friday night attending a high school basketball game. Oh, and it just so happened that Sophomore, and early Pitt verbal, Terrelle Pryor was playing.

A very good Q&A with Ray Fittipaldo.

Q: It seems opposing coaches may be changing their approach to defending against the Panthers. They are double-teaming Aaron Gray more frequently and forcing the Panthers to make outside shots. I think the second half of the Georgetown game showed how effective this can be. What are your thoughts on how the Panthers should respond?

Fittipaldo: That’s a good observation, Mike. I suspect John Thompson III got the Connecticut tape and watched how the Panthers shot from 3-point range in that game. The Panthers were 2 for 20 from behind the arc in that game. They were 6 for 17 against Georgetown, but two of those came in the final 30 seconds when Pitt was attempting a last-ditch come back. The Panthers had been missing a lot of open 3-pointers and mid-range jumpers throughout the second half of that game. I think you have to get the ball into Ronald Ramon’s hands more and have him shoot more 3-pointers. I also think Gray has to be more assertive in those situations and attempt to draw fouls. And if he is double-teamed, he doesn’t have to kick it outside
for shots like he did against Georgetown. Either Levon Kendall or Sam Young should be open in the paint. Gray must find a way to make teams pay for double-teaming, whether it’s by his passing or ability making free throws.
…
Q: When games are close at the end, as they usually are in the Big East, I never see a press from Pitt like I do other teams. Pitt predictably retreats to a half-court defense and often has to rely on fouling to get the ball back. With a full complement of guards this season why does coach Dixon refrain from this tactic?

Fittipaldo: The press has not been a part of Jamie Dixon’s arsenal since he became head coach. The decision to rely on half-court defense is part philosophy and part personnel. Dixon and Ben Howland subscribe to the theory that tough man-to-man defense in the half-court can be effective in all situations. Most teams that use the press a lot have a big stable of athletic and quick guards who can force the opponents’ guards into mistakes. And while Pitt has a large stable of guards this season, I would not describe any of them as super athletic or super quick. In fact, when Pitt faces teams with quicker and more athletic guards, as they did against St. John’s, it presents some problems for the Panthers.

Ronald Ramon gets a puff piece for his game and being healthy.

Anyone who watched the West Virginia game knows Ramon affected that game in more ways than his shooting. Ramon drew the assignment to defend Big East player
of the year candidate Mike Gansey and held the high-scoring senior to 12 points on 3 of 7 shooting.

Gansey called Ramon “a great defender” after the game.

Shooting the basketball has been something that always has come natural to Ramon. Playing good defense is something he has picked up since coming to Pitt.

“I definitely worked on my defense,” Ramon said. “Coach Dixon came up to me in the summertime and was like, ‘Our focus is going to be on defense this year.’ When a coach tells you that you have to look into it and come back with a different mentality. I knew I had to play better defense this year.”

Dixon said Ramon is only starting to come into his own and has the potential to develop even more later in his college career.

His defense has been solid all season. Really, Ramon has quietly taken a lot of team responsibility this year and responded very well. He is running the point about half the time. He’s drawing the tough defensive assignments. And now as his shoulder and fingers have healed, he is being asked to take more shots. He’s not a team leader this year, but the example he has set will make him one next year.

Of course the team’s leader this year gets his own puff piece.

“He’s the leader of the team,” said Pitt sophomore Ronald Ramon, who scored a season-high 16 points against West Virginia. “He came back with a different attitude to make our team better. It’s working. He came back and he said, ‘If I have to pass the ball for our team to win, that’s what I’m doing.’ He’s still going out there and making plays for his team.”
…
“Playing with Carl is a big help,” Ramon said. “Him coming back this year and trying to help the team, moving to the two-guard, which was big for him and was a different look, I think was a big plus for us.

“A lot of it was that people were going to come back and try to key up on him, knowing that he was going to be our primary guard trying to score. It helped us a lot. It opened up our big guy (Gray) and our other guards because he’s a driver. He’s a great player. He wants to go in there and make plays for other guys. It helps us a lot from the shooting perspective.”

Following Pitt’s 61-58 loss at No. 15 Georgetown last weekend, the animated Krauser didn’t miss a beat. He was chattering, as usual, upon departing MCI Center in Washington, talking about the importance of team unity and determination.

“I just want to keep the confidence going in the guys, relaying everything the coaches are saying, believing in myself and my teammates,” he said following the three-point setback. “It’s about just keeping everybody together.”

In a season of unanticipated success, Dixon, like all of his players, has no problem feeding off Krauser’s words of encouragement.

“All Carl has ever cared about is winning,” he said. “You can see it out there every time he plays.”

Then there is Freshman Forward Sam Young, who while thunderous at times on offense, has really improved on defense during the season. No longer picking up a couple fouls at a time. He is really starting to figure out spacing on the court and not losing his man.

Associate head coach Barry Rohrssen, had to have the patella tendon in his left knee repaired on Friday from an injury he suffered in practice on Wednesday.

Finally, I happily acknowledge what former Coach Ben Howland did for Pitt. Helping to craft the identity and philosophy of a team-first, tough, physical defense oriented team. I realize Dixon was Howland’s assistant and is his close friend. Still, there has to come a time when the credit for the way this team is now has to stay with Coach Dixon. This is his team. Howland has been gone for 3 years. It’s not like Coach Dixon changed or subordinated his own philosophy and views on how to run the team to fit the system.

I bring this up because this column, ostensibly, about Pitt’s defense sticking to man-to-man rather than playing any zone (like they did for short periods last season), can’t help but go back to the Howland well.

Pitt also is exclusively a man-to-man team again, just as they were under Ben Howland. Last year, Dixon was forced to play some 2-3 zone. His players have no intention of making him do it again.

They haven’t played a second of zone all season, Graves said.

“We definitely take pride in not wanting to go to a zone,” he added. “But we still practice a 2-3”

Certainly, Pitt is better-prepared to deal with WVU this season. The Panthers have more athletes to guard the perimeter and to disrupt passing lanes, and they don’t have to worry about covering for a lazy center like, say, Chris Taft, whose replacement, Aaron Gray, did a bang-up job on Kevin Pittsnogle.
…
I asked Beilein if his team had seen fewer open looks in any game in the past year.

“No,” he said. “It’s the same rubber stamp of how Ben (Howland) played defense.”

Indeed, it was. And how fitting that the performance came on the night Howland’s UCLA Bruins held Washington State to 30 points, fewest for a Pac-10 team since the advent of the shot clock.

The surprising Panthers (18-3 overall, 7-3 in the Big East) wreck offenses without using a full-court press, without gambling for turnovers. They do it with smarts, athleticism, toughness and superb coaching – all qualities Howland brought here seven years ago.

I guess it bothers me because it seems to be denigratingng the job by Coach Dixon to this point. The first year, it seemed like many acted like he was Phil Jackson with Michael Jordan and the Bulls, rolling out the ball and letting them do it themselves. Last year was a disappointment, and the fingers were pointed at Dixon — especially from me — and the questions about whether he could really handle being the head coach. This year, he’s showing everyone what kind of job he is capable of, and the comparisons go right back to Howland. Even worse, to what he is now doing at UCLA.

I hope.

Mainly because I would rather stab my eyes with knitting needles than watch the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Pitt came into the game with a solid game plan against WVU. On offense, draw defenders further out on the perimeter with good passing and penetration. With WVU’s unconventional 1-3-1 zone defense, the idea was to extend it further to create the space that otherwise would not be there. It took a while for Pitt to execute it, as evidenced by the 1st half rash of turnovers. Still it was a sound gameplan that actually started having an effect on WVU even in the first half. WVU is not a team that fouls much, but in the first half alone they were late to defend and ended up committing 10 fouls. It wasn’t a particularly sneaky or subtle offensive game plan, otherwise Dick Vitale wouldn’t have been able to explain it as he did during the game.

In the second half, the space on the court began to really open up, which allowed Pitt to make better passes and get the ball inside easier. Pitt didn’t launch early 3s, but because they did hit the good shots, it forced WVU to respect the perimeter shooters and Pitt got more comfortable playing the WVU zone.

The defensive game plan was actually quite simple — don’t leave your man. Pitt plays a man defense, but is always eager and ready to help if a player gets loose. In this game, Pitt players didn’t help. The Hoopies are a smart team. A precise team. They are not nearly that quick or athletic a team. They get their open looks by making the extra pass and moving without the ball. By staying with their man, no matter what, Pitt denied the pass to the open shooter and made every jump shot a contested one. The trade-off was allowing the occasional unmolested drive straight to the basket for an easy lay-in.

Coach Dixon prepared this team well, and while they struggled at first, they improved as the game continued. The bench was shortened in this game. While the usual 10 players saw time, only 7 made it to double figures.

Levon Kendall: A quiet but strong game. Did a lot of mucking inside while Gray stayed with Pittsnogle. 6 rebounds, 4 points (2-4) and 2 assists. More importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over. A solid defensive effort. Took a key charge/illegal screen from Frank Young in the final minute to force a WVU turnover.

Aaron Gray: Not a particularly good 1st half on offense. 5 turnovers as he did not handle the double team very well. Still, he stayed aggressive and got to the line several times, which carried over into an excellent second half. His confidence really seemed to grow from his defensive effort as he continued to stifle Pittsnogle.

He attacked the basket and worked through the double teams in the second half. Asserted himself inside. Finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, though 7 turnovers as well. He still needs work on finishing. Keeps trying to simply bank it or roll it in, rather than throwing it down.

Ronald Ramon: Arguably the player of the game. Stayed tight on Mike Gansey the entire game, preventing him from getting any open looks. You could see Gansey visibly frustrated. Shot extremely well, but not excessively. Never seemed to be streaking or can’t miss. Just kept dropping key buckets throughout the game to help Pitt.

Carl Krauser: Played an unbelievably unselfish game. Out there for 37 minutes but only took 7 shots. He had 7 rebounds, 5 assists and only 2 turnovers. As the most experienced Pitt player against the 1-3-1, he often seemed to be running the offense from the shooting guard position.

Levance Fields: Looked very uncomfortable in the first half. The defense clearly had him worried about being trapped and committing a turnover. As a result, a little too eager to pass away. He grew more comfortable running the offense in the second half as he found space to dribble and time to see the play develop.

Sam Young: Like Fields, it took him a little time to start looking comfortable and understanding how WVU was playing. In the second half, he shot 3-5, scored 10 points (4-6 FTs), grabbed 3 rebounds, 0 turnovers, and 1 block, steal and assist. Like Kendall, he mucked around the basket. Young played 16 minutes in the second half.

Antonio Graves: Played a solid defense keeping after Beilein or Collins, and spelling Fields, Krauser and Ramon at different points. On offense, he only took 2 shots (missing both, including a wide open 8 footer but handled the ball well against the WVU defense. He finished with 1 rebound, 3 assists and 2 turnovers over 18 minutes.

John DeGroat: It’s painful to watch him regress over the last few weeks. I’ve never seen such happy feet from a basketball player. He starts to shuffle his feet when he gets the ball, like he is going to do some sort of hesitation dribble-drive. Unfortunately he keeps forgetting to dribble. 2 turnovers in 5 minutes. I feel bad that he is having his minutes falling faster and faster, but he is doing it to himself by being so wound-up when he touches the ball.

Keith Benjamin: There’s being aggressive against the 1-3-1 and then there’s running straight into it without being aware. Benjamin, unfortunately, fell into the latter. Only played 5 minutes in the first half and sat for the rest of the game. He had 2 turnovers in that time. As befitting his high energy, he also had 2 rebounds and an assist, but he simply looked lost on offense.

Tyrell Biggs: Pitt just didn’t have any spare minutes at the forward/center spots last night. At least that’s what it seemed. Biggs took and dropped a nice 15 footer in his 3 minutes of PT. Personally, I’d like to see him get worked into the line-up more often. The problem has been the teams Pitt has played lately are much more guard oriented. Biggs just isn’t quick enough or skilled to handle that on defense.

It’s hard to resist a story which includes the following passage:

My family has been my backbone through all of this. They support my decisions, and I respect their opinions. It’s no fathers dream to see his daughter pose nude in Playboy, but every photo has been tastefully done, because the last thing I would ever want to do is disgrace my family.

Wow. I’m not sure there is any single wise-ass remark that can do that justice. Plus pictures (though not from Playboy).

Here’s a reason to hate UConn. Their promotional video. Orson at EDSBS has another gut-wrenching analysis of the “Great Pick.”

All of this made us practically Orgeronnically mad, but then came…the expressions. The mugging, smug, self-satisified array of looks Six-Stringy Fucktardo gives the camera is enough to make us want to drive to UConn and beat anyone bearing the slightest resemblance to a quivering, blood-sopped pile of mush and flannel. He flashes them with the shoddy confidence of a man whose equation for every evening went something like this:

(“Hey”) + (“That’s so deep”) – (wingwoman)/ (patented smile) X (laugh) + (one rendition of “Your Body is a Wonderland”)+ (four beers) = skinny sub-smart blond education major down for the night.

We hate this guy, we hate him, we don’t even know him and we hate him. We hope all the bad things in life happen to him and only him. And associatively, we hate UConn and all its flannelly, shitty acoustic guitar playing kinda long haired self stands for.

As is almost standard when I link to something from EDSBS: read it all.

Earlier in the week, I pointed out the conference road/home splits for Pitt. I have to admit, I couldn’t have known how good Pitt was going to make me look for bringing it up.

Home numbers through the first 4 Big East games:

Home (4) — FG% — 3FG% —- 2FG% —– eFG%
Pitt ——— 46.4 —– 44.3 —— 47.1 ——– 52.1
Opponents — 42.5 —– 34.0 —— 47.2 ——- 48.6

Now for last night:

————- FG% — 3FG% —- 2FG% —– eFG%
Pitt ——— 46.3 —– 45.5 —— 46.6 ——– 52.4
WVU——– 34.0—– 22.2 —— 46.2 ——– 39.6

Offensively, Pitt ended up right about on it’s home average, and Pitt’s defense was about the same, except for the outstanding work on defending the 3s.

The same also applies to the free throws. Pitt got to the line against a team that doesn’t foul a lot. The game plan was to attack the 1-3-1 zone. Spread the floor outside to draw WVU out further to clear space for penetration and better passing lanes. Pitt struggled in the first half at times with that — part of the reason for the numerous turnovers — but the team was forcing WVU to foul — 10 fouls on WVU in the first half — by attacking and defenders having to run to the player and the ball. WVU averages around 12-13 fouls per game.

Not only did Pitt get to the line more than 20 times, but continued the not great home FT shooting, only 14-22. WVU shot 11-16 for 68.8%, which is below their near 75% FT shooting clip. I’m starting to wonder if there is something in the background of the baskets when teams shoot FTs at the Pete. I mean, WVU, ND and Marquette are very good FT shooting teams who had below average to abysmal FT shooting performances at the Pete. Then there is the discrepancy between Pitt’s FT shooting at home (59.7%) versus 72.4% on the road. Is it simply that Pitt focuses better on the road or something else?

Here are the advanced numbers:

Pitt
Poss 62.5 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 91.3 D-Rating 84.9 (Eff. Margin +6.4)
eFG% 52.4 PPWS 1.11
A/TO 0.8 TO Rate 28.8% A/B 73.7%
Floor Pct 44.1% FT Prod 34.1

WVU
Poss 62.6 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 84.7 D-Rating 91.1 (Eff. Margin -6.4)
eFG% 39.6 PPWS 0.87
A/TO 0.8 TO Rate 16.0% A/B 44.4%
Floor Pct 41.3% FT Prod 20.8

WVU leads the Big East in assists. In this game, they were completely taken out of that. Another reflection of the solid defense Pitt put out there. They kept WVU from making the backdoor passes or dishing off by not going to help on defense the way they usually do. That’s why players like Collins and Herber went absolutely uncontested to the basket for lay-ins at times. Pitt was (wisely) not stepping over to help, and leave another shooter with a wide open jumper.

Pitt, meanwhile had a better than average night on assists. In the first half, when Pitt was turning the ball over and not shooting that well, all 7 baskets came off of an assist.

Okay, Pitt already has another ESPN game added to the slate. The game down in Florida against Central Florida has been moved from Saturday, October 14 to Friday, October 13. It will be a Friday night, 8pm game on ESPN.

Paul Zeise let himself get fed some bad information:

The Big East Conference released its football schedule earlier this week and the one question many fans from Pitt and West Virginia had was why the Backyard Brawl was not being held on Thanksgiving Day this season. West Virginia and Pitt will play on a Saturday (Nov. 16). Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, who attended the basketball game last night, said the answer was simple. “The NFL is going to be playing in that Thursday night slot now and ESPN didn’t want that game on that night to go against it,” he said.

First off, November 16 is a Thursday. As for the info from Tranghese, it omits the fact that Miami and BC are scheduled for a tilt on Thanksgiving (though the time is still undetermined). If you want, parse what Tranghese said carefully, and you can read a lot into “…and ESPN didn’t want that game on that night to go against it,” [emphasis added] to have a very different meaning.

Interesting end note about Coach Dixon talking to the Oakland Zoo before the game.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon addressed the student section 90 minutes before game time. Dixon thanked the Oakland Zoo for their support and asked them to refrain from using bad language. Pitt officials were upset with the way the Connecticut student section treated Carl Krauser last week and wanted to ensure West Virginia’s players were treated with respect.

One more reason, to have wanted Pitt to have won against UConn. It would have been full circle if Krauser jumped on the scorer’s table at the end of the game with the arms crossed to form an “X” over his head to mock the crowd. Ah, well.

And of course, plenty of dignitaries at the game:

The Steelers were honored for their Super Bowl victory during halftime of the Pitt-West Virginia game Thursday night at Petersen Events Center. Included among the players attending were practice squad quarterback Rod Rutherford, a Pitt graduate, and safety Mike Logan, a West Virginia graduate. Others on hand were defensive end Brett Keisel, wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, kicker Jeff Reed, guard Kendall Simmons, cornerback Ike Taylor and long snapper Greg Warren, along with chairman Dan Rooney, president Art Rooney II and director of operations Kevin Colbert. Other faces in the crowd were Govs. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Joe Manchin of West Virginia and former Steelers great Lynn Swann, who is a Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.

Really, it was just the first half that was that bad. Pitt couldn’t handle the ball and WVU couldn’t shoot. The second half was better for Pitt. They were about average on turnovers (6) and shot fine. WVU shot better, except when it came to shooting 3s, but for them turned the ball over a lot (6 times in the second half).

Ronald Ramon was huge in the game. With WVU looking to stop Krauser, try and clog the middle to make things hard to get the ball to Gray and prevent drives to the hoop, Ramon was hitting his jumpers. 16 points on 5-9 shooting (4-6 from 3-pt). That created space for Pitt on the floor to start getting the ball inside more.

Gray also had 16 points and 8 rebounds, but I wouldn’t call it a particularly good game for him on offense. He missed way too many easy baskets he should have thrown down. He was also responsible for 7 of Pitt’s 19 turnovers. He did not handle WVU’s defense very well in the first half. The last couple of games he has looked frustrated as teams are doubling down on him more frequently.

At the same time, I wonder if part of it was because of amount of energy he expended, effectively hounding Pittsnogle all over the court. Gray showed more energy and played an excellent defense against Pittsnogle, that I didn’t think he could do. He was able to come out on Pittsnogle but still moved back to the basket quickly. His rebounding numbers were limited more because of WVU shooting 3s, creating longer rebounds, than anything else.

The big story for Pitt, was the way they defended WVU.

“I can’t remember [Pittsnogle] getting an open look,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Every shot he took was contested. We battled and battled and battled. Our defense was good for 40 minutes, and that’s hard to do.”

Pitt did a superb job of defending West Virginia in general. The Mountaineers had one of their worst shooting nights this season. They shot 34 percent and made just 6 of 27 3-point attempts. In West Virginia’s two victories against Pitt last season, the Mountaineers made 24 3-pointers.

“Pitt played tremendous defense on us,” West Virginia coach John Beilein said. “We did our best to open looks. It was hard to get them. They frustrate you.”

Mike Gansey, who averages 18 points a game, was held to six below his season average. He was 3 for 7 from the field. Ramon and freshman Levance Fields stuck to him like glue.

“[Ramon] hounded me everywhere I went,” Gansey said. “He’s a great defender.”

Despite Pitt’s defense and the way they got WVU totally out of their game — especially by getting contact and forcing WVU to foul much more than they usually do, Pitt could never quite get a comfortable lead. Part of that is simply what happens when you play a team that lives by shooting 3s. It tends to always keep the game within reach. Just one little burst and suddenly everything has changed.

Of course, with WVU the higher ranked team and the national spotlight more on them going into the game the questions are more about what the heck happened to their vaunted motion offense and precision.

“I don’t like the way we handled a lot of things, but we’re going to learn from this game,” coach John Beilein said of the Mountaineers’ first loss in nine Big East Conference games.

What some opponents might have learned was a game plan for shutting down Pittsnogle

What? Get a well-conditioned 7-footer to contest all of his shots? Play WVU while Pittsnogle is sleep-deprived. Sorry, don’t mean to harp on the issue of whether Pittsnogle is getting any sleep or not, but his wife just had a kid. And assuming they are sharing the same trailer apartment, he hasn’t gotten much sleep the last few days. I don’t care if you’re 22 or 32, that sleep deprivation the first few weeks after a kid is born takes its toll. Even if he isn’t actually getting up to change and feed Kwyn-ctzlplx, the noise and his wife doing it messes with the sleep.

Not that Pittsnogle used that as an excuse. Well, maybe he did. Who knows. He refused to talk to the media after the game.

Did it prove just how bad the Mountaineers can be, or how good?

Really, look at the numbers. In a game in which Kevin Pittsnogle would have contributed more by staying home, in which the Mountaineers shot a season-low 34 percent and missed 21-of-27 3-point tries, could it get any worse? Could this team play any more poorly?

Yet on the other hand, even with a performance like that– a game which the Mountaineers played the last 41/2 minutes without a center — the score was 51-48 with 40 seconds to play against the No. 13 team in the country.

Sure, it ended up a 57-53 Pitt win, handing the No. 9 Mountaineers (17-5, 8-1) their first Big East loss but keeping them in a three-way tie for first place with Connecticut and Villanova. But a performance like that should have resulted in the same kind of 82-46 pounding the Panthers put on West Virginia three years ago.

Another WV columnist decried the quality of the play on national TV. Look, unlike BE football, a less than pretty basketball game in the Big East is not going to cause a lot of national handwringing and complaints.

Pittsburgh was ranked No. 14? The team that committed 13 turnovers in the first half?

WVU was ranked, what, ninth? Aren’t they known for dissecting the opponent and hitting the 3 ball?

At one point in the first half, West Virginia was 2-of-18 from the floor. That’s 10 percent shooting. Ten. From Trey Land, the Mountaineers were 1-of-11. That’s 9.1 percent. Ouch.

Uh, 2-18 is 11.1%. If you are going to be using a decimal percentage in one part, it helps to use it in the other. Especially in the same paragraph (insert your own math and dumb West Virginian joke here).

“We lost our focus,” said WVU guard Patrick Beilein. “We didn’t execute our plays and we kind of got rattled. I haven’t seen us do that for a long time. We just were in kind of a funk offensively. We just couldn’t get Kevin going.”

Kevin, as in Pittsnogle, the Mountaineers’ brand. The senior center couldn’t have played worse intentionally. (See what happens when you don’t plan well and have babies in the middle of hoops season?) Oh-for-12 with four turnovers.

The foul troubles, lack of production and lack of depth for WVU suddenly has questions about how deep in the NCAA Tournament the Hoopies can actually go.

Let me be honest here. What? It was a bad game. WVU got incredibly stifled by a tough defense and their star player had a lousy night. It was one game. Yes, they lack depth. They still kept it close and could have easily stolen a win if a couple of their shots went down. It was their first loss in the Big East. They are 8-1 in the conference. This is kind of silly.

Usual deal. Comment before, during and after.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt tied 22-22.

And it feels like Pitt is losing.

12 frickin’ turnovers will kill.

Actually getting Gansey, Herber and Nichols in foul trouble — 2 apiece. Pittsnogle scoreless. WVU not shooting well.

This is bad. Pitt had 2 of the 3 starters for WVU on the bench with foul troubles in the final 4:32. Pitt musters 3 points and gives up 9.

Disgusting.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt 57-53 win!

Ugly but I’ll take it. Horrible ball handling, but the perimeter defense was excellent.

I really believe Pittsnogle was trying to be a good new daddy and is just sleep deprived.

More later.

POSTGAME UPDATE: A little unusual I know, but I just caught the post-game interview on ESPNews with Coach Dixon. Asked about the game, his comment was appropriately, “We got through it.” Later said, that he felt the team, “got better,” through the game.

He did add that Pitt football assistant coach Bob Junko just had open heart surgery, and they dedicated the game to him.

As for defending Pittsnogle, he credited 3 days of practice and scouting. Said Gray did a fantastic job of covering him all over the court — and he did.

Joe Lunardi, ESPN’s “bracketologist” — part of a group heading for a severe backlash as people get sick of the whole seed projection stuff — wrote a column yesterday about the value of a good non-con schedule (hat tip to Joe T, Insider Sub.):

Why does it matter if Connecticut plays seven sub-150 teams? Or Florida? Or Pittsburgh? Or North Carolina State? All play in incredibly competitive conferences and have more than enough chances to face high-quality teams on a regular basis. In fact, we can document the effect that only half a conference schedule already has had on the respective SOS rankings for these four schools:

	NONCONF SOS	OVERALL SOS
Connecticut	No. 211	No. 57
Florida	No. 245	No. 120
Pitt	No. 244	No. 67
NC State	No. 231	No. 61

Now, that looks bad, and honestly Pitt’s non-con, and conference SOS has been sliding until last night. Wisconsin upset Indiana. Florida fell to South Carolina again. Auburn finally won a game. Heck, even ND managed to win a BE game. All teams Pitt had beaten, but because of their struggles up until last night were managing to bring Pitt down.

The result is that Pitt’s non-con SOS shot up 44 spots in one day to a still-embarrassing but not as bad 200. The overall SOS is now 59, and Pitt’s RPI is now #8.

As much as I am interested and find RPI and SOS information interesting and useful — and can get caught up in it, it is easily moved on any given night.

Anyways, back to the column. Lunardi then gets into the importance of non-con SOS.

Except it isn’t. The NCAA Tournament committee has demonstrated time and time again that “whom you choose to play” in nonconference games is a significant factor in terms of both selection and seeding. Who can forget 2004 committee chair Bob Bowlsby answering a question about how Pittsburgh — No. 5 in the RPI, No. 6 in the polls and 29-3 overall — could fall to the lowest No. 3 seed position?

Bowlsby pointed to Pitt’s nonconference schedule (No. 247) and 12 games that season against sub-150 teams (nonleague). …

Only UConn and Oklahoma State were even close to Pittsburgh that year in what I call “avoidance factor” — more explicitly stated as “games you cannot lose without an act of divine intervention” — but the Cowboys won the Big 12 tournament on Selection Sunday while the Panthers fell to UConn in the Big East final. Regardless, with what amounted to a 17-3 record for Pitt (subtracting all “avoidance” games), the NCAA sent the Panthers, and others, one sledgehammer of a scheduling message.
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The bottom line is that you can pile up all the quality wins in the world — as Pitt did in ’04 with a 9-3 record vs. Top 50 teams — but if you go too far with respect to “avoidance games,” the committee can’t help but seed you lower than comparable teams that don’t. It’s no different from scheduling non-Division I opponents; the committee has to consider the possibility of the team in question playing a “real game” and losing.

Avoidance games are ones that are against teams with sub-150 RPIs. That year, Pitt played 12 non-con games against teams with that kind of RPI. UConn and OK St. each played 7. This season, Pitt has played 6 “avoidance” games. Only Coppin St. looks to even have a chance to move to under 150 (presently at 178). The other 5 teams have RPIs of 205 or worse.

Lunardi is harsh on both UConn and Florida as well. He just used Pitt as the example, because it was the easiest and clearest occurrence in the NCAA seeding.

The interesting thing, and what pisses off most Pitt fans is Florida continuing to still be treated as a top-10 team while playing a worse non-con and losing as much in a weaker conference. I don’t really have an answer for the polls, other than the fact that the pollsters have “name” bias. They look at the non-con and see that Florida beat Syracuse and Wake Forest in a tournament, and regardless that neither team is that good this year (especially Wake) they get extra credit.

WVU Guard, Mike Gansey is from a Cleveland area suburb, so a Q&A interview with him.

Q. Do you miss St. Bonaventure at all?

A. Yeah, I miss the people there. But I don’t really miss the basketball that much.

Q. Several years removed, any regrets about you and your teammates truncating the season?

A. No.

Q. Why did it have to come to that?

A. We weren’t getting straight answers from the university. People think we bailed on the university, but that wasn’t the case. We were kept in the dark, and we were upset. We had a right to know more than they were telling us. I stand by my decision, and I’m sure my former teammates do, too.

Q. Biggest difference between West Virginia and Ohio?

A. The hills, and there’s a lot of ice on the roads in the winter. I’ve gotten into three minor car accidents because of the hills or hitting a sheet of ice. They don’t plow here quite like they do in Ohio.

It’s mainly the hills. People in NE Ohio are flatlanders. They have no clue how to handle hills or curves in the road — no matter what the weather.

Gansey is also saying that he looks forward to playing this road game.

But when the boos rain down in a monsoon of animosity, when his name is treated like the four-letter word that it is and when every stellar play produces sighs of exasperation — ah … that’s when Gansey really enjoys himself.

“I like to be in those situations,” said No. 9 West Virginia’s senior forward.

Tonight, Gansey is going to be in hog heaven.

That’s because no place on earth will be as hostile as No 14 Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center when the Mountaineers put their unblemished Big East record up against the Panthers (17-3, 6-3 Big East).

Game time for the ESPN-televised game is 9 p.m.

“Pitt (fans), they say things that no one says,” Gansey said. Then, with a smile creeping across his face, said: “It’s going to be fun.”

Big East Basketball blog has another fine preview for the game.

With seniors that can shoot the ball as well as West Virginia, you have to beleive they have a chance to beat anyone, anywhere. Relying on the 3-ball has its downfalls, because when it is not falling, they can look ugly. So far, they have gotten away with it in the games things weren’t falling in the conference. However, seeing that they can lose to Marshall in Charleston, but beat Villanova in the Pavilion shows how high or low they can go.

The Mountaineers seem to have been flirting with defeat a little more lately. Pittsburgh, at home, knows how big this game is and I expect them to be really charged up and ready to go, especially defensively and on the boards. Aaron Gray will cause Pittsnogle to work a little extra harder on the defensive end and on the boards and could cause him to wear down. Of course, Gray having to shadow Pittsnogle on the perimeter is an interesting dynamic in itself as that takes Pitt’s best rebounder away from the hoop and puts him in unfamiliar territory defensively. If Pitt can get 30 minutes, or in the neighborhood of, from Gray, that means they should have their game go they way they want it. If they have to adapt and go smaller to counter, I think that it will pull them out of their comfort zone and WVU will slowly carve them up.

I’m just hoping Pittsnogle is spending the last few nights not getting any sleep while tending to his new kid.

I was thinking a little more about Keith’s Neil’s question regarding Kevin Hughes and which recruiting class he actually belongs.

Hughes, as noted, is a 2-star recruit. He’s a diamond-in-the-rough type, that wouldn’t see much action in his freshman year. A quick archive search shows that Coach Wannstedt sold him on grayshirting last year at NLI time.

It allowed Pitt to do 2 things — offer more scholarships than the limits said it could, and gamble (correctly) that there would be some shake-out with transfers and non-qualifiers. Hughes now counts against last year’s scholarship count, had an extra year to work on his conditioning and skills, gets an extra semester to take classes and can participate in spring drills.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which class he gets lumped into. The guess is he will be given a good opportunity to get in the O-line considering graduations, the chance to do spring drills and learn, and just how bad the line was last year.

Noticed this on Bruce Feldman’s blog (ESPN Insider subs.):

Enigmatic Johnny Peyton, the poor man’s Fred Rouse, is gone from USF. The athletic 6-foot-5, 190-pound wideout, who caught two touchdowns in the season opener at Penn State, does have his redshirt year left to burn. My hunch is that he might end up at Akron with one-time Pitt assistant J.D. Brookhart.

Peyton, of course, was one of the many 2004 signing day defections that was a major blow to former Coach Harris. I’m not saying there’s a hex, karma or anything for those kids who changed their mind about Pitt, but it is interesting to watch those careers.

One other thing, I’m not totally sure how important it is but it might matter:

No longer can WVU and its Big East Conference brethren take recruits who do not meet the NCAA initial eligibility standards.

A lopsided November vote by Big East university presidents ended the acceptance of non-qualifiers.

“I don’t think they thought this out real well,” Rodriguez said. “The way it is, it goes too far, in my estimation.”

At the Big East presidents’ official league meeting next month in conjunction with the men’s basketball tournament, the policy language will be finalized.

Rodriguez doesn’t expect much tweaking, if any.

The original vote was 13-3, and WVU, which has had success with a limited number of non-qualifiers, was in the minority.

Commissioner Mike Tranghese has admitted previous discussions and at times emotional debate focused on academics and didn’t include consideration of the on-field ramifications of the nixing of non-qualifiers.
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The Big East is the fourth BCS league to eliminate non-qualifiers, joining the Atlantic Coast, Big XII and Pacific-10.

In football, the Southeastern Conference allows two non-qualifiers annually per school.

The Big Ten has no blanket prohibition, but some of its schools don’t allow NQs, as they are called.

However, if a Big Ten school takes a non-qualifier, although he cannot accept a grant-in-aid, he counts against the limits of 25 (annually) and 85 (total).

I don’t have the urge to look up what the difference is between a partial- and a non-qualifier. I’m guessing a partial has either the grades or the SATs, while a non has neither. Not sure that really cost Pitt anybody, but it is something to keep in mind for football and basketball recruiting.

WVU is trying to beat Pitt 3-times in a row. Something it hasn’t done in 15 years. It is also trying to be the first team to win twice at the Pete. Pitt is a 5.5 point favorite in the game.

As the game has two top-15 teams, ESPN has assigned Dick Vitale and Dan Shulman to call the game tonight. For those of us watching on TV (with the sound) that means hearing plenty of praise for the Oakland Zoo and fighting the urge to puncture your own eardrums with a pencil.

Honestly, what really bothers me about Vitale is how good he used to be, and now he’s a caricature of himself. I know I’ve said this before, but if you catch a college game on ESPN Classic from the late-80s/early-90s (not that ESPN Classic bothers with that anymore) you almost don’t realize it’s Vitale. He’s more reserved, provides more game insight and only rarely goes over the edge with the screaming. The enthusiasm for the game is there, but not the wild praising and heralding individuals as great guys.

[One other aside, ESPN Classic on Sunday night will be airing “The That Saved Pittsburgh.”]

The WVU players seem excited about the game and the coverage.

“I’m sure it’s going to be even more crazy with (Dick) Vitale being there,” said Patrick Beilein, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who is averaging 8.4 points and has converted 218 career 3-point shots.

“It’s a 9 o’clock game and the students are going to be all over us. We’re just going to have to be mentally prepared and not let them take us out of our game.”

Said teammate Mike Gansey, the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer (18.5 ppg.): “Any time you play at Pitt on national TV, it’s exciting. I remember last year, the crowd, that zoo (the Oakland Zoo). The fans were loud and they were all on us the whole game. It’s just a great atmosphere for a college basketball game.”
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“We’ve got to beat them on the boards. We’ve got to get putbacks. We’ve got to take care of the ball,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They’re going to make some threes, some tough threes. We’ve talked about making them all tough shots. We can’t give them any easy ones or open ones, where they get comfortable. We’ve got to avoid that situation.”

The game marks the first time that both teams are ranked at the same time.

“It adds to all the media and fans, I’m sure,” John Beilein said. “It’s great for both programs. For us, four years ago, and for Pitt, seven years ago, those were not highlights in their storied histories.

“And now, both teams have rebounded from low times in their basketball programs to probably as well as either team has been recognized.”

Added son Patrick: “Both schools are close and really don’t like each other. It’s a war the whole time. How can you not get up for this type of game?”

WVU Coach John Beilein reflects on how quickly he learned what the game means to the Hoopies.

The point is, if there’s anything a West Virginia fan hates more than Pitt it is losing badly to Pitt. And that seemed a certainty on that night.

But that was the night Beilein found out what the Pitt game means.

“I sensed that it was something special when in our first year here, when we were really struggling and [former] Coach [Ben] Howland and Jamie [Dixon, Howland’s successor] really had it going at Pitt,” Beilein said. “It was an 8 o’clock ESPN game and I came to the arena at 6 and the student section was already filled here.

“I had never experienced that before in my life at all these college levels, where the students were coming two hours early to make sure they got a seat. That’s the first thing I think of every time I think of this rivalry.”

He never experienced that at Richomond or Canisius? I’m stunned.

While Pitt is looking to end it’s two-game losing streak both in general and to WVU, the Hoopies start their rough stretch.

But while a few of those 15 wins in the past 16 games have come against some heady competition and a few have been on the road, there has been nothing like what the Mountaineers face now. In the last eight games of the regular season, West Virginia plays four times against Top 25 teams, all eight against teams that have either been ranked this season or beaten a ranked team on the road, five road games and a home game against the top-ranked team in the country.

For Pitt, there is a sense of not wanting a repeat of what happened last year against WVU.

Both times Pitt faced arch-rival West Virginia last season, they held seemingly comfortable halftime leads and wound up losing when the Mountaineers’ Kevin Pittnogle produced two of his famous catch-phrased shooting performances and “Pittsnogled” the Panthers.

On Feb. 5, 2005, Pitt led West Virginia at the break, 30-23, before the Mountaineers rode Pittsnogle’s 27 points, including eight in overtime, to a wild 83-78 victory at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va.

Then, only a little more than two weeks later — on Feb. 23 — Pittsnogle struck again, scoring 20 of his game-high 22 points in the game’s final 9 minutes and 14 seconds, leading WVU to a 70-66 victory at Petersen Events Center.

Among the scoring spree was a 4-for-4 effort from behind the 3-point arc.

“You can’t simulate a quick release that Pittsnogle has,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of the 6-foot-11, 255-pound West Virginia senior, who leads the Mountaineers in scoring (19.5 ppg.) and rebounding (6.3 rpg.). “We’ve tried to prepare for it and make our guys aware of it.”

The big thing for Pitt, is with WVU’s motion offense and the fact that all the players can shoot from anywhere, they have to stay close to their man.

“Basically, we can’t be overanxious,” Pitt sophomore guard Keith Benjamin said. “We know what guys they have who shoot the ball really well and we know what guys they have who penetrate and look to get other people open shots. We have to be more patient on our defense and not over-help, just close out all shooters and play with our hands up the whole time.”
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“What hurt us last year was giving up penetration and then giving up open shots,” Pitt junior forward Levon Kendall said. “That’s what they do really well. We know that. It’s something we’re aware of. It’s no secret. It’s just a matter of us being able to execute it in the game.”

One of Pitt’s strengths is playing help defense, but Kendall said the Panthers can’t do much of that against West Virginia because the Mountaineers have five outside shooters on the floor at almost all times. That means playing man-to-man defense will be one of the biggest keys to the game for the Panthers.

“They’re a pretty unique team because all five guys can shoot and space the floor,” Kendall said. “It comes down to individual defense because you can’t help too much, which is something we tend to do quite a bit. They can all shoot, so you can only help so much off penetration.”

It raises a tough decision about what to do with Aaron Gray. If you don’t put him on Pittsnogle, who do you have him defend? All the WVU players can and do shoot from outside. Drawing Gray out from the basket is not a good thing. You hate to lose a guy averaging a double-double, but Pitt can’t risk leaving WVU too open around the perimeter. The ‘Eers are too good a passing team not to find the open look. I could see Gray getting fewer minutes tonight in favor of a line-up that has more from Young, Benjamin and even DeGroat along with Kendall at the Forward and Center spots.

WVU is the hot team. Want extra proof. ESPN.com gorges on them in the days leading up to tonight’s game. Not that, they aren’t bad reads, but there’s plenty of fuel for the fire, er, let me couch phrase that differently. Lots of material to make Pitt feel like they are being disrespected or overlooked by the WWLS.

A very long piece detailing the happenstances that created this present WVU team from the coach hiring (and Dan Dakich turning tail for fear of sanctions at WVU), to how the players got there.

Andy Katz reports that the WVU athletic director is talking tough about Coach Beilein not leaving the ‘Eers.

West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong isn’t bothering with those rumors that John Beilein would be enticed to go to any of the potential ACC or Big 12 openings that could pop in March or April.

Why?

“He’s got a solid contract,” Pastilong said.
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“All these folks that talk about the dominoes fail to realize that John Beilein has a contract with West Virginia,” Pastilong said. “He and the school made a commitment, and we intend to fulfill it.”

Of course, because we all know how coaching contracts are virtually unbreakable.

The most interesting piece is from stats guru, Ken Pomeroy (and of course, Insider Subs.).

There are four basic building blocks of offensive efficiency: shooting, turnovers, offensive rebounding and free throws. The Mountaineers are among the worst in the country at two of those things: offensive rebounding and getting to the line. West Virginia ranks 329th and 330th, respectively, out of 334 Division I teams in those two categories. The only team that can claim a worse combined performance in those elements is Princeton, and its offense barely has a pulse, even by Ivy League standards.

But West Virginia’s offense is very difficult to defend, as evidenced by the Mountaineers’ 18th national ranking in adjusted offensive efficiency. And by torching quality defenses in road games at Oklahoma and Villanova along the way, WVU has proven its offense can succeed against just about anyone.

The simple explanation for this is that WVU succeeds by mastering the other two ingredients of efficiency. By committing turnovers on only 13.1 percent of its possessions, WVU takes care of the ball better than every team except Temple. In addition, the Mountaineers’ effective field-goal percentage of 54.3 percent ranks 24th in the nation.
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It turns out that the Mountaineers’ defense is just as unusual as the offense. In John Beilein’s trademark 1-3-1 zone, they rate poorly in two of the four factors, but are outstanding in the other two. Their strength is forcing turnovers and preventing free-throw attempts. The defense has improved from last season, mainly due to their increased dominance in these two categories.

Everyone has love for the Hoopies right now. Well, almost everybody.

Covers Expert Tony George feels in a rivalry such as this, intangibles will be a main factor.

“West Virginia is undefeated on the road this season (4-0) and Pitt is undefeated at home (13-0),” says George. “In games like this, especially with the extra time both teams have had, it will come down to who needs this game more.”

The Panthers haven’t played since Sunday, losing to Georgetown 61-58 as 4-point underdogs. George says giving a talented team such as Pitt time to reflect on back-to-back losses may be the deciding factor (they also lost 80-76 to Connecticut last Tuesday as 9-point underdogs).

“You have a team in Pittsburgh that’s lost its last two games on the road,” says George. “Now they come home — a place they average 17 more points than opponents — in a game they really need.”

Intangibles are nice, but I’d like to see solid defense, good passing and shooting.

Both papers had pieces on Pitt’s football schedule. The story by Paul Zeise had more from Coach Wannstedt.

Wannstedt said one thing that will make the schedule tougher is that he has a young team and Pitt doesn’t get any breaks in September. There are only eight scholarship seniors, not including kickers, and the majority of the defensive backs will be sophomores or younger.

“There will be a lot of pressure on us to get it right in training camp,” Wannstedt said. “We don’t have any exhibition games, any ‘give-me’ games coming out of the blocks. Virginia is a very tough game, especially for an opener. We have young players, but they have talent and we’ll work hard to get them ready. These guys will respond to the challenge and we’ll be a lot better prepared for the beginning of the season this time through it.”

Wannstedt said the early non-conference games are a challenge, but he also expects the Big East to be much tougher. He noted that there were no coaching changes in the conference in the offseason and that most teams relied heavily on underclassmen last season. That means there is more stability than last season when there were three new teams and two teams with new coaches.

“A lot of teams were like us — five I think to be exact — in that they were in some stage of transition last season,” he said. “Now every one has settled in and there were a lot of great young players in the Big East who are now going to be leaders.”

Okay, we have about 6 months to brace ourselves for the slew of inevitable cracks regarding Groh and Wannstedt matching coaching wits. If it wasn’t for the fact that Pitt is involved, we’d probably be slinging as well.

I was surprised in the notes, that OL Coach Paul Dunn interviewed for another job. Unless it was in the NFL or for an offensive coordinator position, that seems strange. I realize there is an argument that he was trying to make chicken salad with chicken s–t on the O-line, but he didn’t exactly distinguish himself his first year on the job.

Now on the subject of Pitt not playing the Backyard Brawl on Thanksgiving, but instead the week before, I’m not that upset. Yes, I suppose I should be since it was an ESPN move to get the bigger college name (hat tip, Chris) — and ACC/BE defectors no less, but it’s not like there was a tradition for the Brawl to be on Thanksgiving. That could be kind of funny. It’s not like the Orange Bowl is packed during most games for Miami. What will happen with a Thanksgiving Day game?

Selfishly, I like it because I’ll be able to make the game for the first time since 2001. If I’m not mistaken, this will also be the first Thursday night home game (not on Thanksgiving) for Pitt since 1997 — when Pitt beat Miami. I guess the only thing that really bothers me is that it isn’t the season finale. The place a good rivalry game deserves to be when it is in conference. Instead, both teams have games afterwards.

One other thing, over at Sportsline.com, they rank the top-10 football-basketball schools:

Why not both? Broaden your horizons as an increasing number of schools have done. In other words, it is possible to be good at football and basketball at the major-college level. All it takes is a few million dollars, a couple of good hires and a little bit of dedication.

It’s important because the two sports bring in the most money at most schools. The list used to be small enough to jot on a cocktail napkin. Now it’s a full-blown bar argument.

No Duke, Stanford or Michigan on this list. See if you agree with this group, based the latest accomplishments at each school:
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9. Pittsburgh: Hard to believe, but Pittsburgh is not just about the Steelers. We swear.

Walt Harris brought the football program back to a BCS level. Dave Wannstedt was disappointing in his first year but is destined to win a Big East title before he’s through.

Howland and Jamie Dixon have the basketball program back to an elite level. Great accomplishments in an urban-campus setting.

Hey, it’s the off-season for football and post-NLI time. Optimism should abound for football.

So, Pitt has played 9 conference games so far and is 6-3. That means conference only stats are approaching relevance and usefulness.

Here are the overall conference numbers to this point.

Overall (9) – FG% — 3FG% —- 2FG% —– eFG%
Pitt ——— 42.9 —– 33.3 —— 46.6 ——- 47.6
Opponents — 42.4 —– 35.2 —— 45.8 ——- 48.0

Kind of interesting to see how close things really have been in conference, yet Pitt is 6-3. I’m going to split things up:

Home (4) — FG% — 3FG% —- 2FG% —– eFG%
Pitt ——— 46.4 —– 44.3 —— 47.1 ——- 52.1
Opponents — 42.5 —– 34.0 —— 47.2 ——- 48.6

Away (5) — FG% —- 3FG% —- 2FG% —– eFG%
Pitt ——— 40.0 —– 25.6 —— 46.2 ——- 43.9
Opponents — 42.2 —– 36.8 —— 44.4 ——- 47.5

There is only one difference between what Pitt does at home versus on the road: shooting 3s. Everything else is not noticeably different. Even on defense. But the variation between Pitt’s 3-point shooting on the road as compared to home is huge.

Not only is Pitt missing more 3s on the road, it is taking more 3s. Pitt has shot 27-61 at home (6.75-15.25/game) and 22-86 on the road (4.4-17.2/game).

Still that doesn’t full explain the 3 losses. After all, Pitt shot only 28.6 (4-14) versus Rutgers but hit 35.3 (6-17) against Georgetown.

There’s one other component missing when Pitt goes on the road — and especially in the losses. Free throw shooting. I’m not talking about the number of made shots. I’m talking about the number of attempts. Look at this:

Home (4) — FTA — FTM —— FT%
Pitt ——— 127 —— 75 ——– 59.1
Opponents — 48 —— 28 ——- 58.3

Away (5) — FTA — FTM —— FT%
Pitt ———- 98 —– 71 ——- 72.4
Opponents — 100 —– 71 ——- 71.0

Pitt is actually shooting free throws significantly better on the road. The problem is, they aren’t getting to the line enough. Over half of Pitt’s FTAs came in just 2 games (Louisville and RU).

In all but one of Pitt’s wins (Marquette), the Panthers attempted at least 24 free throws (average of about 30.5, but skewed a bit because of the D-OT game with ND where Pitt had 46 FTA) . In the 3 losses, Pitt averaged 14 trips. The high was 18 (UConn) and the low 10 (Georgetown).

How does a team get to the free throw line? Either by getting the other team to foul a lot (creating bonus situations early — DePaul) or by being fouled while shooting (aggressive play to the basket).

When Pitt plays good games it is passing the ball well, and taking good shots. The team isn’t settling for jumpers and shying away from contact. There is penetration (like against Syracuse). When Pitt is taking more 3-point attempts, they are not penetrating as much and/or just passing along the perimeter (St. John’s). They are avoiding contact, and if the shots aren’t falling, it isn’t creating more opportunities inside or space to make the pass for a player to drive to the basket.