Rob Evans at Arizona State has his office packed into boxes. Now the school has to wait before it can really try to get Dixon.

[ASU AD Lisa] Love said a search for Evans’ successor would begin immediately.

There has been widespread talk about candidates, with Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon at the head of the speculation list. Dixon grew up in Los Angeles and worked as an assistant to UCLA’s Ben Howland when both were at Northern Arizona University and Pittsburgh.

Love did not identify any candidates. But, she said, “There is a starting point, yes.”

She also said she has not spoken to anybody who might have interest in the job.

“Not yet,” she said.

Timing is critical and turns the search process into a bit of a gamble. There are questions about how long ASU will wait on a candidate. If Pitt goes deep into the NCAA Tournament, it might be awhile before ASU gets an answer from Dixon.

Of course, they do have an intermediary they can go through. Dixon finally hired an agent.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has hired Boston-based lawyer Dennis Coleman to represent him, and Coleman met Pitt athletic director Jeff Long at the Big East tournament.

Dixon did not have representation in his first two seasons as head coach. Coleman represents 35 college basketball coaches, including Arizona coach Lute Olson, Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser and West Virginia coach John Beilein.

Dixon has quickly become a hot coaching commodity. He has emerged as the leading candidate at Arizona State according to a newspaper in Arizona and is being prominently mentioned for the opening at Missouri.

Dixon could command at high price tag, which is why he decided to hire an agent for the first time. He is currently making around $600,000 a year at Pitt and is expected to get a healthy raise whether he decides to stay at Pitt or accept another coaching position.

Coleman attended the Big East tournament the past few days and had a chance to watch four clients Thursday. Coleman represented the four coaches who played against each other in the two evening quarterfinal games — Beilein, Dixon, Seton Hall coach Louis Orr and Rutgers coach Gary Waters.

Coleman’s meeting with Long did not get much past the introductory stages and no significant progress was made toward a new pact.

Long issued a statement through a Pitt spokesman earlier in the week saying that he would not negotiate or discuss Dixon’s contract situation until after the season. Dixon has four years remaining on his current pact.

I’m assuming AD Long was posturing about no negotiations until after the post-season. He may have meant it when Dixon had no representation, but not now. Now he has to get out in front and work on the deal. There is no reason not to, and plenty of reasons to. A shiny new extension with a significant buyout seems to be the thing to do. Don’t let it become the thing hanging over Pitt’s run so that things come to resemble in anyway the 2003 NCAA Tournament with UCLA and Howland just waiting to happen.

First off, thank God Allan Ray is gonna be o.k. For real.

Secondly, to those who curse me, that is, my so called “friends” – Chas, Pat, Lee (in Altoona) and John – I WATCHED ALMOST THE ENTIRED GOD-D****D GAME AND WE STILL WON; IN A DOMINATING FASHION!!!

So let’s shitcan the ‘jinx’ talk, o.k. ?

Thirdly, why do I get so much better looking the more I drink? Oh, wait, but that’s another story.

So, um, I just wanna say, bite a fart, dudes. 😛

It looks like Allan Ray is okay.

The new prognosis is that Ray’s condition is only a soft tissue injury — treatable with eye drops — and that he will be released from St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York tonight, allowing him to travel back to Philadelphia with the rest of the Villanova team in the morning. Ray’s playing status for the opening round of the NCAA tournament is day-to-day, according to Wright, who said, “I gotta feel pretty good [about Ray being available].”
…
By 12:30, the Villanova camp was breathing a massive sigh of relief. “This is the best possible scenario,” Wright said. “When I first saw [the doctors], they said [Ray’s] vision was starting to come back. Now they said his vision’s good and they’re going to release him.”

Here’s to a speedy and full recovery by Thursday.

Going into the BET, I was hoping for 2 wins. To expect Pitt to beat the #2 team and then #1 would be too much to ask. No team has ever pulled off the 4 wins in 4 days. Every time a team has come close, they have been totally gassed in that final game.

Now the script is out the window. Syracuse knocking off UConn a couple days ago changed it all. Now that Pitt has gotten past Villanova, I’m feeling greedy. I want it all. There’s no reason not to. History is on no-one’s side in this game. Both teams are playing with tons of confidence. Both teams have gotten hot.

No question, either team can win this game.

Now I need some crash time.

Talk about the Syracuse-Georgetown game then take it into the game that matters.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt is leading 32-21.

Shocking. Especially since Pitt got off to a bad start — 4 turnovers in the first 4 minutes.

Pitt is doing it with guards passing and penetrating. Graves, Fields and Ramon are huge.

Kendall is fearless. If you’ve ever had any back problems, you know how tender it can feel — and how much pain it can cause.

Gray and Krauser aren’t exactly lighting it up, but they will be needed to come up big in the second half.

You can’t expect Villanova not to make adjustments and stay that cold. They will be making a run, and with their guards and the 3-point line, it doesn’t take much time.

FINAL UPDATE: All hopes that Allan Ray is not suffering from anything permanent.

Pitt wins 68-54.

If you were to tell anyone that Pitt would get 14 points on 4-14 shooting, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 turnovers combined from Carl Krauser and Aaron Gray you could only assume an embarrassing Pitt loss. Instead, a 14 point win over the #2 team in the country.

I would not prescribe that plan too often, but Pitt pulled it off tonight.

This was a tremendous team defensive effort and Levon Kendall was the unsung hero. I’m still digesting all of this. Astounding.

Pitt and Syracuse tomorrow. History will be made. I don’t buy into destiny or fate, so Pitt has its opportunity.

I hope Villanova players are looking as far ahead as the people writing about them are.

That squeaking noise you hear is the door of opportunity opening wide for Villanova.

It’s all right in front of the Wildcats, a Big East Tournament championship, a first-ever No. 1 ranking, a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and more than anything an I-95 corridor roadto the Final Four in Indianapolis.

All ‘Nova has to do is walk through.

Now, things aren’t as simple as that; there still is the rather large matter of beating Pittsburgh tonight in the Big East semifinals and then knocking off the survivor of the Georgetown-Syracuse semifinal for the conference title.

But everything is set up for the taking.

The column then spends most of the time with the “but” portion.

Naturally, Villanova is taking the, “we have to play them one game at a time” approach.

The rest of the world is looking ahead, thinking up the scenarios for Villanova now that the Wildcats live to play another day and Connecticut doesn’t.

Fans and reporters are looking at a Villanova team that suddenly finds itself staring at a Red Sea-like route to the Big East Tournament title, reveling in the Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., NCAA Tournament commute that should come the Wildcats’ way on Selection Sunday.

Not Villanova. As much as reporters begged and pleaded after the Wildcats blew the doors off Rutgers, 87-55, in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal last night, the players weren’t biting.

“That’s what the rest of the world does,” sophomore Kyle Lowry said. “We have to be different.”

Different, that’s what No. 2 Villanova, which will meet Pittsburgh in the tournament semifinals at 9 o’clock tonight, has been all season. From its four-guard lineup to its tunnel vision through a season that has seen the bandwagon fill up to overflowing, the Wildcats have done things kids their age aren’t supposed to do. They have maintained their composure and their cool, have enjoyed their newfound fame but haven’t gotten swept up in it and most important, have taken the cliche of one game at a time to heart.

Villanova is a 4.5 to 5 point favorite. In 5 of the last 6 meetings the favored team covered and won between the two teams.

Blogger is driving me crazy this week. I’m really starting to consider a move to a new platform.

Since I’m sure most of you read the stories in the Pittsburgh papers, I’ll skip the excerpts from non-columns.

In New York, the Times has a perfunctory report commenting on balanced scoring and making free throws by Pitt. Newsday takes subtle digs at the Hoopies in their summary.

Back where its thrilling hayride to the Elite Eight began, West Virginia entered this year’s Big East Tournament as nobody’s Cinderella. But the third-seeded Mountaineers will need to jump-start an NCAA Tournament run without the benefit of a terrific conference tournament. They lost to sixth-seeded Pittsburgh, 68-57, last night in the quarterfinals.

Finally the Daily News goes with the hometown feel.

Carl Krauser grew up in New York City, so he really understands about how playing basketball on the Garden floor can be a higher calling. He also knows how special it is to win a championship on it, having done so three years ago when Pittsburgh captured the Big East Tournament title.

“Those of us from New York get it,” he said. “It’s on us to spread the word about how good it can get.”

Krauser was there spreading the word to his Panther teammates last night at halftime of their Big East quarterfinal against West Virginia. They’d been lackluster for 20 minutes and trailed at times by more than 10 points. But inspired by Krauser’s words and his Bronx-born glare, Pittsburgh jumped all over the fourth-seeded Mountaineers in the second half and soared into the Big East semifinals with a 68-57 win.

“Carl had this look on his face,” Sam Young said, describing the scene in the locker room. “I didn’t want to let him down.”

Sam Young, did far from let anyone down in his first start.

Out in the trailer parks, the mood is not so joyous.

This loss was more than just a single game in a single tournament. The way this season is ending is the very antithesis of last year.

In 2005, the Mountaineers headed into the NCAA Tournament having won seven of nine. This year? They’ve lost five of seven.

“We lost five of seven because we lost to lights-out teams,” said WVU Coach John Beilein following the Pitt loss Thursday night.

Still …

Yeah, you think we were getting down on Pitt. The mood is starting to sour South of Pittsburgh.

The loss was another disappointment in a string of recent ones at the end of this season. West Virginia has lost six of nine to fall to 20-10. Still, the Mountaineers are a lock to be invited into the NCAA tournament field Sunday afternoon, although their seeding has no doubt taken a big hit.

West Virginia could have gone a long way toward recovering momentum and a stronger NCAA seed, but like top-ranked Connecticut and Marquette earlier in the day the third-seeded Mountaineers failed even to win their first game after getting a first-round bye. The only one of the top four seeds that won in Thursday’s quarterfinals was Villanova.

It seems, now that WVU is losing more, the concern about that rebound differential looms bigger (much like Pitt and turnovers).

For one half, it didn’t seem that way. The Panthers held a rebounding advantage in the first half, but it was slim — Pitt had 18 to West Virginia’s 17.

“That was the main thing I said at halftime,” Dixon said. “It shows these kids knew what had to be done.”

Dixon must have been very persuasive. The Mountaineers only grabbed seven rebounds in the second half. Pitt had 26.

There’s your ballgame.

“It gave them some extra possessions,” WVU Coach John Beilein said. “We didn’t get them to turn it over the way we did earlier.”

Beilein was referring to West Virginia’s win two weeks ago over the Panthers in Morgantown. In that game, Pitt also had a big rebounding advantage.

The Mountaineers forced 17 Pitt turnovers then, only coughing it up six times themselves.

In last night’s game, Pitt only had 11 turnovers.

Smizik echoes many Pitt fan’s wish that Pitt would play a complete 40 minutes. I don’t know if they can. This is still a team that is learning. Coach Dixon, to his credit, won’t use youth as an excuse at this point, but I will. I also think the complete 40 minutes is just incredibly rare. You shoot for it, but even the best teams are going to have 5-10 minutes of off play. It’s an issue of just keeping up at least one end of the game during those stretches, i.e., not losing it on defense when the offense struggles. Like what Pitt did in the first half last night. It kept them in the game, and in a position to win when the offense started clicking.

Joe Starkey wrote a swell column on the beauty that was Pitt’s win and the BET yesterday.

And now from Ray Fittipaldo’s Q&A for the week.

Q: I thought Jamie Dixon out-coached John Beilein last night. What do you think of the adjustments Dixon made?

Fittipaldo: I agree with you, John. Dixon’s insertion of Levance Fields at the beginning of the second half gave the Panthers a distinct quickness advantage. He also mentioned moving Aaron Gray closer to the basket, which got him in better position to catch the ball and score. Beilein is a great coach, but Dixon is proving that he can coach with the best of them.

The whole game plan was very good last night. Pitt contained them in the first half defensively. They just couldn’t convert the shots. Pitt wasn’t even committing many turnovers in that first half after Sam Young made a couple very early ones.

Okay, you may have seen this snippet in the P-G today.

It appears Pitt will have to pay a steep price to retain coach Jamie Dixon after this season.

Arizona State has Dixon at the top of its wish list, according to a report in the Arizona Republic yesterday. The Republic cited sources in the Arizona State athletic department in its story saying Dixon was the leading candidate to replace Rob Evans, who is expected to be fired soon.

Well, here’s a piece in the Arizona paper looking at the job — and not reaching good conclusions for ASU.

Evans’ critics complain that he got ASU into the NCAA Tournament only once, yet 2003 was only the third time in 25 years for the Sun Devils. The other two came under the bumpy watch of coach Bill Frieder, who since his departure in 1997 has called ASU’s basketball potential “the mirage in the desert.”

ASU’s basketball blahs have been around longer than anybody on the current roster.

Boosters still loyal to Evans repeatedly have complained that ASU has not supported him enough through marketing or any attempt at altering the complete lack of atmosphere at Wells Fargo.
…
Hollins, also a former ASU and Suns assistant, knows the landscape as well as anybody. But even he might have questions about whether ASU is just talking or willing to invest in a real commitment to basketball.

In other words, follow the money.

The path will start with Evans’ expected departure and negotiations for a successor. Evans has one year left on a contract that was extended in 2002 after he said no to a $4.9 million offer from New Mexico. His extension was for two years at the same financial terms: $595,447 per year.

According to sources at ASU and several other sources connected to the coaching community, Dixon is the leading candidate. One interested coach at a mid-major school in the West said Dixon would have to say no before anybody else has a chance.
…
For ASU, that’s the first question: How much can it pay a coach with proven credentials? Tennessee just extended first-year coach Bruce Pearl’s contract for two years at an annual salary of about $1.1 million. ASU football coach Dirk Koetter will get $950,000 a year in his new deal.

It’s not whether ASU has the money. It’s whether they will spend it? It also appears that if there are issues with Dixon and Pitt about how much they put into the basketball program, then there are even more of those issues at ASU.

Of course, this tidbit from Andy Katz is encouraging as well (ESPN Insider):

By the way, Dixon has not made any indication that he’s the slight bit interested in Arizona State, if it were to open. Arizona media reported Thursday that he’s the leading candidate, with the assumption that Rob Evans is out now that the Sun Devils are done in the Pac-10 Tournament. The most likely scenario is for Dixon to get a call from ASU if the job opens but for him to stay at Pitt after getting a big bump in pay. Multiple sources say that’s expected to happen.

I Expect Pitt to be paying Dixon around $1 million and the team to be taking more charter flights rather than commercial after this season.

I’m both excited and terrified to face Villanova tomorrow night. They beat Pitt twice last year. Effectively exposing the team.

This past season, Pitt didn’t face ‘Nova which was good for a team expecting to rebuild, but bad considering both are PA schools and have something of a history of bad blood in the BE.

Now it happens.

I don’t think Pitt will have Kendall, and quite frankly, Gray looked totally wiped by the end of this past game. It will be as big a challenge as Pitt has had this season.

Comment about Rutgers-‘Nova then carry right into Pitt-WVU.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt losing 31-24.

Lucky in a way to be down only that amount. Decent defense, but offense has been horrible. Trying to get the ball inside but Gray started 0-6 before getting something going.

Kendall being out with lower back spasms is a big loss for this game. Actually being forced to play DeGroat in some spots.

On the perimeter, only Krauser looks like he knows what to do against the 1-3-1. Fields, Ramon and Graves hold the ball too long and let the pressure isolate them.

Pitt can’t gamble on defense. They have to adhere to the strict man-to-man if they want to have a shot in the second half.

On offense, Ramon needs to shake free for some looks. They need to hit some 3s to start extending the defense and opening things up some more. Gray is having enough trouble without the entire defense collapsing inside.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt wins 68-57!!!

I don’t go blue very often but…

FUCK, YEAH!!!!

This was something special for Pitt.

Pitt played a tremendous game in the second half. Overcoming not having Kendall and some of the worst officiating I’ve ever seen. I mean, I try to leave the officials alone, but this crew was something wretched.

That’s neither here nor there. Pitt beat the Hoopies. The whole team stepped it up in the second half. They took advantage of Gansey not being in the line-up with his abdominal (or was it menstral?) issues.

I’m hyped and stoked. The semis of the Big East are total old school. Georgetown and ‘Cuse. Villanova and Pitt. 3 originals and the 1st of the expansions.

2-2 yesterday. I can go 1-3 as long as I get the Pitt game right.

UConn buries Syracuse. Georgetown over Marquette. Villanova runs over Rutgers. Pitt gets past WVU.

For an opposite, but just as befuddled view on the game, what do they have to say in Louisville?

At the end, you were just confused.

It was the most awkward game of extremes that didn’t end with a successful comeback. The University of Louisville men’s basketball team suffered through a start so bad that the Madison Square Garden crowd mocked the Cardinals after they scored their first points. Of course, the simple feat took them eight minutes and 45 seconds. By then, the deficit was 16-2. Later, it ballooned to 33-5.

Then, down 27 points with 16:21 remaining, Louisville made a rally that had most of the lingering crowd standing during the closing minutes. Has a 61-56 game ever been stuffed with so much mayhem?

What to think? Louisville looked like the worst team in Division I and then turned into inspiring non-quitters all in the same game. It left you not knowing what to think about them.

Sadly, that will be their legacy.

I mean, really. We Pitt fans are alternatingly: inspired, hopeful, excited, nervous, dreading, bitter, angry, and so on regarding this team. But at least Pitt won. At least Pitt is going to the NCAA. Pitt raised the expectations in the season before bringing them down again. Louisville never met expectations. All they did was show brief flashes.

Consider the high point, apparently, for them was playing UConn tough. For Pitt, I can think of several and they are all wins: beating the living snot out of Auburn and PSU; New Years Eve over Wisconsin; beating Louisville in Louisville; beating WVU; and others.

In this game, Louisville did show heart, I’ll give them that.

Pitino said the comeback might have been born of humiliation.

“I think we were highly embarrassed about our play,” he said. “We had one rebound from the whole starting unit. Guys were embarrassed at halftime and tried the best we could to come back and win it. And I thought we took care of the basketball better in the second half and actually could have won the basketball game.”

A lot of other teams, not only would have folded, but you have to believe someone might have lost his cool and done something extreme. They never did anything like that, so you have to give props to Louisville and Pitino for that.

You know, the way Cinci struggled at times, now Louisville going down. Marquette’s the last C-USA team. You have to wonder if the players are a little awed by the step up in class to the Big East.

In the Big East Conference Tournament for the first time, U of L and its fans moved into prime time last night in Madison Square Garden. Every game is on ESPN or ESPN2, but that’s just the start of the differences.

Gone are the nearly empty afternoon sessions that generally featured blowout games. Yesterday’s first session here was a sellout, and the actual attendance was around 14,000.
…
Cincinnati dominated the C-USA Tournament since its inception. Despite the early exit here, coach Andy Kennedy said the Bearcats definitely got a taste of the big-time nature of the Big East tourney.

“You’re in Madison Square Garden, playing Syracuse on national TV at noon and you’ve got nearly a full house,” he said. “This is what it’s all about. It may be the best tournament in the country this year. Think about it. Villanova is seeded lower at its conference tournament than it might be in the NCAA Tournament.”

Players could tell the difference from Tuesday’s pretourney banquet. The 90-minute event featured a video of past Big East championship games during dinner, and it was topped off by a plaque presentation to every senior on every team.

“They really did a nice job on the plaques,” U of L sports information director Kenny Klein said. “They ask you for pictures, and then they do a really good job with the graphics and engraving. You can tell that a lot of work goes into it. It’s a first-class thing.”

When you are bubbly over nice engraving on plaques, well…

You know, between the sheer schizo-ness and lateness of the game, everyone seems to be struggling with an effective recap. Do you focus on the positives or negatives? How do you strike a balance?

It was, in a word, surreal.

Pitt 16, Louisville 0.

Pitt 22, Louisville 2.

Pitt 33, Louisville 5.

Finally, the Panthers went ahead by four touchdowns (35-7) before falling asleep in the second half of what eventually became a 61-56 victory Wednesday night in a Big East first-round game at Madison Square Garden.

It kind of resembled Pitt’s season: great for a while, then real shaky.

Still, it was a quality win, even if Louisville played without 6-foot-11 center David Padgett. This was the same Louisville team that beat Marquette a week ago and played to the end with UConn before losing, 84-80.

Beating Rick Pitino in a pressurized situation is always a quality win, but if the Panthers had blown a lead of such proportions — and, oh, how they tried — it would have gone down as one their worst losses.

I have to admit, I was surprised that Benjamin was given the start. Not shocked that DeGroat didn’t, but I figured Pitt would go with Sam Young. Benjamin rewarded the Pitt with strong play, and his best defensive effort. He missed his 3 shots, but played solid. I think they did miss one or two opportunities to give him some better looks — reward him for playing good defense and not chucking shots.

I’m having a hard time getting too worked up over this, now that I got some sleep. I stressed quite a bit at the time, but I expected Louisville to pull within single digits at some point in the second half. Admittedly, I didn’t think they’d get to within 3, but there you go. I mean, looking at the final score isn’t far from what you would have expected before the game.

Louisville not only played a lot better in the second half, they were perfect from the line — 11-11 in the half and 14-15 overall. A team that averages .696 for the year shot .933 in this game. That helped a lot.

It also seemed very clear that the refs were not going to call anything but egregious and obvious fouls against Louisville a few minutes into the second half. A blowout has an effect on a lot people in different ways. Pitt was whisteled for 2 charges in the first 15 minutes of the second half. There were 6 fouls called against each team in that period. Then there were 2 questionable (I thought) foul calls against Graves on Dean. Things they let go, that they suddenly called.

Ultimately, I blame the usual person for this sort of thing. Shawn.

Pitt was cruising in the second half, when Shawn called me with around 14 minutes left in the game. Then Louisville began their comeback in earnest. I don’t know how he did it, I just know who was responsible.

The Big East Tournament doesn’t seem to be providing any individual splits online. Just the overall splits in shooting. Kind of annoying because that might help a little more in understanding some of this. My notes are a little sketchy, but Pitt shot only 1-16 on free throws in the final 2:24 — when Louisville had pulled to within 9.

Pitt won despite a bad game from Gray. Especially late, he just did not want to finish. He wanted to hook and fade on his shots — avoid contact and a foul. I don’t think he’s soft. He’s just got it in his head that he fears going to the line. That Marquette loss and those missed free throws really seems to have messed with his head. The Seton Hall game reinforced it. That mental part is going to be the hardest thing for him to overcome.

Starting with the sidebar stuff. Apparently there were reports that Pitt was already negotiating an extension with Coach Jamie Dixon. AD Jeff Long, via a spokesman, denied that. Saying nothing would happen until after the tournaments. Rather traditional stuff.

Arizona State flopped out of the PAC-10 Tournament last night (blowing a 15 point lead), and their coach expects to be fired.

An official decision on Evans is expected within days. Meanwhile, the search for his successor will come out from behind closed doors and back rooms.

According to sources within ASU’s athletic department, Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon is the Sun Devils’ leading candidate. Dixon has declined comment because Pitt will play in the NCAA Tournament.

Former ASU All-American Lionel Hollins, a Memphis Grizzlies assistant, also is high on ASU’s list. Hollins has told ASU boosters he would be interested if the job opened up.

Hollins plans to be in Los Angeles on Saturday for a luncheon honoring him as ASU’s newest inductee into the Pac-10’s Hall of Honor.

But hold everything. There are now rumors that Lon Kruger, UNLV’s head coach, might be a top candidate. That would set up the perfect, almost too good to bother verifying coaching domino.

Former University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins, rumored last week to be taking over at South Florida, is now being linked to the head coach’s job at Nevada-Las Vegas.

Sports reporter Ron Kantowski wrote in a column for today’s Las Vegas Sun that one scenario being floated in the gambling mecca has UNLV coach Lon Kruger leaving – possibly for Arizona State, to replace Rob Evans – and Huggins filling Kruger’s spot on the Rebels’ bench. Such a move would require a $1.5 million buyout of Kruger’s contract, Kantowski wrote.

Huggins could not be reached for comment. Kantowski wrote that he was seen on a flight from Las Vegas to Cincinnati Wednesday.

The column isn’t online at this time.

I mean, how perfect would that be for Huggins to be head coach at UNLV. Does it make any better sense?

Hopefully good things to say before, during and after.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt winning 39-16.

Look, Pitt is playing some great defense, but they are being aided significantly by Louisville playing tighter than Peyton Manning in a meaningful game.

Hard to find much to complain about that doesn’t seem nit-picking right now.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt holds on 61-56.

Oy.

They had to make us sweat. No FGs in the final 13:38 is what they said. I guess that’s why it’s good to build up a huge lead.

Hate to say it, but Gray needs to learn to take his hands from off his throat in the final minute or two when shooting free throws.

I don’t disagree with Dixon’s strategy to run clock. It had been working to a point, but Pitt players really lost focus.

Kendall was playing tremendous defense. He had like 5 blocks.

More later.