Okay, late watching on this. So, three years to the day, Pitt suffered its only non-con loss at the Pete since it opened. Yes, the Bucknell game. What were the odds that Pitt would play another Patriot League team on the same day?

Watching in the first half, the thing that immediately occurred to me was that the offense looks fine, but the defense will be a big issue. Benjamin especially. He continually cheats to the basket either to try and help or be in position to get a rebound. He was the biggest issue to me in leaving his man open on the perimeter for Lafayette to get open threes. Either he didn’t take it seriously or he had a little too much confidence in his own ability to recover and getting back. It wasn’t happening.

Interestingly, while Ramon may have been the de facto point guard, he wasn’t bringing the ball up everytime. It seemed that Pitt was trying to get others to do it. May not be a bad idea since Ramon struggles bringing it up and is susceptible to traps and the press.

The only thing I can figure as to why Pitt played so far off the players on the perimeter was that they were preparing for Villanova. It’s not like Lafayette has guards who could take Pitt off the dribble. Villanova with Reynolds and Fisher, however…

That said, Lafayette was taking and making some hellaciously deep threes. Pitt really struggles with the screens. Sam Young does not like to rotate out on them.

Think the Pitt coaches worked over Biggs on taking shots a lot closer to the basket? No threes attempted by him this time, and the deepest shot he took was maybe a 10 foot baseline jumper. That said, it was hard to judge his game considering the lack of size by Lafayette. It allowed him a lot of chances for easy put backs.

There were 13 turnovers by Pitt. Not terribly surprising in the first game without Fields. That Young had 5 (all in the first half) and Ramon had 0 is something of a surprise.

Ramon also had 10 assists along with some excellent shooting — 11 points on 3-4 (all 3s) shooting.

Hopefully the game will also serve as a bit of a confidence builder for Wanamaker. Shot 2-3 for 5 points. He had lots of 2s. Assists, rebounds and turnovers. And 1 steal. Big concern he might be a bit wound for going home to Philly this Saturday.

It was a record number of 3s made against Pitt, but despite that Pitt got the win.

Near the end of the game, Bob Sanders actually clarified the football player stuff. It isn’t necessarily to play them like Cinci was forced to do. It was to have a few extra bodies for practice. That actually makes a lot more sense.

The most noticeable thing at the end of the game. No Gary McGhee. I’m guessing that Coach Dixon has determined that he must redshirt him.

Hard to judge a lot from this game, other than the fact that the team needed a regrouping/patsy game to get used to playing without Fields as well as Cook. That said, it was nice at the end when it was a complete laugher to see the players smiling and being highly amused at Cassin Diggs picking up a charging foul in the final couple minutes.

Pitt’s second half shooting was astoundingly accurate. Pitt shot well in the first half at 15-27, but was an amazing 20-25 (8-9 on threes) in the second half. Putting it this way, Pitt’s effective FG % in the second half was an astounding 96%.

Overall, Pitt looked, played and the numbers reflected a much better effort and team in the second half.

Still don’t know what it means for this Saturday and the rest of the Big East slate.