That was a satisfying win. 81-57. The most points Pitt has scored on the road this season.
Pitt went full scrubs in the final 2 minutes. Frye had a 3, the Red Storm weren’t able to bring down from a complete and utter blowout.
It was a slow and steady blowout in the game. Pitt would build a lead, St. John’s would make a little run, then Pitt would make a bigger run to take a bigger lead. That repeated itself multiple times until Pitt was up by as much as 26 and it was time to clear the bench.
St. John’s was the team that had a key player get in early foul trouble, as Justin Burrell got in early foul trouble. It was great because he tried to get Blair an early foul in the first 2 minutes. He purposefully ran into him and seemed to roll over his back. Instead, he got whistled.
Early in the game, Pitt attacked the basket. They knew the Red Storm lacked an inside presence, so that was where they were attacking. It really opened things up. It also meant Pitt didn’t just draw fouls, but shooting fouls.
While the Red Storm didn’t try and go full-court press, they did put a man on Ramon to try and pressure and slow him the entire way up the court — Ramon handled it well.
Scary sight 5 minutes into the game — Tyrell Biggs and Gary McGhee on the court together. Awkward doesn’t begin to describe it.
Gilbert Brown had a solid first half offensively. He hit a three, drove to the basket and just looked confident. He knew he could beat his man.
Anthony Mason, Jr. played an outstanding game. He was the only thing keeping the Red Storm in the game. In the first half, he went 6-7 and made the Red Storm’s only 3-point basket. The rest of their team shot 6-17. He wasn’t quite so hot in the second half, “only” shooting 6-10 and finishing with 29 points as he did everything he could to keep his team in it. The rest of his teammates could only add 28 points.
Of course, Pitt had more than enough of an answer, but Sam Young seemed to match him the entire second half. Young went for 26 and looked outstanding.
You can complain that Pitt didn’t stop Mason, but he was hot. His shots were falling and he is a very good player. I can’t really complain about the defense unless you think Pitt should have done something dirty to try and stop him. Same thing with Young. Sam was feeling it and attacking especially in the second half. St. John’s had little answer.
The funniest sequence in the game involved Biggs early in the second half. At about 15:45, he gets the ball just past the free throw line. He clears out the defender as he sweeps with the ball. Both teams freeze as the St. John’s player goes down. Everyone is expecting an offensive foul called — especially Biggs. Nothing. Biggs, almost shrugs as he realizes there’s no call, and no one is coming to defend him. He takes and makes the short jumper. The play-calling crew couldn’t even contain their laughter at that.
Pitt completely controlled the second half. They shot nearly 60% in the second half. Ronald Ramon had another great game — 16 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 turnover.
A solid and important win for Pitt as Pitt goes to 4-2 in conference, and gets to 2-2 in BE road games.
Nice to witness a laugher for a change especially after the Duke game.
The journalists write about Sam Young’s prowess, rightfully, but say nothing about rebound dominance.
(1):
Sources said Pastilong and Rodriguez spoke only twice during the 2007 football season, with another conversation coming Dec. 1 after the 13-9 loss to Pitt, when Pastilong phoned to say that the loss would cause him embarrassment at upcoming Big East Conference meetings.
(2):
As late as the last week of November, Wilcox and Walker were planning meetings. Then, on Dec. 1, the No. 2-ranked Mountaineers fell 13-9 to Pitt, losing a shot at a national championship game.
Within days, there were signs of more trouble.
On Dec. 4, Wilcox tells Walker he has had “tough discussions with Rich and Rita,” who were discouraged by the loss. He urges Garrison to meet with the couple: “I think it’s REALLY important in light of Eddie’s (Pastilong) remarks and the deteriorating relationship … it’s not good and getting worse.”
Sweet!
3-7 if you include Big East Tournament games.
Matt\’shouse,
3 points:
That\’s an obvious error since Pitt had lost 3 straight to St. John\’s at MSG prior to this win.
and
Once more,
link to grfx.cstv.com
Go to page 11 and you will see the series history and results.
and
5-2 is over the past 7 games between the two at all locations.
solid win.
Let’s just keep the roll running.. especially after that Rutgers win over ‘Nova. we have to seal the deal at the Pete on Saturday to keep from being a complete fluke team.
also.. can we start a counter on how many times the announcers state that Sam Young did a gymnast routine at his tryout for Pitt??! it’s almost as bad as last year’s “Levon Kendall scored 40 points in a win over Team USA… and he plays the piano” haha..
I look forward to the return of Fields. This team has been impressive in their resilience.
Bad loss for Nova last night. Hopefully Rutgers is riding high after that win and will come crashing down.
* Aaron Gray’s uncle went to Duke, and his parents come to his games!
* Ronald Ramon’s father played basketball in the Domincan Republic
* DeJuan Blair grew up near Pitt, and bragged about knowing Pitt’s campus better than the Pitt coaches
* Levance Fields went to Xaverian, where Chris Mullin and Chris Taft went! (Now if they also pointed out that Scott Baio went there, I’d be all for including this tidbit.)
– The NY link – I guess thats not talked about as much now with Barry gone……
– Krausers “X” with his arms
The list goes on and on
They did not show, but talked about, the leap over the scorers table…
– Sean Miller doing a childhood dribbling exhibition on the Johnny Carson show.
By the way, as I remember the clip, Levon Kendall played piano and Sam Young sang. I guess someone at EPSN remembered it wrong.
link to profootballexperts.scout.com
interesting!
Then we have to find a way to win at least two of these games: seton hall, wvu, providence, at ND, at SU.
Anything on top of that will be a miracle. If we could just get one good upset of at nova, nova, at uconn, at marquette, louisville, or at wvu, that may be the game that gets us in.”
Let’s see:
At Nova? L, as expected.
At USF? W, as required.
Seton Hall? W, one of games i predicted going either way.
Georgetown? W, no one saw that coming. I was wrong.
At Cinci? L, i called this a must win, cancels out georgetown.
At St Johns? W, as required.
I predicted either 3-3 or 4-2 at this point, we’re 4-2…
We have a long way to go, with a loaded back end schedule…
Instead of 9-9, i guess we may be 10-8 or 11-7…we *should* win all the home games the rest of the way except maybe Louisville…we need to find a way to win at SU, anything on top of that on the road is going to be a bonus…unless fields comes back at some point.
I don’t think i was that far off…
This article was the feature article on Yahoo’s home page tonight. Basically, the article is a speculation about the 2017 NFL All Pro Team. Shady and Baldwin are on the list. In fact, Shady had his picuture on the Yahoo home page, prominently displaying his PITT jersey. Of course, this means nothing, but it is a nice recognition of the talent on our team.
Shady ran behind a line that couldn’t get a yard any time we needed it and he still set the big east record for yds by a freshman. When’s the last time you saw a draw in the 2 minute drill go for 20+ yards…much less on consecutive plays? I don’t think we even know how good Shady is yet…
“• Pitt’s Mike McGlynn runs from drill to drill like his hair is on fire. It is hard to miss a 309-pound offensive lineman running at full speed down the field to get to a drill. While hustle and “want to” are great traits, he needs to settle down a little bit. McGlynn is an intriguing prospect because he could potentially fill in at every line spot in the NFL with the exception of left tackle. At this point, he is a master of none, but does have some upside, particularly as a guard. McGlynn is also able to deep snap, which adds to his versatility. If he gets the opportunity to snap for punts — it is a safe bet that McGlynn will hustle down the field. ”
Gotta love that Panther work ethic and hustle!!!