6:50 pm: About 10 minutes from tip off. Settle in here for tonight’s game, which we’re hoping goes a bit better than last Friday.
7:09 pm: ESPN’s “Greatest Highlight” is stupid and annoying, much like “Who’s Now?” was. Early in the game we have Sam Young burying a three (he takes too many deep shots) as well as DeJuan Blair challenging and scoring on Harangody then blocking a layup at the opposite end.
Watch out for Torre Jackson. He grabs boards and just blocked Blair — and stands only 5′ 11″.
ND wants to run and play up-tempo and Pitt is going to play a long, drawn out halfcourt game to stop that high pace. They average 80.3 points per game — Pitt usually doesn’t win games that reach high scores like that.
7:15 pm: Levance Fields is on the court but he saw limited time in practice this week so his minutes will be few. He still a little slow and not et comfortable to go with the Bronx style crossover we know him for. It’s the move that gets him by defenders all the time and opened up that shot for him against Duke. Hopefully he gets it back sooner rather than later but it won’t come without practice and getting back in basketball shape.
Ramon hasn’t shot too well yet, and the entire team has thrown up plenty of bricks.
7:18 pm: Can someone please please please make a basket?!? Sure it’s nice to grab 3 offensive rebounds on one possession but it’s better to put the damn ball in the hoop.
7:23 pm: DeJuan Blair hits a jumper and keeps the team’s FG% from dipping below 20%.
Ramon is ice cold and rightfully on the bench. In past games, even when he struggled, he had to stay in because there was no one to replace him. Nice to have fresh bodies (though Fields isn’t really too fresh).
The defense is shaky at best. No one is hustling and really being physical like Pitt basketball teams are known for.
7:31 pm: Absolutely beautiful fundamental play by Gil Brown — he misses the three (and might have been fouled) but as soon as he lets go of the ball he sprints toward the hoop for the rebound and the put-back basket. Only the shooter knows where a ball is probably going to bounce after a miss and he read and reacted very well to his missed shot.
Note to Paul Rhoads: read and react is good in basketball, not so much in football.
7:34 pm: Blair isn’t in the game, so a reminder: don’t throw your remote through your TV while watching Harangody demolish Gary McGhee.
7:39 pm: Fields is seeing a lot more PT than I thought he would after missing time in practice. Gil Brown with another nice job finding a hole and hitting the jump/float shot.
Pitt gets a break as Blair gets stuffed and a bad foul call is made. They’re letting the teams play more than most refs will allow — I’d rather watch a physical game rather than one where fouls are called every possession.
7:53 pm: Where Pitt grabs plenty of o-rebounds, ND grabs a nice amount too but actually capitalizes on them with by making baskets and free throws. It’s really a novel concept.
At the half, Keith Benjamin leads our scorers with 10. Fields looks like he’s slowly getting more comfortable while Ramon has thrown up bricks. Sam Young finds a way to frustrate me once again, this time by not making an extra pass and instead throwing up a poor shot. Selfishness? I don’t think I’d go there yet, but it’s certainly not helping the team as a whole. I’m impressed by Gilbert Brown so far tonight; slowly, that experiecne he’s gained is paying off.
Luke Harangody is (expectedly) winning the battle against DeJuan Blair, although some of his 12 points came while abusing Gary McGhee. At this point, Blair has zero (!) personal fouls against him, so don’t complain that he can’t be aggressive because he’s playing with fouls. He better be attacking the hell out of Harangody in the second half. No more dumb excuses.
All told, I’m happy to lead by 5 at the half.
Pitt 35 Notre Dame 30 — Halftime
8:02 pm: So Blair gets the ball, takes it to Harangody, makes the basketball and gets fouled. For more of my crystal ball reading, see above paragraph.
8:05 pm: Three minutes into the second half and Blair has manages to double his point total and get Harangody to the bench. Well done, DeJuan.
8:10 pm: Aw freakin’ crap. The ghost of Chris Quinn, known Pitt killer by draining threes against us all the time, has come back to haunt us. This time under the guise of Rob Kurz and Kyle McAlarney. A nice lead disappeared relatively quickly. Somewhere, Chas is probably tossing back some exotic beer. Me? Red and blue Jolly Ranchers are my pain killer of choice.
8:21 pm: The shooting has definitely picked up here in the second half. We’re still getting plenty of offensive rebounds but this time Tyrell Biggs hit both foul shots. Benjamin, with the “Ronald Ramon Sweet Three Point Stroke From 2 Years Ago” is hitting his open shots, while Ramon, ironically, is not.
8:24 pm: That is the exact type of foul that kills Blair. After ND grabs a rebound and they’re moving the ball up the court to set up an offense, Blair inexplicably reaches in and gets called. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
8:30 pm: Tory Jackson, you annoy me. You’re shorter than I am and yet you have a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Ah…
8:32 pm: ND has finally figured out our weakness — defending back screens and back-door passes. Tory Jackson strikes again, lead only at three.
8:39 pm: Kyle McAlarney’s best impression of Chris Quinn, hitting a three from the logo + another McAlarney three + Harangody steal and huge dunk + Sam Young turnover = 100% of the momentum towards Notre Dame. The last 45 seconds might be the turning point for the worse.
8:45 pm: Sam Young COMPLETELY botched a wide open dunk. COMPLETELY blew it. That’s embarrassing, and I know for a fact this is not the first time he has missed wide open dunks.
And if we’re down 5 points on the road in a critical moment, Ronald Ramon is not the guy I want bringing the ball down the court.
8:48 pm: Hey Sam, bricking a three point shot from the corner is not going to help make up for getting rejected by the rim. We’re down 11 now…
8:54 pm: With just over a minute to go, Pitt is already starting to foul and extend the game. Too bad ND actually makes their free throws.
8:58 pm: So Pitt comes out so strong after the half only to collapse late in the game. Reviews and recaps sure to come.
Notre Dame 82 Pitt 70 — FinalÂ
Sit Biggs…and Young after every hot head selfish play…let him pout into next year.
Damn this was a tough loss….
Pitt wins by playing good defense and making the game ugly. Watching Pitt on offense makes you wonder what they’re running.
And Dave in Orlando–I agree, we’re playing a bit tired right now…..but having said that….
They still remain my team, my PITT team, and win or lose, Hail to PITT!
-al-
That said, Fields looked much better, IMO, and Blair, aside from the FTs and dumb defensive mistakes down the stretch, looked back to his “old self,” if I can use that phrase. There was something there, team-wise that is, until the last 5 minutes. That’s the one thing giving me any optimism right now.
Yet with a losing record but a win against WVU, the Pitt football team is the best ever.
I am completely lost now.
This is a good Pitt team, but not the best one. They have had adversity, they are inexperienced, and they need some leadership and maturity. They are also one of the most athletically talented, but most of that talent comes from freshmen. They have done a good job this season, but they have lost several games they could/should have won. None of this equals the end of the world. UConn was 17-14 last year and is top 3 in the league this year. Everything is going to be just fine.
This is the most bipolar team I’ve ever seen. Usually Pitt is bipolar game to game, but now it’s every 5-8 minutes.
The responsibility lies with the coaches. We have a good team, not a great team at this point. Clearly every team out there is exploiting our weaknesses. For once, I want to see our coaches come up with the gameplan to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses and have the players stick to the gameplan for 40 minutes.
Best example: Why throw the long touchdown pass when you’re up 8 points on the road? Inbound the ball and set your offense up. Coincidence that those turnovers happened around the same time as when they shot lights out? I think NOT.
Lets just get 3 wins and end the season with a winning conference record. All things considered, that’s a realistic goal and a good regular season.
i think i need to start drinking heavily BEFORE the games.
Folks, I know we won the WVU game but we were not the best team on the floor, even that night.
I can forgive everything but the stupid dumb
turnovers by Pitt late. Junior high school teams do not turn the ball over with lazy passes at the top of the key or stupid homerun passes into coverage!!!
