For the first time since the latest incarnation of the Big East I have not had bragging rights in my own house. Pitt needs to win this so I can put the wife back in her place.

7:30: Refs for tonight John Cahill, Michael Stephens and Brian O’Connell.

7:38: Pitt gets first lead on Blair going 2-2 on FTs. 4-3, 18:20 in the game. Then Pitt gets out hustled on offensive rebound to give it right back.

7:41: Some good news. Gentry already has 2 fouls. Otherwise, Deonta Vaughn is off to a hot start for Cinci. Sam Young probably has half the fans ticked off already with a bad decision to force a shot — not even looking to pass out of it — and then matador defense on the other end.

7:45: Everyone’s afraid to shoot the 3. Ramon, Fields and Brown all hesitated and thought against it in one possession. That won’t help if there’s no confidence.

7:51: Cinci shooting better than 50%, but also has 4 turnovers in the first 8 minutes. Mainly because Vaughn got off to a hot start.

7:56: When the double team comes on Blair, the guards have to come to him so he can pass out of it. It does no good for Pitt, if Blair has no one to pass it to.

7:59: Nice. Wanamaker to Blair for a jam. 18-13 Pitt with 9:05 in the half and Cronin needs a time out.

8:01: Sam Young picks up his second foul and out he goes for Biggs with 8+ minutes left.

8:05: Weird. They said that the refs took back the Young foul and put it on Brown. Um, OK. Damn. Biggs made a 3 earlier, now he’s trying to take more. On the bright side, he did have a nice block and has grabbed a couple boards in traffic.

8:10: Out fought inside with Blair getting a blow. Cinci gets a couple shots before it finally falls with the “and 1.” Pitt up 23-21 with a foul shot pending.

8:22: Halftime tied at 29. Pitt still being out-rebounded — 19-13. That’s got me a bit ticked. Vaughn and Williamson have 10 points apiece. Young and Blair have 17.

The good. Pitt has 8 assists on 11 baskets. They have forced 8 turnovers by the Bearcats.

The bad. Out rebounded and hustled. Still not hitting 3s. Guards are not producing. Expect the Bearcats to collapse inside and specifically on Blair and Young even more in the second half.

Cinci with Williamson and Vaughn being the scorers keeps Pitt spread. No packing or helping for risk of losing either.

8:55: Sorry. Trying to put the kids to bed at halftime, and oddly enough the kids didn’t cooperate.

How I avoided committing a Shaken Baby incident with the 10-month old in the first 6 minutes of the second half is a minor miracle.

8:57: Statistically speaking, Gilbert Brown has to make a 3 eventually. Doesn’t he?

9:00: Ramon makes his 2nd 3, and that one was from his favorite spot. Left of center on the perimeter. Pitt has a 50-46 lead with 9:12 left.

9:05: &^O(^$###$#$$%#@ Vaughn! Even with a hand in his face drills that 3.

9:08: Scary, ridiculous stat at this point. Pitt has taken 44 shots. 22 are 3s with 7:32 left. That just should not be.

9:13: NBA continuation for Sam Young on that one. 61-55 with 5:30 left.

9:22: Blair struggling with FTs down the stretch after a 4-4 start. 2-4 on his last four — in the past minute.

9:27: Fields with a 3. Stunning considering how much time was on the shot clock. 68-63 Pitt with 52 seconds.

9:32: How do they miss that travel in the final seconds right in the middle of the lane? Still, Pitt can’t quit on the play just because. Hopefully Pitt gets a make-up before this is over.

9:33: Free throw time for Pitt, from here on out. Brown 1-2.

9:35: Brown with the slam off the rebound and break. The wife just asked me how many fingers she was holding up.

73-67 win for Pitt.

Thoughts: Strange game defensively for Pitt.  The poor rebounding is scaring the crap out of me. This is, however the second straight game where Pitt has forced a ton of turnovers which offsets to some extent allowing so many offensive rebounds. I think Cinci’s 48%  shooting is a little deceptive since it came on only 54 attempts. The possessions by Cinci were limited, but they had so many offensive rebounds.

Deonta Vaughn was tremendous from outside. John Williamson having his way inside was much more worrisome to me.

Again, I’ll repeat, the rebounding has officially become an issue. Pitt only had 25 rebounds and Blair had 10 of them. Benjamin and Brown each had 4 and Sam Young had 0 (though he did have 5 steals).

Too many 3s being taken — especially with the lack of results. 53 shot attempts 26 from outside. Brown has stopped trying to penetrate. Fields is shying from contact. Benjamin started to get some confidence back. All need to go inside to be effective.

Needed win.

If you have a Terrible Towel lying around the house somewhere and you’ll be at tonight’s game against Cincinnati:

The University of Pittsburgh is encouraging all fans attending tonight’s Pitt-Cincinnati men’s basketball game at the Petersen Events Center to bring a “Terrible Towel” in honor of broadcasting icon Myron Cope, a 1951 graduate of Pitt who passed away today at the age of 79.

Cope, the longtime analyst voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers, was the creator of The Terrible Towel in 1975. Cope also served one season (1983) as color analyst for Panthers football, working alongside future Steelers partner Bill Hillgrove.

Pitt and Cincinnati will tip at 7:30 p.m.

Link is here.

Revenge game for Pitt with Cinci coming in tonight.

Cinci has had an ongoing problem with scoring points.

“It’s demoralizing when you can’t score,” UC coach Mick Cronin said after the Georgetown game. “It takes the heart out of your team.”

Why does UC struggle so mightily on offense?

If it were just one thing, it would be easier to fix. But the Bearcats face a preponderance of offensive issues that have combined to limit their effectiveness.

For starters, they rank last in the league in forcing turnovers. As a result, they’re forced to grind out every basket in their half-court offense.

“We just don’t get a lot of fast-break points,” said UC point guard Jamual Warren. “We’ve got to change that. We’ve got to get easy buckets. That’s why were not scoring as much as were supposed to.”

In addition, the Bearcats don’t consistently attack the rim, nor are they a good offensive rebounding team, so they don’t get to the free throw line very often. Only DePaul (473) and Georgetown (484) have attempted fewer free throws than UC’s 489.

And finally, they just don’t have very many scoring threats. Only sophomore guard Deonta Vaughn (17.2 points per game) and senior forward John Williamson (10.6), average in double figures.

Of course, Pitt has it’s own struggles with shooting. Mainly on the outside.

Benjamin said the shooting woes can’t continue – at the peril of Pitt’s season.

“At the beginning of the year, everybody was shooting a very high percentage,” he said. “It fell apart. Now, we’ve got to pick it back up.”

Pitt still ranks sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (33.8) in conference games, but made only 14-of-57 3-pointers during the three-game losing streak.

Lapses on defense and rebounding are to blame, too, but poor shooting has emboldened the opposition. Missed 3-pointers typically lead to defensive rebounds. They create fast-breaks the other way.

“Our shooting from the outside has had something to do with our rebounding,” coach Jamie Dixon said.

Missing on threes means long rebounds. Pitt’s rebounding strength is inside. A legitimate criticism of Pitt’s perimeter shooting is that most of Pitt’s perimeter shooters don’t follow their shot. Only Brown seems to do it with any consistency.

The usual Dixon optimism still comes out even as he stresses what the team isn’t doing well — including the rebounding.

“We feel good given the situation,” Dixon said. “It’s the first time we’ve lost three in a row in a long time. Most schools have that happen more often. We’re No. 25 in the RPI. Given everything that we’ve gone through, people find that amazing. We feel our best basketball is ahead of us.”

Dixon’s players have a similar view. Junior forward Sam Young believes the Panthers are close to having things come together.

“I’m starting to feel like my back is up against the wall, but, at the same time, I feel like as a team we’re starting to come together and play like we should,” he said.

“A lot of people are starting to understand their roles. In the near future, we’re going to take off as a team. That motivates me more than the losses. If we just keep in the same direction and get over the hump, these three losses will just be a steppingstone for us.”

And of course the defense needs to pick it up. Cinci of course goes so slow, that stops will be vital. Turnovers would be nice, but simply not getting confused on screens and sticking with their men to contest the shots for a full 40 would be nice.

Cinci is heading to the Big East Tournament this year. Technically they aren’t there yet. A win with a St. John’s loss tonight would clinch it.

Trying to catch up to things.

I guess it was a little unrealistic to assume Pitt would just flow immediately with the return of Fields. Even Louisville struggled to get things right when David Padgett returned. They lost to Cinci in Freedom Hall in his return, but were lucky enough not to not to be playing the best of the Big East to get things together. UConn had a stretch losing 3 of 4 including a 12 point loss at home to Providence when Calhoun was not on the bench for half the time because of the flu. I guess that’s why I’m not too freaked. There’s still time. The only thing that this is costing Pitt is seeding and some pride. They aren’t on the bubble.
The defense had been huge for the team while Fields has been out. It hasn’t been up to snuff the last few games, but it is much more correctable.

This is only the second 3-game losing streak in 5 years under Dixon. Pitt had been the only team in the Big East not to lose at least 3 games in a row in the past 3 seasons until the Louisville loss.

Jay Bilas joins with Pitt fans in wondering “what if” for this year.

Pittsburgh: It is impossible for me to watch Pitt without thinking about Mike Cook, and just how good Pitt could have been with him and a healthy Levance Fields for an entire season. It is a real tribute to that team and program that the Panthers will be in the NCAA Tournament, but the injuries have really affected what could have been a truly special season.

And in another year, only Pitt fans will remember the whole “what if” aspect.

Card Chronicle had a good recap of Louisville perspective of the win. He’s right about the number of open looks for both teams.

Generally, the Louisville view is that this was a big win especially because of how well the offense looked. Nevermind that Pitt — as we all know — has been struggling defensively in the past week, and that Pitt wasn’t bothered by their pressure defense and picked them apart. I’m not saying they shouldn’t feel good about being the first team to beat Pitt twice at the Pete, but they’d be foolish to read too much into it right now.

Overall, Pitt just needs to get more from the guards. The backcourt is a struggle.

Young and Blair each scored 20 points for the Panthers, but the guards once again failed to do their part from the outside. Pitt was 6 for 21 from 3-point range and is 14 for 57 from behind the arc in the three-game losing streak.

“I’m shooting bricks,” said Fields, who was 4 for 13 from the field and 0 for 4 from 3-point range. “I couldn’t make any shots on the perimeter. [Young and Blair] did everything they were supposed to do down low. They gave us everything we needed to win this game. As a point guard, I didn’t come up big for them down the stretch.”

Reality and stats collide.

When an opponent shot better than 40 percent from the field against Pitt in previous seasons it raised some eyebrows. Now it has become a common occurrence. Ten of the first 14 Big East teams have shot more than 40 percent.

Um, last year opposing teams shot .407 versus Pitt. This year it is .416. Oh, and in 11 of 16 Big East games, the opposing teams shot more than 40% (PDF).

The players aren’t happy about losing. Go figure.