An 82-53 decimation of Miami. Pitt never trailed in the game. After starting strong, Miami chipped away and hung within a handful of points of Pitt for most of the 1st half. Blair had some foul issues and Pitt was not doing a good job of boxing out and giving the RedHawks second chances inside. Poor free throw shooting (4-8) helped keep the game closer.
The second half saw Pitt turn up the intensity on defense and keep it up. On offense, Sam Young found his groove as well as Jermaine Dixon getting room outside out of fear of him attacking the rim. Fields was shooting well. Blair was much cleaner in the second half and was his beastly self inside.
I really like what I saw from Nasir Robinson. He’s young, raw and definitely can be out of position. But he passed a lot better than I expected. He really seemed to see the court well and plays with some intensity.
Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs both look promising. They are already playing within the team framework.
McGhee is coming along. He will be a decent back-up this year as he gets more confidence and learns where to be on the court. You can see that he has plenty of room still to develop.
Wanamaker at moments seemed like he is trying too hard. Like he wants to hit a homerun every time he touches the ball. A bit of Keith Benjamin in the early days is the best comparison. Right down to running around too much even without the ball. He needs to realize that he’ll have a better shot at getting more PT if he plays defense and stays within the offense for his opportunities. He’s a solid defender.
9 players getting 14 to 28 minutes of action. 5 players in double digits. 21of 32 baskets came with an assist. Pitt shot 59% (32-54) overall. 41% on 3s and an eFG of 65.7%. The only downside on the offense was shooting only 11-17 on free throws though the team shot 7-9 on FTs in the second half.
On defense, Pitt held Miami to 31% shooting. They held Miami to 0-9 on 3s in the second half. I mean, the second half was a complete shutdown of the RedHawks. Pitt was moving faster and simply overwhelmed them.
From what I’ve read about Jermaine, he seems to be a high character kid who should have no trouble staying focused. I hope he can give some leadership to the younger players, but at the same time, I don’t think our team suffers from lack of leadership.
Whether he or Gil or somebody else starts at 2 is irrelevant, since they are all going to get their minutes, and I think we will see a rotating group of players step up for us in big games on any given night, much like when Biggs came out of nowhere and dominated the Big East semi last year.
I look for him to average 8-14 minutes a game and some clutch minutes running the point if Levance gets into early foul trouble. Anything beyond that is money in the bank. I wish him and the team nothing but the best.
HTP!
And it looks painfully obvious that Robinson is already a better option off the bench than Wanamaker at the 3. Everybody I’ve talked to loves the way Nasir plays — he’s all over the place, but in a good way. Grabs loose balls, grabs bounds, makes good passes and generally plays with the kind of energy that translates into positive plays.
I liked what I saw of the Panthers last night. They’ve got the same issue they had last year (Blair will often be in foul trouble and the team loses all rebounding ability when he’s on the bench), but they’re more athletic this year and will be able to play more in-your-face D and get more fast-break buckets because of that depth and speed.
Dixon obviously wants to take advantage of all the horses he has by trapping some in the halfcourt, which should force some more up-tempo possessions. I wish Fields were able to pressure the ball more — that would help also. I’m hoping Woodall comes on enough that he can spell Fields when they want to turn up the D.
Coles was asked which Top 10 team he liked better, UCLA or Pitt. He wouldn’t say initially but then changed his mind the longer he talked.
“Dixon, boy, did he have a game? That’s what we weren’t counting on,” Coles said. “That hurt us. The front line? Whoa, Pitt, Pitt, Pitt. It would appear Pitt is a little bit better. They’re a Top 10 team and I don’t know who would be a whole lot better. They’re strong and physical — they’re not dirty — but they’re physical and they enjoy playing together. And they’re good.”
The young guys look confident, but there passing and ball handling will get better. They are not Big East ready yet.Hopefully by the start of the BE they will control the ball more and the tempo,to quick and didnt let the play come to them.
Sam Young looks good as long as he is patient. Rebounding must improve without Blair in the game. Biggs wants to play Forward but we need him inside for rebounds, I dont see a lot with THe other rebounders.
Dixon will be an asset off the bench when Brown gets back, he maybe the spark there.
Lets all pray that Fields stays healthly, he looks great. He just better take his time and dont take so many quick shots without the rebounders under the basket.
Lets go PITT
I figured Dixon as a starter even before we saw him knock down a couple big 3s last night. If he can do that consistently, then there’s not even a debate. Finally, we might have a guard with a little size and build and ability to bump with some of the bigger backcourt guys in the BE. That’s a big relief to the many of us who are tired of watching Pitt start smaller guards against bigger BE comp yr after year. Hoping Jermaine will remind us of the Julius Page days.
– Biggs doesn’t leverage his size well enough, and is constantly lost on D.
– Dixon, from what we’ve seen so far, has been very impressive. He plays good D. Has an ability to drive to the basket and shoot the 3.
– I too was impressed with Robinson. The kid was all over the place. Accelerates with great speed and size. He just needs to learn how to finish.
– Although I’d like to see Young excel at the 3, he’s just so much more effective on the inside where he can take over physically along side Blair.
It’s been too long since we were not already looking forward to hoops. Hail to Pitt!
Starters were 4-7. Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, the two most likely to be forced to convert from the free throw line on a regular basis were 4-5. Jermaine Dixon and Tyrell Biggs were each 0-1. Gary McGhee, whose free throw shooting could be the major issue when he replaces Blair, was 2-2. Nasir Robinson, true freshmen, and in the short term, among our least important free throw shooters, 0-2. Also Gibbs and Woodall both 2-2.
The point, Pitt’s free throw shooting was fine. The guys we need to make them (the big guys) did. The ones who didn’t, didn’t get enough free throws to tell how sound their free throw shooting really is. I am not nearly as concerned about free throw shooting as I was with Torree Morris or Aaron Gray.