I would love to talk about these past two games. How Pitt won the series. They won it with strong offense. They won it mainly with shut-down defense. Of course I was out of town and I don’t have HDNet anyways.
It started with taking Texas Tech 80-67. A slow start, but strong finish on offense. The defense, though, was there throughout.
Pitt turned to its defense, harassing the Red Raiders into 8 for 25 from 3-point range and – three days after being outrebounded by Belmont – dominated under the boards with 49 rebounds (to 31 for Texas Tech).
Along the way, Pitt started playing better defense against the Red Raiders, whose quick play led to many easy first-half baskets.
“Our transition defense was terrible,” Young said. “It seemed like we could score on them anytime we wanted. They really didn’t play good defense. At the same time, we would score, and they would come right back down and get an open 3. We were just being lazy on defense. Once we found out the problem as a team, we came out much better in the second half.”
Pitt set the tone for the game late in the first half, going on its 13-0 run
“I thought we did what we wanted to do,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We did some good things.”
Levance Fields cut an interesting figure to many who observed him at the the games. Though, at least some understood why.
Dixon was concerned because Fields isn’t genetically blessed with a LeBron James body. With three months on the mend just prior to the start of a season with high expectations, Dixon worried his leader and point guard might balloon and wouldn’t exactly return in tip-top shape.
That’s exactly what happened.
Fields is listed at 190 pounds in the team’s media guide, but he’s probably realistically playing at around 215 pounds.
“I can’t tell you,” Fields said of his current weight. “Undisclosed.”
Then came the finale with Washington State. This was going to be a defensive battle no matter what. And it was, but Pitt still prevailed 57-43.
“They definitely toughened up on us, especially in the second half,” Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. “We had some looks, but we missed our shots. I also think we were pretty dog-tired by the end of the game. I think we learned a lot about toughness. They didn’t allow us anything down the stretch. … They just defend everything at the rim and protected the paint.
“They’re men. It was like boys against men.”
Pitt did start slow.
The Panthers trailed for most of the first half, largely because of a 4-of-18 performance from the field. But Washington State could not break down Pitt’s stout defense enough to take advantage of it. For the first 15 minutes, the Cougars never led by more than 2.
That was Young’s cue to take over, devastating ball fake — “It’s going to work forever,†he said — and all.
The Pitt defense killed Washington St.’s guards. Naturally, Coach Dixon sees room for improvement.
Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon said he is encouraged with the Panthers’ early-season progress.
“I think we can become a really good defensive team that plays a lot of guys,” Dixon said. “Those teams are hard to beat.”
Biggs continues to fire up long-range jumpers and I cannot figure out why Dixon does not bench his a@# each time he does it. It is frustrating and I don’t understand why it is tolerated.
Otherwise, the defense was stellar when it needed to be, Blair was a beast under the boards, and Sam Young is proving he’s one of the top players in the country.
The poor shooting is a concern, though. Shooting like that will lead to Ls against the Louisville and UConn’s of the world.
None of the four teams shot well this weekend, I don’t know if it was the backdrop in the arena or just a dead atmosphere/general lack of emotion. I think some home cooking against some small schools is just what the doctor ordered to fix that.
I love when he shoots that 15 footer because teams double team Blair and he can step off to the side and nail it. You need to open your eyes and realize this is a very, very good, and smart, basketball player.
I would agree that Fields is looking…larger. He definitely was not as in-control as he was in the earlier games this season, but he’s still so clutch its out of hand.
Gil Brown looks like a complete monster. With Jermaine Dixon’s shooting a little off, we went to Gil more, and it was rewarded. Both guys get after it defensively, but JD is basically a Julius Page clone on d. Lightning quick hands and absolutely in the shorts of his man. The announcers joked at one point during the Wazzu game “When he goes to sleep tonight, he’s going to find Jermaine Dixon under his bed. He cannot get away from him.”
Travon and Ashton didn’t get a ton of minutes, but both bring things to the table. The shock was the confidence with which Wanamaker played. I’ve never seen him that engaged on defense, and the results were enjoyably-not-terrible. His stroke looks 9023950296403847941 times better. Which means the ball even goes in, occasionally.
McGhee didn’t get a lot of minutes, looked competent, especially on defense. I’m reminded of the classic compliment to young centers in his role: “Way to be big.”
Biggs jacks them up from everywhere. In his defense, he’s absolutely wide-fucking-open when he steps out. The stroke looks good, but as with JD, he had a lot of shots just not go down. On home rims, I wonder what those two would’ve shot. Especially JD really. He “lipped out” to borrow the golf term, about 50% of his shots. Sweeeet stroke though.
Sam and DeJuan. Wow. If these guys stay out of foul trouble, look out. Suddenly, I see why Sam is an NBA player. He used “the shot fake” about half the time he had the ball, and it continues to be effective 100% of the time. They knew it was coming, but couldn’t help but leave their feet when the ball goes above his head and only his toes touch the ground. Sick. Blair just gets every rebound. This Aron Baynes was a 10.5 and 6 in 24 minutes guy last year. Effective big body. He had 7 and 5 in the game against us in 33 minutes. At one point the announcers commented: “Blair gets every rebound he wants. Baynes is beyond frustrated.” It was a thing of beauty.
This team is good. Very good. But its early. I love the attitude of Levance and Jamie, who both commented about how much work is ahead.
the rims looked VERY tight.
i loved how jamie used our line up in our last few mins agains wsu. Brown, dixion, Young, Blair, and fields.. that line up is money. we do lose a bit of size with brown for biggs.. but i like his athletic ability.
One look at Biggs and you would assume he’d naturally dominate the glass, like Blair does. I’m not sure whether it’s fundamentals or just a lack of will, but regardless, he should be a lock for 6 boards a game with the minutes he gets.
Because Blair will be in foul trouble in more than his fair share of games, we need Biggs to take that next step as a defensive rebounder to be an elite defensive team.
link to sports.espn.go.com
The point is, Biggs should not be shooting from the perimeter. As others have stated, he should be on the blocks, going to the hoop, picking up fouls, getting offensive rebounds. If he does that, he opens up opportunities for Blair, making it more difficult for teams to double team him, as well as others both in the paint and from the perimeter.
If you can’t see Biggs’ shortcomings from the perimeter, you’re clearly not watching the games.
Enjoy this team, it’s unique in this day and age.
Poll is on the left hand side of the page. I’m sure those marketing twats will consider this, too!
I keep saying to everybody I know, “This is the year.” And they keep saying, “You say that every year!” But damn I believe it, my sniping at Biggs aside.
I’m just really happy to see G. Brown back. I think he’s going to really shine, particularly in the second half of the season. And I’m not worried about Fields. He’ll get the weight down and I suspect that, in addition to running the show, will be one of the more consistent outside threats.
