I have mixed feelings about the way WVU beatdown on Georgetown this week. On the one hand, at least they aren’t coming home after a loss for this game really hungry. There’s also the chance that they will get a little too cocky after the way they handled the Hoyas. I mean they are already talking about the win as one of WVU’s best ever (really?). On the other hand, it sure diminishes the way Pitt dominated Georgetown previously. The Mountaineers also went into the Verizon Center as well and pounded them in the second half.
The game down at the concrete toadstool is a sellout. No shock. In comes a top-5 team and its the rivalry game.
Last year, the Mountaineers pounded Pitt in Morgantown, 76-62. Pitt played poorly, Blair and Young fouled out. It was admittedly, right in the midst of a Pitt slump, but it just wasn’t good. Kind of nice to play the game in Morgantown early in the season.
The guy Pitt will have to stop is Da’Sean Butler.
Butler is averaging a team-best 16.9 points per game and has scored in double figures in 16 of the team’s 18 games, including 22 points or more in five contests.
“Da’Sean has been really good,” Huggins said last night over the phone from Morgantown.
“He’s different than Joe. Da’Sean wants to share the wealth. He’s not as demanding of the ball as Joe was. He has said he was perfectly happy watching Joe do his thing last year. Da’Sean would defer to him. Even this year, Da’Sean will sometimes defer to Alex [Ruoff]. It all depends on who has the hot hand.”
Butler has had the hot hand lately. He scored 27 points in a 62-59 victory Saturday against South Floridaand followed that up with another 27-point performance in Thursday night’s upset of No. 14 Georgetown in Washington.
Butler figures to be the player Pitt will be worried about most when it travels to Morgantown for the first of two regular-season meetings against the Mountaineers tomorrow afternoon.
Butler may be the match-up that falls more to Gilbert Brown to keep him from slashing to the basket and keeping Blair and Young from foul trouble.
Jermaine Dixon, may help a little, but the size is a concern. He’s more likely to be working on keeping Alex Ruoff frustrated. Dixon got a nice piece talking about him as the defensive stopper.
“He makes their offense go,” Dixon said of Flynn. “He’s a scoring point guard. I knew if I could slow him down shooting-wise, it would be a benefit to us
“This was my first real test as a defensive player on this level. We’ve played some good players, but none like him. I wanted to see how I measured up.”
Dixon measured up just fine.
It’s not hard to understand why.
“I made up my mind when Pitt recruited me that I wanted to be a lock-down defender,” Dixon said. “I knew they had a bunch of scorers here and a bunch of good ball-handlers. I wanted to fill a role.”
That defensive intensity was what kept him getting minutes even when he couldn’t find his offensive game.
Jermaine Dixon should be playing more of a role on offense if the team is serious about attacking the basket and drawing fouls. Dixon is an excellent slasher and he has been finishing.
“The biggest difference in that Louisville game was they beat us at the free-throw line,” Dixon said. “The Louisville game it stood out a little more. … Against zone teams, there is a tendency to settle for outside shots. We usually stay away from that. But against Louisville, we got away from that. We did it against Syracuse. You have to find other ways to get interior touches. We did a very good job of that against Syracuse.”
The Panthers had been in the habit of settling for outside shots. In their six conference games, they have taken 113 3-pointers. Only Notre Dame and Providence had taken more in conference play.
“We’re definitely taking a lot of 3s, more than we should be,” starting shooting guard Jermaine Dixon said. “For the most part, a lot of the 3s are open looks that you have to take. But we do feel like we should be attacking more, and that’s what we got going against Syracuse.”
Jermaine Dixon said there is another benefit to attacking the basket. It can take pressure off of point guard Levance Fields, he said, who has been chiefly responsible for penetrating and getting open shots for everyone else.
“We need everybody making plays,” Jermaine Dixon said. “Besides Levance, me, Sam [Young], Brad [Wanamaker] and Gil [Brown], we have to be able to make plays to help us out at the end. We have to get DeJuan [Blair] easier looks, make plays for ourselves and take pressure off Levance.”
Blair of course enjoys the longer shots, because he can be in better position to get the rebounds and put backs.
That leads into the story on Blair working on his best Wes Unseld.
The 6-7, 265-pound Blair ranks third in the nation at 12.8 rebounds per game (behind only pre-season All-Americans Blake Griffin of Oklahoma and Luke Harangody of Notre Dame).
But it is Blair’s actions after the rebounds that have improved. He is hitting point guard Levance Fields in stride and getting the offense off and running. Last season, Blair admits he lazily tossed outlet passes without much authority.
“I would throw them underhand or throw them wibbly-wobbly,” he said. “They weren’t good passes. Now, I think I do a good job, and once (Fields) gets it, he can run, instead of having to wait.”
Dixon agreed Blair is significantly better in that area. He said last season Blair had a tendency to “use a rebound as an opportunity to rest.”
“Now, we are talking to him about getting it out quick and giving us a chance to go,” Dixon said. “It’s just a part of his improvement.”
Blair has more assists than turnovers (21-20) this season after having more than twice as many turnovers to assists as a freshman. He also has more steals and fewer fouls.
Part of his improvement this year. His improving conditioning also helped since he doesn’t need to rest as much after the rebound.
