My back is killing me from shoveling multiple times today. To say nothing of having the kids and wife home with all the snow.
Just going to kick back a little mellower with some Makers Mark and (hopefully) enjoy the game.
I’ll put some thoughts in at halftime.
HALFTIME: Pitt leads 31-26.
No complaints. Pitt lost Blair to the feared foul trouble with over 8 minutes until the half. ‘Nova had a surge, but Pitt answered. Gilbert Brown sparked the surge in the final couple minutes to kepp Pitt ahead.
When Blair went out, it took about 2 minutes of game play before Pitt got back in control on the pace. They really let the game speed up and that hurt.
I would have called goaltending on Cunningham’s first block, but I’m admittedly biased. The second one was Nasir Robinson not finishing strong. He just wasn’t that far ahead of the pack to flick that up and under.
That said, Robinson took a great charge in the middle of the first half as he and Wanamaker were surprisingly effective. Wanamaker, especially, was on fire. After years of seeing the NYC kids struggle when going home to play St. John’s it was a little odd to see the Philly kids show their stuff.
Jermaine Dixon has done a number on Scotty Reynolds. Even when out or not on him, Reynolds looked unsure.
All things considered, given the foul problems for the inside guys, not too bad to be up 5.
There’s a very annoying reason why the game isn’t on ESPN360 (at least I’m pretty sure this is the reason). ESPN is still pushing for cable companies to take ESPNU. So games on the U are not going to be put on 360, to piss off fans and demand their cable providers offer it.
I usually don’t whine about officiating — perhaps because we play so many home games — but the officiating was very inconsistent tonight. The Pitt guards were getting mugged as they brought the ball up the court and moving the ball around the perimeter, yet there were no calls. At the other end they were calling it tight. Yes, Blair committed some silly fouls hedging on the perimeter and we didn’t move our feet very well on occasion, but there were a lot of head-scratchers mixed in there.
Refs need to be consistent at both ends of the floor. A 23-14 differential in fouls is not consistent, particularly when both teams are playing so physical. This game would have been a blowout if Villanova made their free throws during the first 35 minutes of play. That alone indicates that something was wrong as this wasn’t a blowout type of game.
You obviously won’t hear Dixon or the Pitt players griping about this, so I’ll do it for them. And just to be clear, I don’t think the foul issues were the reason we lost. But it most certainly had a huge impact on the outcome of the game. And that’s a shame.
Finally, we need to do a better job against these pressing teams. I think we broke the press well enough. However, we really struggled getting our offensive sets going once we broke the press. That needs to change.
I don’t think a foul was called on that play 😉
The refs were horrible, but missed open looks cost Pitt this game. And I agree with giving a zone look here and there. ‘Nova’s too good of a 3-ball team to do it for long stretches, but here and there to change up the look, take some of the pressure of Blair when he’s picked up some fouls, it could be valuable.
When McGee did get in, I didn’t think he looked that bad. Moved his feet on D and I don’t think really gave up any hoops, at least no easy ones. G. Brown has been invisible these last few games. He also needs to step up.
Disappointing loss, overall. Agree they will bounce back on Saturday.
that being said, here’s where the game turned in my opinion. Pitt’s up 19-9, Biggs is sitting cause he got 2 fouls in like the first 2 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, up 19-9, we sub out Fields, Dixon, and Blair and have on the floor: Young, who is not motivated tonight and is shotting poorly and making poor decisions; Gibbs, Brown, Wanamaker, and Robinson. 4 non-starters. Nova starts the pressure and, snap your fingers, it’s a 1 or 2 point game. Nova was in it the rest of the way. Bad decision mass subbing like that by the coach, I think.
Blair has to be smarter, especially when you get the sense that the game is going to be called pretty close.
Have to make a statement against ND and it is not going to be easy. Harangody is a quality big man who will test Blair and McAlarney can make a shot anywhere on the court.
The team should be locked in a gym and not able to leave until each player shoots 10,000 foul shots.
The only fouls that mattered were Blair’s…..and they were all very deserved, so I don’t buy any of the whining about the officiating. His 1st was a tackle, 2nd one a clear bump on the hedge, 3rd one he hit Cunningham’s elbow on a shot when he had no reason to reach, and 4th one he tried to pick somebody 30 ft from the hoop. All deserved and all pointless.
I thought Pitt lost the game because they got nothing out of Nova’s press. When a team gets in your face like that, you need to make them pay some of the time with easy buckets. Pitt never got anything easy against the press and settled for halfcourt possessions every time, not to mention the turnovers.
As tough as Fields is, there are nights when his inability to get in the lane and dish or score hurts the Panthers. His lack of speed means he has to settle for fadeaway jumpers much of the time, and he makes plenty of those and that’s great…………but it doesn’t get anybody else easy buckets and draw fouls from a smaller team like Nova.
In past years I wouldn’t have campaigned for Pitt to speed the tempo up against even a halfcourt press because we didn’t have the horses to play up and down. But now we do and I think we could run a team like Nova out of the gym if we had fought back and attacked that press.
Lastly,
The foul shooting is not a coaching thing….it isn’t technique in most cases. It’s mental, and its contagious…its been passed down through Pitt over the past few years. Great foul shooters, have great confident minds. These guys, esp. fields are capable of making them, they just lose it mentally at times and it costs.
I would argue Hugh’s point about not bringing the officiating into question. Only the two hedges were clear fouls on Blair *in this game.* I say *in this game* because there were a multitude of more blatant fouls that were not called. I was just watching the “highlights” on ESPN and saw the blocking call on Brown where he set up under the basket and the Villanova guard took three steps, jumped into him, scored and got the call when Brown took a dive. That’s an absolute no-call from any objective point of view. Also, the missed goaltending call on Cunningham in the first half was a disgrace. Again, it’s not the fact that Pitt was called for fouls. It’s the fact that the game was called a different way at each end of the floor. That’s very hard for players to adjust to, and in all honesty, something they shouldn’t have to do. This is the best conference in the land. We should have the best officials. We don’t.
On a positive note, Wannamker played an outstanding game tonight in front of the home folks. Very aggressive off the bounce, selective with his shot, great vision in the passing game and solid defense. He has my vote for most improved player this year.
I do have ESPNU, and I just kind of felt like I was watching the Louisville game again. On the road against an excited crowd, they pressured us, Blair got in foul trouble, we fell behind and couldn’t hit any big shots, we lost.
Yup, same story as last Saturday against the ‘ville.
Wanamaker played well.
Villanova got hot, made their foul shots (in the second half) and protected their house in an emotional game. Great crowd. Hats off to them.
The thing that I find worrisome moving forward is that Young seems to go cold and make bad decisions when Blair is in foul trouble. Obviously, this has something to do with the the other teams D but it is a concern for March Madness.
Pitt needs to win a couple close ones at the buzzer to show that they can. Levance seemed to uncharacteristically lose his composure at the end of this one. He needs to be the General to win this kind of game. He has done it before and will do it again.
It is the Big East.
Here’s the deal…the “streetballers” refuse to change their style..and the coaches cannot make them. Again, it’s like practicing a bad golf swing over and over….you can shoot 10,000 free throws but if your form is bad, you will still fail when the pressure is on and your legs are gone.
Formula for beating Pitt has been set. Drive the basket on Pitt early and often putting the big men in foul trouble. Press all game and in the second half Pitt will fold up late due to so much expended energy and our guards not being quick enough to respond.
Still ….we have only lost two games. A great learning oppotunity exists from the Nova game.
Teams have been shutting down McAlarney and Harangody has been taking 20+ shots a game and I don’t see why Pitt can’t force that pattern to continue. Let Harangody have his shots……just don’t put him on the line and don’t help so much that Ayers (who’s been shooting terribly) and Zeller get wide-open looks.
If Dixon takes McAlarney, that means Fields and the other guards have to keep Tory Jackson out of the lane. He’s not a shooter, but he’s a strong penetrator so you play off him and watch him struggle.
Need a win Sat to get the momentum going again…..
There was just some real bad decision making by the team. Levance really needs to stop trying to force a drive to the basket. He is supposed to be the General, Generals get others into action. Also Sam is looking real sloppy. He just drives expecting to make his way to the basket and picks up charges or he has been missing wide open looks. Both are unacceptable for someone who wants to go in the first round in the draft. The only real consilation is that it wasn’t at home, and it was to a ranked team, but Nova is not really that good of a team and there really is no exuse to lose to them. It almost felt like the Lville game all over again.
I knew Pitt was in trouble when I saw the first possession of the second half. The Nova PG pushed fields to the ground with a forearm, and no fould was called. Then Pitt gets whistled with five fouls in 3 minutes.
Is it just me, or is Fields lacking some passion lately. He doesn’t seem to be showing any emotion on the court as of late, and appears to be just going through the motions at times….
Finally, during the national anthem Blair had both hands raised with fingers pointing out #1. Severla teamates actually tried to pull his arms down. I think that helped stoke the fires on the VU side. His first foul was right in front of me and I believe he was agressively “marking his territory” to make a statement to VU. It wasn’t necessary and was careless. In other games he might not have gotten a fould, but right after showboating he drew too much attention to himself.
Let’s bounce back and beat ND
Hail to Pitt
But make no mistake about Nova being a good team. They are very well-coached and pose some tough matchups, especially with Blair on the bench. It’s the kind of loss that I almost expected to happen, and is bound to happen in the big east. Pitt didn’t play well, but they we’re playing well enough to be in the game with 8 minutes left with DeJuan on the floor. He just needs to learn from this, be smart and learn that a stupid foul can cost us the game, and come out with some fire on Saturday. I expect the zoo to be in full effect.
The Panthers started out stong, and then absolutely fell asleep. The only bright spot I saw was Wanamaker. The officiating was terrible, and inconsistent at both ends. For the country’s number 3 team to be unable to make foul shots is totally unacceptable. Villanova is a good, competent and well coached team, but they don’t match up talent-wise with Pitt. We simply did not take the game seriously and folded when pressured. Villanova’s press totally prevented Pitt from getting into any kind of offensive flow. Pitt needs a real outside shooting threat. Although I love Blair, he looked like he was out of gas, even though he spent a lot of time on the bench fo stupid fouls. Generally both defenses were relentless, but Pitt does need to learn a zone of some kind when they lose their big men. We need to learn how to break a press and score, not just get the ball over the time line. We missed too many cherries under the boards, and too many layups. Number 3 teams don’t miss those shots. We looked nonchalant and almos disinterested. There was no sign of leadership. Wednesday night’s Panthers were nt the same team that I saw crush Syracuse a week ago. Maybe we need to bring the band and cheerleaders to these games that are relatively close to Pittsburgh. I don’t know what Pitt’s travel arrangements are when they come to Philly, but if they’re on a bus and arriving game day i can tell you from my personal experience that the 6 hour trip from to Philly is exhausting. As a Pitt alum residing in Philly, I’ve seen the last 6 or 7 games between Pitt and Villanova here in Philly. I can’t remember Pitt ever laying well here against Villanova.
Hail to Pitt!!
The Panthers started out stong, and then absolutely fell asleep. The only bright spot I saw was Wanamaker. The officiating was terrible, and inconsistent at both ends. For the country’s number 3 team to be unable to make foul shots is totally unacceptable. Villanova is a good, competent and well coached team, but they don’t match up talent-wise with Pitt. We simply did not take the game seriously and folded when pressured. Villanova’s press totally prevented Pitt from getting into any kind of offensive flow. Pitt needs a real outside shooting threat. Although I love Blair, he looked like he was out of gas, even though he spent a lot of time on the bench for stupid fouls. Generally both defenses were relentless, but Pitt does need to learn a zone of some kind when they lose their big men. We need to learn how to break a press and score, not just get the ball over the time line. We missed too many cherries under the boards, and too many layups. Number 3 teams don’t miss those shots. We looked nonchalant and almost disinterested. There was no sign of leadership. Wednesday night’s Panthers were not the same team that I saw crush Syracuse a week ago. Maybe we need to bring the band and cheerleaders to these games that are relatively close to Pittsburgh. There were certainly plenty of Pitt fans in the house. I don’t know what Pitt’s travel arrangements are when they come to Philly, but if they’re on a bus and arriving game day I can tell you from my personal experience that the 6 hour trip to Philly is exhausting. As a Pitt alum residing in Philly, I’ve seen the last 6 or 7 games between Pitt and Villanova here in Philly. I can’t remember Pitt ever playing well here against Villanova.
Hail to Pitt!!
…also the weakness of gary mghee, he is so inept and if we could just have someone come in for blair that could at least play respectably and hold his own it would be nice…
..oh well…only two losses…a win at home at ND then an easier part of the schedule coming up…we can pick up some momentum for when it really counts