That’s what tonight’s game will be with Texas. Don’t be fooled by their first half struggles with Iowa. When even the Iowa faithful were stunned by the performance and what the Hawkeyes were doing (though knowing it wouldn’t last). This is a Texas team that is loaded.
That doesn’t mean Pitt has no chance, but it isn’t a very large one. This is a big step up in weight class that will be good for Pitt to find out just how far they have to go. I’ll be liveblogging around 10pm tonight. The game’s on ESPN2.
It’s been a while since the two teams faced each other.
The programs haven’t faced off since their only previous meeting, a 91-87 Pitt win on Nov. 29, 1991 in the Preseason NIT.
Longtime Longhorns fans may remember Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Texas 55-54 while playing for TCU in 1986.
Connections. Tenuous ones, but connections nonetheless.
As for beating Wichita State, the Shockers’ beat writer thought that this game already has them ready to face Southern Illinois.
The Panthers handled the Shockers 68-55 with the suffocating defense and efficient offense that SIU so often uses. Pitt’s physical man-to-man defense forced 24 turnovers. Its patient offense worked the shot clock and wore down WSU on Monday in the CBE Classic at the Sprint Center.
“They’re like a football team,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “It’s like a team that was able to milk the clock. They kept the chains moving and it was very difficult.”
WSU (2-1) made 18 baskets, nine in each half. It committed 13 turnovers in the first half, 11 in the second. Every time it made a run, Pitt turned up its defense and forced turnovers or missed shots.
Even as Pitt was clearly the better team you could see lapses that allowed WSU to make runs. That has to be expected with a young team. Concentration, focus and not letting up are things that have to be learned.
The Pitt Panthers shrugged off a second-half rally to dispose of Wichita State, 68-55, on Monday night in the semifinals of the CBE Classic at Sprint Center.
“We didn’t play great,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said, “but we played hard.”
The Shockers made two runs early in the second half to get to within 5 and 3 points. Pitt, happily, did not panic or press. They just made more plays and got their game going.
Pitt was in control throughout against Wichita State, which fell to 2-1. The Shockers trailed 32-21 at halftime, but with the sizable black-and-gold clad Wichita State contingent of fans roaring its approval, Wichita State got within 43-40 when Kenny Manigault set up Durley’s layup with 13 minutes to play.
But the Panthers put the game away with a 16-6 run, including nine points by Gibbs, who earlier had missed two of three free throws after he was fouled on a three-point attempt.
“We thought we had quicker guards, and we wanted to use penetration,” Dixon said of Woodall and Gibbs, who went to the line 17 times. “They have longer, bigger guards, but we thought we had better guys off the dribble, so we wanted to take advantage of that. We spread the floor a little more, and that was effective for us.”
Gibbs didn’t let his missed free throws affect him.
“You’ve got to keep playing,” he said. “That’s what coach Dixon stresses. Don’t let one end of the court affect the other end. Just keep playing hard.”
The play by Travon Woodall was big. He benefited from plenty of attention on Ashton Gibbs. He attacked the basket, fought to get rebounds and played solid defense.
It was Woodall who answered the call when the Shockers concentrated their efforts on stopping Gibbs at all costs. And the best part about his performance was that it entailed much more than scoring. Woodall also led the team in rebounds (6), assists (5) — and much to coach Jamie Dixon’s chagrin — turnovers (6).
“He played really well,” Dixon said. “The thing I’m most proud of is the rebounds. In the last two games, he’s had six defensive rebounds. We’ve been after our guards to rebound more, and he’s done that.”
Woodall realized early on that he would have an opportunity to shine. Wichita State made it clear that someone other than Gibbs was going to have to be the hero for the Panthers.
“My teammates put me in a great position,” Woodall said. “The way they were defending Ashton they were giving me open lanes to the basket.”
Woodall capitalized by getting his teammates easy opportunities. Junior center Gary McGhee scored a career-high 10 points, thanks mostly to Woodall, who found him often off penetration. Woodall also got to the free-throw line 10 times and made seven of them.
Three of his turnovers happened in the final few minutes with the game decided. Not killer, but something to work on. Personally, what I really liked was that as the game went on Woodall found guys inside more.
He found McGhee and while it wasn’t with grace, there was almost a dawning realization by McGhee that he really could out-muscle guys for position and to finish. Just encouraging to see.
This game tonight puts a rather silly streak for Coach Dixon on the line.
When a reporter pointed out that Pitt was 35-0 in November under Dixon, the coach noted it’s not the only month in which his team plays well. “We’ve been pretty good in December, January and February, too,” he said. For the record, Pitt is 104-31 in those three months under Dixon. And in March under Dixon? The Panthers are 27-14.
Well the next step is to actually have a record in April.
1. Most of Woodall’s turnovers came in the half court offense, not in breaking the press. Same thing for Robinson, who handled the ball a lot against the press. I thought the team, as a whole, handled the press pretty well (at least until the last couple minutes). This may cut both ways, but my feeling is that turnovers in the half court are more easily corrected than turnovers against the press.
2. Hugh Green is correct on Gibbs in terms of his ability to go to the hoop and finish – it’s just not in his skill set right now, and may never be. What he can do is get in position (either with the ball or without) to hit medium range jumpers. He did this a couple times last night, and I think he will find more success finishing from 10-15 feet than taking the ball to the hoop.
3. The post game is, well, a work in progress. As noted, McGhee does look much better, but athletic, fast big men will probably draw fouls because he is slow to move his feet on defense. Taylor has the athleticism to stay with those types of big men, but he needs to be more consistent with his positioning. Taylor also needs to be more aggressive. For example, both McGhee and Taylor struggled against the post-spin move last night, but for different reasons.
Tonight will be a tough one. I’d really like to see a better effort on the boards, although a better effort may still result in Pitt getting hammered by the bigger Longhorns. Historically, Texas seems to get annoyed with teams that play solid team defense, since they have a harder time breaking down players 1-on-1. Pitt’s only real hope is to annoy them into mistakes. Even if Pitt loses, however, they can take a lot of good from this trip.
Best penetation drive finishers, you gotta give Krauser the nod.
Best long/med range finishers, no doubt…Levance.
Best combination of both…Knight.
To me, the key guy that needs to finish better is Nasir. If he can play around the rim like Chevy did(in terms of finishing), he could be a valuable asset on this team . He seems to struggle finishing on shots and putbacks. I think a lot of that is due to the fact:
1) He’s a team guy (pass first)
2) Smaller size cause timidness
3) Ball handling skills are fair, at best
Until Dante learns the ropes, we need someone finishing at the four…and Nasir is the likely man. He has a great rebounding insight (position, ball timing) and unflabbable work ethic, now, he just needs to learn how to finish. He could be a 10/10 guy…thoguhts?
This will be a different team that we are used to in so many ways .. but none more so than just how much we will be outrebouded and outscored underneath
re talking about a guy that averaged around 16 a game, was the player of the year, and had an erratic jumpshot at best. In spite of that J he was able to get in the lane constantly and finish to have that ppg avg. The kid was the most important player in Pitt’s revival and I disagree that Woodall is a better athlete. If Knight could shoot at all he would be playing pro-ball instead of coaching.
On a side note. People thought panther fans were tough on QB’s. Clausen just got sucker punched by a mad fan. That should attract recruits to ND! link to sports.espn.go.com
BTW, I think Wichita State’s run at the start of the second half was with McGhee on the floor. Regardless, I think there may be more of a connection between their runs and Robinson being off (due to fouls) than McGhee/Taylor. Admittedly, I don’t have access to any stats at the moment to back that up – just a gut feeling.
This kid epps comming in could be the best point guard pitt has had ever. (well at least the past 20-30 years)
I did keep in mind that he’s only 17 and that’s why i said he’s a freshman.
Sometimes, however, his street-baller mentality would take over and he looked like he was barreling down the court out of control. That drove me nuts.
I forget the game though, and I don’t think it was against a big time oppponent, but Pitt was either losing or tied with a few seconds left and he took the ball and went coast-to-coast like a madman to get a layup and we wound up winning. That was Krauser at his best.
For whatever reason, I still prefered Knight and Fields to Krauser. Like someone said, Knight would be in the NBA if he could shoot and Fields would be there if he wasn’t short and fat.
Fields was looking slimmer before that phantom dayton pompom
I don’t remember Carl ever actually getting to the hoop, but it must have happened. What I remember was him pounding the dribble mercilessly with his right hand (you could have cut off the left and it wouldn’t have affected his game) until the defense fell asleep wondering how old Carl was and then he’d drive hard right and throw in a 5-7 ft bank shot.
But enough about the past.
It feels very strange (and very good) to know that our PG can actually penetrate. I’ll live with some turnovers knowing that Woodall will get the frontline players some buckets.
Patterson is a freshman in his 4th game and he is written off already. It’s shocking that Jamie Dixon has won all of these games with such terrible players.
Haha, Carl was like 45 when he played for us. I forgot all about that!
People always forget what a great rebounder Carl was for a guard. Woodall showed some of that grit last night by battling for some boards. Hopefully he keeps doing it for the rest of his career.
I will agree with hugh that it is nice to have a point guard who is exceptionally quick. It seems like he can get into the lane whenever he wants. He has had some trouble finishing. I would expect more trouble finishing tonight. However, he should get better at converting the layups and short jumpers with experience and a little bit more strength.
Krauser had pretty good skills but starting for 3 straight years (and 126 total games) for really good teams, you better have over 500 assists if you are the PG.
Would have rather seen those teams play when the Shockers’ PG wasn’t suspended; would have been a better game.
Wanamaker did stink last night. Missed shots, bad drives and his usually consistent passing game wasn’t in evidence. Patterson didn’t impress me at all, either. He does look comfortable, but I’m not sure how being comfortable matters when you’re slow as molasses. I’m hoping he’s just one of those guys who looks like he’s barely moving and still manages to get things done, but I’m worried.
I do understand how McGhee dominated summer league. He’s leaner and still huge and Pitt desperately needs him to stay in games and out of foul trouble.
Taylor looks kind of lost. Thought it might wake him up when his stuff got swatted, but that didn’t work.
Gibbs was consistent. He’s never going to get much going to the hoop, but he has to keep trying or no one will respect his penetration.
We get to see Avery Bradley tonight. Can’t wait. He should be in the top 2 or 3 freshman in college ball this year. He was the best high schooler I saw last year.