I’ll take an ugly win any day over a pretty loss. And make no mistake, that game was ugly. Maybe you can claim it was memorable since it went to double OT and it was taut and tense in the final twenty minutes (10 minutes of OT and the final 10 minutes of regulation) and it closed out the Civic Arena for basketball. The counter is that after that game it is probably a good thing.
The only thing a game being that tight and going into OT guaranteed was that the national college basketball writers would take a break from the Big 11/ACC Challenge to take some notice of what was happening.
At least it was close: The Pitt-Duquesne game was hardly a classic to close out Mellon Arena, with each team turning the ball over on its last possession of regulation. But the game did have some drama and Pitt prevailed 67-58 in double overtime.
But, hey, at least the Stage Magicians got a good crowd.
Coach Dixon — and I really am not sure if he had his tongue firmly jammed in his cheek when he said this — found beauty in the game.
“This one will go down in history as probably the best (game here),” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Of course, that’s my version of it. Duquesne might disagree.”
Pitt (6-1), which never led in regulation, overcame a 16-point second-half deficit against a resurgent Duquesne team trying to beat the Panthers for only the fourth time in the past 31 meetings.
Pitt switched to a zone defense to cool off the hot-shooting Dukes (5-2), and Pitt sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs, who missed his first eight shots, made a game-tying 3-pointer late in regulation and added two 3-pointers in the second overtime to give Pitt its ninth win in a row over Duquesne.
Odds are Duquesne will disagree.
But when you are your own worst enemy, crazy things happen.
Chances evaporate, especially when your starting backcourt — the three-guard system of Monteiro, Jason Duty and Eric Evans — goes 7 of 34 from the floor and 2 of 15 from 3-point range.
Chances vanish when you have the ball at the end of regulation and your point guard, Evans, fumbles the basketball away without getting a shot off and instead of heading toward the basket, he heads for the sideline in attempt to save the ball — about 45 feet from the basket — from going out of bounds.
Chances slide away when, at the end of overtime, you have a fleeting chance to get a shot off, but instead of getting it to a speedy guard to try to make a mad dash up the floor, the 6-foot-8 Rodrigo Peggau throws up a desperation heave from halfcourt.
Chances slip away when Pitt goes into a zone and you don’t know what to do against it, looking lost beyond belief.
“They got into a zone,” Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said. “And we just kind of looked like a deer in the headlights.”
Chances slide away from you when your bench is thin and three guys — Damian Saunders, Monteiro and Peggau — foul out with Saunders being held to more than 10 points below his average.
“I thought our kids gave a great effort,” Everhart said. “I didn’t think we were the most intelligent team in the world, but our kids gave a great effort … as frustrating as it was, I thought we played hard.”
Pitt going zone for some 25 minutes or so was the big story by the end.
“That 2-3 zone kind of messed us up,” Clark said.
That would be an understatement. After halftime, the Dukes made just 9 of 41 shots from the field.
Pitt rarely goes away from its man-to-man defense, but Dixon decided to switch after the Dukes shot 48 percent in the first half and led, 33-20, at the intermission.
“They were in a rhythm and we weren’t,” Dixon said. “We had to change the pace of the game. I can’t believe I went to zone that long. It was tough for me to do. But it was working, and we stayed with it.”
There a lot of coaches that would not be able to get away from their fundamental philosophies for even a short time. Let alone that long.
It was weird. Pitt’s zone hardly looked aggressive — or even confusing. It just worked. That was as much on a clueless Duquesne team that their own coach admitted does not have a lot of smart players. I wouldn’t count on (and I doubt Pitt does) the zone working that well and for that long too often.
The funny thing is that the zone is in part to help teams that have less players conserve energy on defense. So they aren’t chasing opposing players all over the court in man-to-man. But it was Duquesne that had the problem with enough warm bodies.
Pete Gillen was doing the color for CBS Sports and he was hammering on Duquesne’s lack of depth catching up with them from right after the halftime to the end. It was amusing to me — since it was directed at the Dukes.
They aren’t the deepest team and they were in major foul trouble late in the game. One of the more encouraging thing continues to be Gary McGhee.
He was offensively invisible in the first half battling Damian Saunders. But Saunders was Duquesne’s best player and while he had a bunch of blocks and finished with 8 rebounds, he didn’t do much scoring. Not just that, but McGhee was the one to get Saunders in foul trouble. Which really cost Duquesne as the game got deeper. McGhee found room inside and after a first half that saw him with 0 points, 0 shots, 1 block and 1 rebound, he was huge in the second half and OT.
McGhee played 23 of the 30 final minutes. He went 5-7 for 11 points, grabbed 7 boards in that span and had 2 more blocks.
As encouraging as McGhee was, the guard play is a terrifying thing. Forget — if you can — the poor shooting of Woodall, Gibbs and Adams (combined 6-26). Adams continues to hesitate on shots unless he is absolutely and completely uncovered. Gibbs was flat, cold and frustrated.
Woodall really had me bothered. He has no confidence in his shot right now, and it appears to be translating everywhere. He only made 2-6 on FTs. He very obviously passed up open shots and Duquesne was completely playing off him to prevent penetration — preferring to dare him to shoot. His passing and running the show was horrid. Unable to work the ball inside and letting the shot clock run to the final seconds and forcing other players to hoist last second shots ahead of the buzzer.
Coach Dixon noticed. In the second half and 2 OTs, Woodall only played 13 of 30 minutes. He only played 27 minutes while Gibbs played 45 and had to shoulder a lot more of the burden of directing things. It’s not a good sign that Woodall let himself be so frustrated and essentially took himself out of things.
This season will be as much of a struggle as expected. The team will improve, but will also take steps back. If you are on the wagon or trying to cut back your drinking, this will not be the season for that.
Also, does Ashton have a little Levance in him, or what? 1-13 from the field and canning the game-tying basket? I like that. I like it A LOT.
LETS GO PITT!
1. Nobody is really running the offense right now. Woodall continues to involve other people a little better than Adams, but he makes poor decisions at times, and he seems to be having trouble with focus. When Dixon returns, they may have to move Gibbs to point out of necessity. This is not good because Gibbs really cannot penetrate well. I’m still hopeful that Woodall will improve, but he is not as far along as hoped even at this early point in the season, although we should all keep in mind that the season is only three weeks old.
2. I’ve been slow to jump on the McGhee bandwagon, and I still think he has limitations that will keep his ceiling relatively low (hand of stone), but he has clearly established himself as the big man on this team. I am contradicting what I said yesterday to BigGuy, but he has earned more minutes.
3. This team desperately needs a leader. I think the hopes for the season really rest on the return of Dixon and Brown. Neither is a star, but both will bring experience and with that, hopefully, some leadership on the court.
The good news – although it seems like the season has been going on for some time, it really has been only three weeks. The month of December has oftentimes been an important one for Pitt in terms of growth – hopefully there will be lots of sprouting…
In fact, I’m not sure if anyone on this team can finish close to the hoop!
I think the team will get better when the two guys with real experience get back in the lineup. There’s talent in this team, they’re just very very raw and inexperienced.
Last night may have been ugly, but I think that in the end it was a good learning experience for them. Losing that game could have been disastrous mentally to this young team. They’ll be tougher for it.
Why? Because WVU would’ve gotten the Gator Bowl bid either way. If FSU could push through their wishes to be a 6-6 team on a NYD bowl, I don’t think they would’ve had a problem getting a 7 or 8 win WVU team in either.
I know Brown will miss 4 more games. Anyone hear anything new about Dixon?
This team will be much improved in a few weeks. They will be in the tournament. Book it.
Even Chris Dokish, who recently posted a brutally honest review of the season to date, has stated that teams better get Pitt this year because they may not get the chance again for awhile.
This year’s team will be fine. We played poorly and we still WON.
Luckily, thus far Indiana, coached by nemesis Tom Crean, doesn’t look that good thus far.
One thing that does concern me is Dante Taylor…The kid just CAN NOT finish a play around the basket. EVER. To top it off, he can’t hit free throws either. Usually can chalk it up to being a freshman in most cases, but Dante is a McD’s All-American and the bar is set much higher for him. A bit disappointing, but don’t get me wrong, I will be cheering him on, and the rest of this team, like crazy…cause I am a DIE-HARD fan..and that is what we do.
ps- going to the Pitt-Cincy game. Should be fun…hopefully a different outcome than the last time we played for the Big East title at home on our last game….that Miami night game SUCKED…and lost Larry the heisman. Here’s to Dion rushing for 300….
Much diff then when I was in college in the Burgh in the early to mid 90s. Only bright spots back then were Curtis Martin… Vonteego Cummings…oh, and Zelda’s on a Thurs night taking a library card as “valid ID.” before turning 21….
And how do you define on-court leadership please? To me it’s assists plain and simple.
And more important, WHERE’S OMAR??
Remember in 07 when Wannstedt’s recruiting classes were overrated and he should be fired immediately?
There certainly is the potential for on-court leadership, but not there yet.
Love the fact that we played with Texas for a half…but we did lose by 15 or so. That right there should show you we don’t have what it takes to finish against the “really good” teams (I’m not talking about Duquesne, Wofford, Eastern KY, Binghamton, etc…)
Having said that, we will have a VERY GOOD team here…they just are very inexperienced with NO leadership right now. Can’t wait for Jermaine Dixon to come back. He is going to bring a certain attitude back on court that the young guys will feed off of.
Sorry….but Dante just isn’t doing it. I am one of his biggest fans..but just calling it like I see it.
Travon Woodall has one of the better handles I’ve seen from a freshman (albeit RS). And he showed great talent and toughness against Texas.
Chase Adams has plenty of talent. He just isn’t comfortable yet, but he certainly is talented. When you lead your conference in steals (whatever conf that is) and ranked 8th nationally you def have talent, not to mention 11th in the league in scoring and 3rd in assists. Please explain if you diagree…
Dante the McD’s 5 star…need I say more. Right now can’t finish a play…but I said “raw talent.”
Patterson certainly has raw talent as well. Not sure what you mean about being a truck,….wasn’t DeJuan Blair a truck?
While I freely admit that I haven’t been a fan for all that long (only been in grad school here for 4 yrs), I consider myself pretty dedicated (you know, trying not to become an alcoholic from all the stress…refusing to watch free throws becomes I’m convinced it helps them go in). From my limited experience, it seems like Pitt fans are quick to dismiss an imperfect team as either garbage and not worth caring about, or some sort of major failure on the part of the program. Which makes me want to smack someone.
No, this team is not perfect, but when you have zero returning starters on the court, how could they be? But not talented? Losing big to all the top Big East programs? Comedy act? Cat dodo (btw, is that a cross between a cat and a dodo bird?)? That is a sign of someone that either knows nothing about college basketball, or Pitt’s worst bandwagon fan ever.
It is a little embarrassing that we’ve kept so many of these teams around late into the game. But we have got to be pleased how we’ve stepped it up against the better teams. We defeated a decent Wichita State team that was no joke. We were in it with Texas for a good long time until their depth and athleticism just got the best of us. Pittsburgh teams have never been the kind to play up against lesser competition. But they are the kind that step up against the good competition. And you have to give the boys (and Jamie) credit for not throwing in the towel when they were down by 16 last night and all hope seemed lost. They battled, and they never seemed to get down on each other, even if they were down on themselves. Did anyone else see Ashton throw his arms up excitedly when Tray made that 3 down the stretch in regulation? When Jermaine and Gil come back, we will look very different and be a much better team, even though I doubt either of them are going to be stars. But honestly, the depth and the “us” mentality is what I love about Jamie Dixon team(s).
So, it’s not going to be a pretty season, but if I had any savings, I’d put it heavily on us being serious contenders in 2011-2012 years, mostly due to the players that are out there on the court now, while the new kids are learning from them and coming into their own to continue the tradition of success.
C’mon, give these kids a break…or at least a reasonable opportunity to fail.
We’re young, but Dixon isn’t using that as an excuse and neither should we. I’m sure that we’ll get better as the year progresses, but there are some glaring weaknesses with this team that the return of Gil and Jermaine will not fix.
We rebound relatively well for a team that lacks size, but we don’t protect/handle the ball well, we don’t shoot the ball well and we don’t defend well.
We do, however, have Coach Dixon and players who seem willing to go the mattress for one another and the program. That’s why those don’ts aren’t can’ts.
I think any honest and knowledgable fan of Pitt basketball understands this and is willing to admit that we’re likely to take our lumps this year, particularly against the meat of the Big East schedule.
I would only add that two of the most storied teams in all of college basketball, North Carolina and UCLA, each missed the tournament twice this decade. This year, UCLA has lost to Cal State Fullerton, Butler, Portland and Long Beach State. Rebuilding years happen. It is what happens when a program has talent good enough to leave early for the NBA… occasionally an off year happens. So far, this team has done exactly what was expected. 6-1.
In Jamie I trust.
Remember, last year at this time, it was by no means a certainty that DeJuan would be in the NBA now. We fully expected a core team this year of Blair, Brown and Dixon but …
But you can bet your ass he’ll be here blathering (no pun intended) non-stop if we don’t.
People like that are obnoxious.
thanks for the shout out.
ltl i don’t think any of us are saying that this is a team full of all-stars, but they aren’t bums either. these kids can play and with the addition of veterans like brown and dixon, they will be a lot better. brown gives them an instant upgrade athletically and dixon just knows how to play, score, and defend. brown and dixon are two of the better players on the team and they haven’t suited up yet. i’m not saying adding them takes us to the top of the big east, but it will certainly help the team. give the kids time. the way mcghee has played has really been encouraging and tray woodall is exceptionally talented, but needs to reign it in. wanny can play and nasir will benefit from brown being back. gibbs will also benefit from a guy like dixon who can drive and kick the ball out. teams have to respect dixon’s outside shot and that will open things up for gibbs. i haven’t even mentioned how much better this team will be defensively with brown and dixon on the floor. nasir is probably a better rebounder than gil, but gil is just disruptive on the defensive end of the floor.
wait until dixon and brown return before judging this team. it is only fair.
Dixon is a good big east player. Exceptional defense and he can create his own shot. Brown is an athletic presence on offense and defense and can score a little bit off the dribble and in the mid-range. They aren’t all big east players, but they are veterans and know how to play the way Jamie wants the team to play. Plus they will not be intimidated against the big east competition. sometimes young teams start slowly before they realize they can play with other good teams. I think having Brown and Dixon out there will alleviate some pressure on the younger guys.
Look, these guys aren’t as good as what we lost, but that doesn’t mean they suck. They are an average team right now, but they will get better. Tournament bids aren’t passed out in December. How many times has Pitt looked like the best team in the world in November and December and then fizzles out in February and March. Perhaps this year it is the opposite and Pitt gets better and better as the weeks go on. Wait a few more weeks before you throw in the towel with this group.
1. He was struggling defensively, and given the nature of the overtimes, I suspect Dixon wanted Adams in there at least in part to provide some defensive leadership.
2. He went back in for the second overtime, but missed a few free throws (I think he missed 3 of 4), then was taken out. Again, once Pitt got the lead, they needed more guys who could hit free throws, and I’m guessing Dixon did not want to take a chance with Woodall at that point.
3. Although he shows bad judgment at times, the offense generally ran better with Woodall at the point than Adams. Woodall got more people involved, and also was able to create a few shots off the dribble better (he didn’t hit many, though).
I think Woodall will continue to get a chance to play, and we’ll see if his play steadies. If not, Gibbs will almost certainly move to the point when Dixon comes back.
The results of the season will either support or debunk your assesment of the team…
But from your quote
“If Dixon’s the coach you all think he is,” I am guessing you think Dixon is not a good coach.
If that is the case what is your argument there?
This team is talented…I’m a die-hard fan, and been one for a while… but also know how to manage expectations. I think you don’t understand the difference between players with talent vs. experienced TEAMS with talent. Its obvious that there is a high probability that this team will prob be a bubble team. That does not mean that this team doesn’t have talent…They are young (or inexperienced in the Pitt system) and once Jamie has them in his system for a while and leaders emerge, this is going to be a fun team to watch….Its so obvious.
Either way, at least it was a memorable game.
Here’s hoping that both teams somehow find their way into the big dance (I know the older Pitt fans who remember when we had a real rivalry with the Dukes will disagree).