In another year or two this would be a huge match-up that would get tons of hype. This year, take away the whole ESPN/Jimmy V tie-in, and it is a game between two teams in various states of rebuild.
Indiana Coach Tom Crean is letting the Indiana media know that this isn’t really a neutral-site game.
“It will seem like a road game,” Crean said Sunday. “There are probably two programs outside of New York right now that can turn the Garden into a home game: that’s Pitt and Duke.”
And while Pitt hasn’t faced Indiana since the NCAA Tournament in 2003, ther is one player that is almost as familiar with Pitt as their coach. Jerimiah Rivers transferred from Georgetown. So he knows MSG and Pitt.
Jeremiah Rivers understands. Sometimes New York City crowds don’t like you, especially in Madison Square Garden. Sometimes they express it. No matter. It’s all good. They don’t rip nobodies, after all.
Rivers was a Garden target for two years when he played for Georgetown during the Big East tourney, the price for being the son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Now the junior guard returns to the arena to help Indiana (3-4) try to make a national statement against Pitt (7-1) in tonight’s Jimmy V Classic.
“We played Pitt in the Big East finals both times and went 1-1 against them,” Rivers said of his Georgetown days. “It’s ironic we play them now. This is one of the greatest venues in the world. I want the team to relish it.”
One of the Hoosiers, from suburban Cleveland envisions a LeBron night there.
“I’ve never played there, never been to New York, but I’ve seen a lot of teams play there,” sophomore forward Tom Pritchard said. “I’ve watched my (Cleveland) Cavaliers and LeBron (James) kill in there.
“Hopefully,” Pritchard said with a smile, “I can pull a LeBron moment in there and we can come out with a win.”
Insert standard comment about LeBron leaving the Cavs after this season. Pritchard is one of the few players with experience from last year. He’s an inside player that should be able to bang.
The Indiana University sophomore stands 6-foot-9 and weighs 248 pounds. He should find out if he’s capable tonight when the Hoosiers (3-4) face Pittsburgh (7-1) in the Jimmy V Classic at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is set for about 8 CST, following the first game between Butler and Georgetown.
“Yeah, it’s something I’m looking forward to,” said Pritchard. “I like to think my game is very physical, so I think I go well against physical teams.”
Perhaps a little too physical. Pritchard is playing nearly 11 minutes less this season than last, and not so much because there is more depth.
“I try not to think about it, but it’s always there,” Pritchard said. “I just have to stop picking up those quick fouls. Coach has had me working in practice on guarding the perimeter players to try to get me to move my feet more. The idea is to make me more disciplined and not foul as much, so hopefully that will help me in the upcoming games.”
Last season Pritchard started all 31 games and averaged 29 minutes. He was often in foul trouble but still averaged 9.7 points and 6.4 rebounds. This season Pritchard has been limited to 18.6 minutes and just 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds a game. IU’s other four starters all average at least 26 minutes.
“Foul trouble has been my big thing this year, and that’s what is keeping me out of the games,” Pritchard said. “But I just have to keep my head. At the same I need to continue to be aggressive and finish better around the basket.”
Pritchard is one of the guys who will battle with Gary McGhee inside tonight. McGhee is an Indiana native, so this game will be a big one for him. Not exactly a homecoming but a big deal.
Panthers junior center Gary McGhee was a high school star in the Hoosier state and comes from a family of Indiana grads.
“That was my favorite team,” McGhee said. “They offered me when Kelvin Sampson was the coach. I ended up coming to Pitt. I think I made a great decision not going (to IU).”
Seeing McGhee develop this year has been a shock to all. Still, don’t expect McGhee to be playing next to Dante Taylor any time soon. It looks like it will still be either or.
On Sunday, I asked Jamie Dixon for the second time in a couple of weeks about playing Taylor at power forward. I asked again because Dixon brought up the dislocated finger of starting power forward Nasir Robinson and how it might affecting his play. Again, Dixon gave me the same answer. In a nutshell, he does not want to put too much on Taylor’s plate so early in his career. he said he’s having a hard enough time mastering center. So let’s forget about that for a while. I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
As for Pitt, offense has been a premium commodity that I don’t recall this tough to achieve since the first year of Coach Dixon when Krauser first became a starter with Chevon Troutman, Julius Page spent much of the year hobbled, Jaron Brown was Jaron Brown.
So even 10 minutes of Jermaine Dixon might be welcome. A thought echoed by the guys out there.
“It’s really nice to start getting people back,” junior center Gary McGhee said. “It was good seeing Jermaine back out there [in practice]. He’s a senior and probably our emotional leader. It’s really good getting these guys back. It’s going to help us out.”
The players are saying the right things about being more aggressive on offense. That means having the guards drive the basket a little more. It is the way to have room to pass the ball inside. Not just around the perimeter.
The theme continues though about Pitt finding offense — well actually that goes for both teams.
The Panthers have been grinding out games so far this season, coming back to beat Wofford in the opener, taking two overtimes to knock out city rival Duquesne last week, and then going through the ugly affair with UNH that ended with the Panthers winning 47-32.
Meanwhile, Indiana has shown plenty of signs of life of late, even though the results don’t show it. Indiana lost all three games in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic to Ole Miss, Boston University and George Mason (it’s amazing to think that in the same season UCLA and Indiana went 0-3 in an eight-team field). But the Hoosiers gave Maryland fits by being down only two at the half before succumbing by 12 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge game last week in Bloomington.
Tom Crean has the Hoosiers, much like the Panthers, trying to be a defensive, physical team. Still, the Hoosiers will need to find scorers and can’t have some lines like the ones that were produced against the Terps (Derek Elston and Devan Dumes were each 2-of-10 while Verdell Jones III was 3-of-15 and the Hoosiers were a combined 7-of-26 on 3s).
Defense should be the theme of all four teams at the Jimmy V Classic. If one team gets to 70 points, that might be a story.
I’m with the Indiana blog Crimson Quarry on this one when he says, “I really don’t know what to expect from this game.”
As is typical with a Tom Crean team, they are heavily guard oriented and like to force turnovers. This Indiana team, though, gives back as much as they force. They want to move and push a bit, while Pitt is back to being one of the slowest tempo’d teams in the country.
Live blog tonight around 9:30
