Okay, it was downright ugly.
As I started reading some of the post-game stories I was somewhat surprised. Not that this was the biggest win to date for Indiana post-Sampson. Or that Indiana was desperate for a win. No, it was reading how Pitt was strongly favored, which shocked me. I figured maybe a couple points, but the way Pitt had been playing most certainly would have kept the line down. Yet, there it was. Pitt was around a 9 point favorite. I guess mainly because of Indiana losing 4 games.
It was another poor game for Pitt. An inability to finish around the rim on offense. Guards not penetrating. Sub-32% shooting. And the turnovers. Oh, the turnovers. It was not good.
“We got what we really deserved,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “We didn’t play well. Indiana did.”
The poor shooting made rebounding a most meaningless stat. Pitt won the rebounding battle 45-39, but it mainly came because of the poor shooting and not good defense. Pitt was beaten by 6 on defensive boards but had a 21-9 edge on the offensive boards. Something that will definitely happen when you miss a lot of shots and the other team doesn’t.
The players after the game were focused on the problems at the other end.
“Defensively, we have to strap up,” said sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs, who scored a career-high 25 points. “We have to play tougher, especially down the stretch. Our offense comes from our defense and rebounding.”
Indiana penetrated freely against Pitt’s guards all game. The Hoosiers got to the free-throw line 34 times and converted 25 of those attempts. Verdell Jones, who came into the game averaging 11 points a game, scored 20 and got to the line eight times. Christian Watford got to the line 15 times and scored 12 of his 18 points from the charity stripe.
“It’s been a problem all season,” said junior guard Brad Wanamaker, who scored 18 points. “Guys are getting beat off the dribble. We’re not keeping people in front of us. Our rotation just hasn’t been there. It’s something we have to work on. We talk about it, but we don’t do it.”
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“I’m not concerned about the offense,” Taylor said. “I’m more concerned about the defense. We’re letting teams score too easily. We’re not taking pride in defense. We need to put our foot down, stand up and play defense.”
While his impact was not particularly helpful in this game, Jermaine Dixon finally made his first start of the season. 13 minutes. 0 points. 2 rebounds. 1 assist. 1 block. 3 turnovers. 3 fouls.
Playing at MSG for Pitt often involves families and friends. So it is always interesting to see which players press a little too much. Travon Woodall had some 40 friends and family show up. Given how much he has been struggling I’m not sure he really pressed from that or just had another disappointing game. His minutes are dropping (23 last night) along with his scoring while fouls committed keep rising.
I thought the interior defense suffered in large part because the guards were regularly getting beat off the dribble. Once the IU guards penetrated the lane, they were able to find open guys for shots. The perimeter defense has to improve. I think this was the most disappointing aspect of the game for me.
I thought Taylor looked a bit more assertive and seemed a bit more consistent with his positioning. Unfortunately, McGhee really struggled handling the screens and holding on to the ball.
I think the rotation is far from set at this point, and personnel wise, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team looks very different by late January than it does now. Whether that translates into different quality of play remains to be seen.
woodall = not the pg
richardson, miller, zanna, taylor = more playing time
*Dixon and Adams are the only decent perimeter defenders and both of them hurt Pitt on offense
*Wanamaker is never going to morph into that 2-guard scorer everybody was hoping for. The shot’s still bad, he can’t finish because he can’t get off the ground and he’s not quick enough to handle the ball enough to take advantage of his passing skills, which are above average.
*Whoever thought the Mullah (Robinson) was going to play inside in the BE is nuts. Absolutely nuts. Love his energy and he does the best he can for a 6’4″ or 6’5″ power forward, but that’s a losing proposition in this level of hoops.
*McGhee………well, he’s huge.
*Woodall’s going to be mostly useless against zones and Pitt’s going to see plenty of them this year because only Gibbs can hit the side of a barn.
*Miller can’t rebound or play D and having a nice face-up jumper isn’t enough to cover up the other stuff.
There have been some serious judgment errors in recruiting over the past few years and no one’s talking about it yet……..
Think of Orlando Lett, Levon Kendall, Chevy Troutman — none of these guys were heralded coming in, but they gave great effort and seemed to both buy in AND understand the system. This team doesn’t rebound or defend well on the block becuase they’re constantly out of position. The guards can’t stop anyone off the dribble.
The contrast between Taylor and Blair is stunning — Blair’s motor made up for some of his lack of polish, but we see so few flashes of Taylor’s polish because he doesn’t seem to have any motor. I couldn’t believe how many times he was unable to finish last night, especially in range where he should have had dunks. To quote Jim Callhoun ripping an underachieving UConn HS all american in practice — “If you’re McDonalds, I want Burger King!”
Wannamaker seems like a perfectly capable player, but I hate his body language on the court and his continuing proclivity towards turnovers. Even without Dixon, someone needs to show some maturity.
This will be Dixon’s greatest test, not because of their youth, but because this squad brings few of the intangible qualities which have defined Pitt basketball over the past decade.
I doubted this earlier in the season, but I now agree with Fittipaldo that Gibbs will probably move to the point and Dixon will start at the 2. It’s not ideal, but unless Woodall gets his turnovers under control, he’s not really helping.
The other move I think is coming is getting Taylor (and maybe Richardson) more minutes in the post. I love the effort that McGhee puts forth, but his limitations are likely to become more evident against more athletic big men. As I said earlier, I thought Taylor actually showed some progress against Indiana; hopefully he can build on that.
Nasir Robinson, even with all of his great effort,is going to be completely dominated in the BE. While there were many problems, I think the inside scoring was the main difference — IU outscored Pitt in the paint by approx 20 pts.
I am disappointed that Dixon won’t put Taylor and McGhee in at the same time. They were getting worked in the paint and he still wouldn’t do it. He played zone for an entire freaking half against Duquesne, so I’m confused why he refuses to even try them together. Taylor did look better last night. My biggest frustration point was the guards not even MFing looking at Taylor in the paint. Several times he was wide open in the middle of that zone and nary a pass went his way.
IMO, everybody just needs to take a deep breath, realize that this is going to be a rough season, and wait to see if, once Jermain Dixon and Gil Brown are firmly back in the fold, they can’t start to really put things together into 40 minutes of solid play.
Wannamaker can’t carry this team (neither can Gibbs), and between injuries and suspension Brown’s been mostly disappointing through his career at Pitt, culminating in him missing 1/2 of his 4th year in the program in what should be his time to lead.
This year is going to be rough — that’s a given. It bugs me that next year is already looking rough too.
Pitt did great in the awards, just missing the BE championship
I really wasn’t in panic mode unitl I watched that awful game last night. That was not a great Indiana team and we got smoked…None of our guys can finish around the basket…Dante is disappointing as a MCD All-American…and our defense was crap.
Dixon has A LOT to work on. Maybe we can come together by the end of the season to make a run in the NIT (no way we make the Dance this year…no way)
If we finish 9th in the BE, that will be an accomplishment.
fyi- I am not a hater…and actually was on this board last week saying these guys just need time as they are talented…but something else is missing and I fear we are in for a long season. (hopefully only one season)
Dejuan…Sam…Levance…COME BACK!
I’m glad folks are starting to realize that the recruiting has been really questionable for a while now. We can all hope that they kids coming in next year are different, but there are now a bunch of “misses” playing major minutes for what has been a leading BE program.
Say what you want, we always had FINISHERS.
I counted 10 chances where we could have finished a putback or layup and we flat out BONED it.
We have one finisher on this team, and we beat IU easily.
Troutman, Blair…these guys were finishers.
We have noone of the sorts on this team.
I wish Nasir would be that guy, but he isn’t cutting it.
“Smh state police is crazy man…. Got me out here in the freezing cold moving stuff..low key it’s a good work out…”
Source: link to twitter.com
