The Pitt-Cinci game was as evenly played and as close as I expected. Two teams that match-up very similarly and play a similar style. Strong defense, but not one that forces turnovers. Patient on offense. It showed. Pitt never led by more than 6 and Cinci briefly held an early 7 point lead. Most of the game, though, was played with a slight lead by Pitt.
Both teams had different players step up in each half. Pitt survived an early stumble because Nasir Robinson scored all 7 of his (and all but 2 of Pitt’s) points in the first 5 minutes. Ashton Gibbs scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half. In the second half it was Gibert Brown leading with 13 of his 17 and Dante Taylor getting all 7 of his points late.
It was just like that for Cinci. Yancy Gates and Lance Stephenson combined for 25 of the Bearcats 32 points in the first half, but were held to only 6 in the second half. Instead it was Deonta Vaughn going for 14 of his 17 points in the second half (his 3d straight game of scoring exactly 17 points).
Pitt was just a little better in this game. They were more efficient and patient on offense and they made slightly more plays on defense.
The Bearcats can now match the Panthers player-for-player when it comes to talent. But when the game was on the line Monday, No. 23 Pitt still had a little more moxie than the Bearcats, and walked away with a 74-71 victory before 8,699 fans at Fifth Third Arena.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for UC (10-4 overall, 2-1 Big East). Pitt (13-2, 3-0) won its sixth straight game and ninth in its last 10. The Panthers have won four straight over UC and are 6-1 against the Bearcats since UC joined the Big East in 2005.
“It was a high-level basketball game and we came out on the wrong side due to our lack of ability to get the stops against Pittsburgh’s offense,” said UC coach Mick Cronin. “We played well enough to win on offense. We didn’t play well enough to win on defense. Pretty simple.”
I agree with this column on Cronin and Cinci. They have the pieces. I have them as one of the upper-half teams in the Big East this year. On a different night the result could have been different. I’m not complaining about Pitt only facing them once in the Big East conference schedule.
Coach Dixon credited his team with the win, but also echoed the sentiment that Cinci was close.
“I thought nobody lost this game, someone had to win it,” Dixon said. “This was a well played game and both teams had to make plays and both did throughout. The numbers would indicate it, high shooting percentages, good rebounding numbers, few turnovers.
“They are a good team and we are becoming a good team. We’re certainly improving.”
Unlike the Syracuse game, where Pitt rained down 3s, Pitt only attempted 7 of them. Granted there were something like 5 or 6 shots that turned out to be long 2s, but the offense really adjusted to how they were being played defensively. Whether it was Gilbert Brown and Ashton Gibbs taking shorter jumpers (stunning stat of the night, Gibbs only took — and made — one 3) after getting past a perimeter defender. More attacking the basket with Robinson, Wanamaker and Woodall when the opportunity was there. And even getting the ball inside to the bigs to finish strong — Taylor and McGhee each went 3-5. Offensively it was a very balanced game, and not depending on the 3s I think really had Cinci off-balance.
“They are not an easy team to defend,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “(Brown) really broke our back. You can’t judge them since they got Jermaine Dixon and Brown back.”
The wins in the Big East after Dixon and Brown returned have started the run of how “Pitt is back” already. Arguably, though, the best compliment came during the game from Jay Bilas when speaking of how the team is doing so well with such a new cast said, “Pitt isn’t a team, they are a program.”
The continuity becomes a huge factor.
At the start of the season, the Panthers had seven new players, compared to four with experience. And so, while Pitt was needing zone defense to rescue itself against Duquesne and was slumbering through an uninspired loss to Indiana in the Jimmy V Classic, there was a surprising rush to judge these Panthers as inferior, unworthy of their legacy.
“We’ve been doubted this whole season,” Gibbs said. “We knew in that locker room what everybody can do. Everybody has confidence in each other, and I think it’s showing now.”
The Panthers are not as talented as many upper-echelon Big East teams, but with the exception of the DeJuan Blair/Sam Young years, that’s been the case for nearly a decade now. How many times did they play lottery-loaded UConn in the Big East final with teams composed of future D-Leaguers and noon ballers?
“You say it every year,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “It’s like a broken record. But when you have continuity in your program … The best move they ever made was hiring Jamie. They’ve never had to rebuild. Once they won, they kept their winning ways.”
Some of that is simply what was seen. The two games before Syracuse and Cinci that got the most media attention with Pitt, were ESPN-aired Indiana and Texas games. Both losses, and very influential in the perception of Pitt.
That’s the nature of things. Georgetown loses at home to Old Dominion, Florida goes down at home to South Alabama and they are merely typical glitches and just one of those things that happen in the non-con. Not because of favorable biases towards those programs but because they were not national games few actually saw. So when in doubt fall back on the conventional wisdom — that is probably correct — that they were just a bad night for the home team and a really good night for the other team.
Pitt, though, suffered their losses on national TV for all to see, and therefore instead of being glitches for a young team they were treated as exhibits as to how far Pitt fell this year in talent and experience.
I repeat. There will be some more stumbles. Step backs and mistakes. Progression is not straight line. Enjoy right now.
