In a good way, for once.
One of those things that has eaten at Pitt fans over the years has been the free throw shooting of Pitt. Coach Dixon, much like every coach of a team that has not shot them well dismissed the concerns publicly. Usually with a, “we make them when we have to” type comment.
Oddly enough Pitt’s free throw shooting has been about the same. At half way through the season and a little less than 1/3 through the Big East schedule Pitt is shooting FTs at about the same rate as last year. Except that the past couple weeks have been driving up the numbers.
“I really don’t know,” said guard Jermaine Dixon. “We practice free throws every practice, before during and after. We did that last year, too. It’s just more of them are going in.”
Last year, Pitt was 67.6 percent from the line. This year, it was 67.4 entering the game. But a further inspection shows that the Panthers were 17 of 20 in a road win at Connecticut last Wednesday, 20 of 27 in a win at Cincinnati and 26 of 36 in a win at Syracuse. Including Saturday, that’s 73.6 percent in an impressive block of four wins and 41 of 50 (82 percent) in their last two games.
Saturday, Pitt shot 24-30 (80%) at the line. And oh my, yes, Pitt made them when they counted.
Wanamaker got advice from a good source before making two game-tying free throws with 1.9 seconds to play. The junior guard talked to Gibbs, who is among the nation’s top free-throw shooters at 92.6 percent.
“Ashton told me to take it like it was practice and nobody around,” he said.
Wanamaker went 11 for 12 from the line against Louisville. Since shooting 48 percent as a freshman, Wanamaker has made 73.1 percent from the line.
And then there is the other side.
But even Pitino had to acknowledge the obvious: Despite its mistakes, UofL did enough to win in a tough Big East Conference venue, had it only made those free throws.
“If you make those free throws, the game’s over,” he said. “It’s mathematically impossible, unless you turn it over, for them to win.”
Sosa’s first big miss came with 1:37 left and the Cards up five. It was the front end of a one-and-one, and Jared Swopshire missed another one of those with the Cards still up five with 42 seconds left. The Cards were up four when Sosa missed a pair with 28.4 seconds left.
You can’t keep missing them without paying, and you can’t make up for missing them by taking the entire game into your hands.
And consequently ignoring Samardo Samuels in the OT to compound things.
“IMPRESSED BY DIXON’S PANTHERS
I know I said it after Pittsburgh was able to knock off Duke at Madison Square Garden, but Panthers coach Jamie Dixon has established himself as one of the top coaches in the country.
Dixon knocked off Georgetown without his MVP – Levance Fields. He was also without another starter, Mike Cook, who was lost for the season in the win against the Blue Devils with a knee injury.
Dixon has moved Ronald Ramon to the point, inserted veteran Keith Benjamin into the starting lineup and the team hasn’t lost much of a beat.
I figured the Panthers that anything beyond a .500 record in Big East play might be difficult for Dixon & Co., but the victory against the Hoyas proved that Pittsburgh can still beat the big boys without Fields in the lineup.”
“And consequently ignoring Samardo Samuels in the OT to compound things.”…not saying i disagree with you but did you notice in the OT that all of a sudden mcgee was guarding samuels way outside of the post and as soon as they passed or even looked to pass to him robinson would help with the double team? again, its dixon’s coaching – its like he said – “samuels is not beating us in overtime”. again it worked!
Contrast that with how Monroe of G-town has been for the last few games. Starting in the second-half of that UConn game and through yesterday at Villanova he has been demanding and getting the ball more. He not only has been killing with it, it has opened things up for Freeman and others.
Louisville — regardless of Pitt’s defense — really gave up on that. In no small part because players like Sosa decided they had to make up for their mistakes by doing it themselves. That’s on players that came a little unglued and fell back to old habits.
G-A-R-Y — G-A-R-Y
McGhee with the flush.
G-A-R-Y — G-A-R-Y
but back to basketball … I think the expectation level has been raised to where we will now be disappointed when they lose now … which is not a bad thing. While I still don’t expect a BE regular season title, I also wouldn’t be shocked either. I’ll be more surprised now if this team starts to falter to the level of a mid-tier BE team.
Coach Dixon keeps harping on how coachable these players are and they really do want to get better … and sometimes I think that may be better than having a lot of blue chips who think they have already arrived … and a lot more fun to watch if you ask me.
That being said, McGhee did a nice job of not allowing him to get the ball too low, and forced him to make shots. Keep in mind that until the OT, Pitt left McGhee and Taylor on an island with him, 1-on-1. I though both guys did a pretty good job executing what the coaches wanted, generally without fouling, but McGhee in particular forced Samuels to work hard for his points. He clearly was the better matchup with Samuels, and did a nice job.
The Georgetown matchup should be interesting. Monroe can be a very effective traditional post player, but he also has the athletic ability to move away from the hoop a bit and make plays. McGhee isn’t as effective away from the hoop, but they may need his strength inside. It will be interesting to see how Pitt defends him.
Damn, this is fun!
Pittsburgh has looked within for its new receivers coach.
Scott Turner, an offensive assistant the past two seasons, was promoted to replace Bryan Bossard, who was not retained.
“Scott Turner was a major contributor in our offensive staff room this past season,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said in a statement. “He is a very bright football coach whose strong knowledge is matched by his equally strong energy and commitment. Our receivers are going to benefit tremendously from his influence. He is also going to be a great asset on the recruiting trail, especially in his assigned areas of Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C.”
A former quarterback at UNLV, Turner joined the Pitt staff in 2008 after working the previous two years at a Virginia high school. He is the son of San Diego Chargers head coach Norv Turner, who worked closely with Wannstedt on the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins staffs.
Turner will have a lot of talent to work with at receiver, with junior Jonathan Baldwin entering 2010 as perhaps the best receiver in the Big East. Sophomore Mike Shanahan showed great promise at the end of the season as well.
On to the Hoyas!
Side not…Syracuse as 4th #1 seed according to Lunardi.
Wanamaker and McGhee have been roommates for three years. “Many times, he’s woken me up in the morning and said, ‘Let’s go to the gym,’ ” Wanamaker said. “A lot of times he practically carried me there. He’s made me work hard.”
I trust that Gary and Wanamaker aren’t going to let classes and homework get in the way of sleep and extra practice.
First, Coach Dixon (as opposed to Player Dixon, I guess) commented on Saturday that this team may not necessarily have better free throw shooters than past teams, but that the style of play is allowing the better shooters to get to the line more often than in the past. In other words, last year we saw more of Young, Blair, and Biggs going to the line. This year, it is the guards getting to the line – Gibbs, Wanamaker, Dixon, etc.
The other thought that I had is that it seems like Pitt is just getting to the line a lot more in the recent games than in the earlier games. There is a school of thought among basketball statisticians that one of the most predictive stats for wins/losses is the number of free throws a team attempts. My recollection is that before Dixon and Brown returned, Pitt was not getting to the free throw line, with several games where they attempted 10 or less. Since they have returned, it seems like Pitt is taking 20-30 free throws per game. I don’t have the stats to back it up, but it seems to match the perception that this team is much more aggressive and efficient on offense since late December.
Is it possible that this is a better team than last year when there was more individual talent? You keep reading how everone is putting in extra work by shooting more free throws. Another story in the P-G talks how McGhee wakes us Wannamaker for extra morning practice on their own. Finally, only a week ago, we were expecting Taylor and Brown to supplant McGhee and Robinson as the principle players …and we may well see that again Wed vs Georgetown … hey, whoever has the hot hand will finish the game. Brown, who was hot 2 weeks ago, only took 2 shots but did a great job in handling the pressure, but gave way to Nasir in crunch time beacuse he was playing so well.
The team is unselfish and apparently willing to do whatever it takes.