Okay. Bad news, no liveblog tonight. Daughter’s activity schedule shifted, which freed up Wednesday night, so naturally Pitt plays on a Thursday night this week. Open thread will be up closer to gametime.
Much like Seton Hall, St. John’s is looking for the big win. Oh, goody. As forPitt playing the roll of reeling power that is ripe for the upset?
Could this be the moment for St. John’s to post a win that the rest of the conference takes notice of? The Johnnies (12-7, 2-5) played extremely well in the first half against No. 3 Villanova on Saturday, leading by as much as 11 before letting it slip away in another second-half drought.
“A week ago we were overconfident. Now we don’t have confidence? I don’t believe it works that way,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “That’s good for a story . . . but I don’t think it changes like that.”
We. Must. Have. Storylines. Don’t you dare dispute that.
As St. John’s has Pittsburgh native and DeJuan Blair’s HS teammate and friend, D.J. Kennedy, there is the obligatory local story. Plus the annual, how did Pitt miss on the guy question? Simply put, he wanted to go elsewhere. I don’t begrudge any college age kid choosing to go somewhere else. There were legit personal/family reasons for him to want out of Pittsburgh.
A two-game losing streak and time to question things. It might be time to use the bench more and keep guys fresher.
One of the issues is scoring more. The offense has been sluggish, to be kind.
It might help if Pitt was able to hit some shots from the perimeter. Right now teams aren’t giving the space and when they are, Pitt is missing. Shots going outside, would also go a long way to opening up the inside.
While McGhee has been a pleasant surprise in his improvements, the center spot has struggled just to get chances to score.
“We set a lot perimeter screens trying to free up our guards like Ashton, Jermaine and Brad [Wanamaker] to get shots,” Brown said. “We still run the same offensive sets. I actually think we need to get more touches down low. We need to get it down there so we can work out of it. There hasn’t been any real change to the offense because we’re more perimeter-based. The guards are just more assertive now.”
McGhee scored in double figures in four consecutive games against Wichita State, Texas, Youngstown State and Duquesne in the non-conference portion of the schedule, but he is not scoring much in recent games. He concurred with Brown that the team might benefit from the centers getting more touches on the interior.
“It’s just how the games have been going,” McGhee said. “Some teams have zoned us. We’re playing more outside. I think that’s the reason my touches have gone down. If we got it inside it could open up easier shots for our guards if they drop in and double the post player.”
Not surprising to see in the notes that Lamar Patterson’s ankle just isn’t healing enough for him to play. Wow, didn’t see that coming. Heading for a redshirt along with Talib Zanna. The bright side is that the staff is confident about his future that they want to preserve his eligibility.
