Jermaine Dixon may have gotten a trans-Atlantic peptalk at 3 am, but that lack of sleep might have had something to do with 3-15 shooting.

Dixon still draws a lot of his motivation from Fields, who is currently playing in Russia. The two speak regularly on the computer. Dixon, in fact, called Fields at 3 a.m. yesterday morning to get some last-minute inspiration.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Dixon said. “And it’s the middle of the morning over there. I asked him how he was going over there and he told me make sure we get the victory and make sure we play hard and our goal should be to win the Big East.”

Isn’t Skype great? On a personal level for Jermaine Dixon, it was a measure of revenge. He doesn’t pretend otherwise.

“This one feels pretty good,” Dixon said with just about the biggest grin you’ll ever see on a college kid’s face.

Dixon enjoyed frustrating Scottie Reynolds for most of the game. Reynolds for his part was frustrated that he couldn’t penetrate with ease.

Brace yourself for this, but Doug Gottlieb had a good breakdown of what Pitt did to stop Reynolds in the game in College GameDay Final Sunday night/Monday morning. He showed how Pitt made sure someone always stayed between Reynolds and the basket to force him to give it up or pass out rather than go to the hoop and/or draw the foul on a big guy inside. Even when Pitt switched up on the perimeter a Pitt player would actually slide in front and risk leaving a ‘Nova player open in the corners to keep Reynolds from the basket.

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And by won. I mean won by Pitt. Odd though that seems after all these years.

Pitt ended up shooting 20-57 (35%) and 4-12 on 3s. Nova shot much better to finish 24-53 and 6-14 on 3s.

What Pitt did was make free throws.  26-34 for over 75%. Pitt went at Nova. The Wildcats are reckless with fouls in no small part because of their depth. Pitt made them pay.

The other major factor — rebounding. I’m sure I’ll get the arguments again, but rebounding margin misleads. Pitt only ended up with a +3 rebounding margin.

Pitt had 18 offensive rebounds while Nova only had 20 defensive boards. That’s huge. Pitt dominated Nova on the offensive glass despite the volume of bricks they threw up. That many second chances and forcing Nova to foul.

On the other end, Pitt had a 15 defensive rebounds to 10 offensive Nova boards. Would have liked more at that end.

Only a 5 point win, but Pitt did so much right — other than shooting.

16 assists on 20 baskets.  Only 11 turnovers. 6 steals and 6 blocks. Huge win.

UPDATE 4:00: Offical boxscore is out, Pitt is officially credited with 21 offensive boards and a total of 40 rebounds. Nova had 12 offensive and 34 total. That makes the offensive rebounding even more astounding.

Nova shot 15-27 in the second half and Pitt was 10-28. The diference again. FTs. Nova was perfect, but only 7-7. Pitt was 17-25 in the second half.

Noon on CBS (where available) and it appears that CBS is streaming the game.

Big game. Pitt is in a position to move closer to a top-4 finish in the Big East and a double-bye in the Big East Tournament. Not to mention this kind of win puts Pitt in a better position to claim a #4 or even #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Villanova needs this to stay paced with Syracuse at the top of the Big East and set themselves for a #1 seed.

As usual, if you need to you can break the live blog out from the site if you Click Here.

Otherwise, it is right below.

Those Villanova bastards had nearly a week to think, plan and get ready for Sunday’s games. To say nothing of  putting last year’s Elite 8 game on loop and sitting down in a dark room with some lotion and a box of tissues. But, I’m not bitter.

Anyways, I was contacted early by two fine ‘Nova blogs: I Bleed Blue And White (which I imagine confuses and pisses off a lot of Penn State fans once they realize it isn’t for Lions) and Villanova Viewpoint. They had nothing better to do since the Wildcats had the rest of the week off.

You can find my answers to their questions here and here. Some of my answers are probably shorter than they should have been, because I had some 13 or 14 questions in total to respond to with very little time. For that I apologize. Here are their responses to my questions.

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A noon game tomorrow almost assures that any pregame stories won’t make it into the blog. So this and a very special cultural exchange coming later today are the pre-game posts.

Minor bitching note to the Big East for Pitt’s schedule. Villanova and ND each got a week off to prepare for Pitt, while the Panthers are getting no where near that kind of rest and prep time. Thanks.

Solid story from earlier in the week from Louisiana on Chase Adams’ journey to Pitt.

Defensive consistency, low assist-to-turnover ratio and near double-digit assists became the norm for the Baltimore native. He even came into his own as a scoring junior for coach Greg Gary. Adams was set for a solid senior campaign, which would have seen him teaming with fellow senior Jerrald Bonham to lead a young bunch of Gents.

But instead of playing 35 to 40 minutes against the IUPUIs and IPFWs of the world on a team that has no chance at the postseason, Adams is playing nominal minutes for the Pittsburgh Panthers (19-6, 8-4), who went deep into the NCAA Tournament last season and appear headed to there again. Adams is averaging 2.0 points per game at Pitt after averaging 14.6 points per game at Centenary.

“My situation is very unique. The reason why they wanted me was for experience,” Adams said.

…

“During the early part of the year, they were short-handed because Jermaine Dixon (Pitt’s only returning starter) was injured,” Adams said. “Now he’s back and that’s cut back my minutes. They’re also preparing the next point guard for the upcoming years, so that’s limited my minutes.”

The limited court time doesn’t seem to have changed the demeanor of Adams, who was noted for dancing on the sidelines of Ladies games in the Gold Dome.

“We’re winning and I’m not complaining because at the end of the day I like to win,” Adams said. “I didn’t win a lot at Centenary, but it was still a good experience.”

Like Mike Cook who transferred to Pitt t0 be a cog from being the man on a bad East Carolina team, Adams has willingly taken the role he’s been given because winning is still the better reward.

On the heels of my post after the Marquette game about how great a time this is for Pitt basketball is this from Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News.

You don’t have to be old to remember when Pitt was a coaching graveyard. Tim Grgurich, Roy Chipman, Paul Evans and Ralph Willard — all talented coaches — departed under less than ideal circumstances.

Now, Pitt has perhaps the most admirable program in Division I — and one of the most powerful in the rugged Big East.

Pitt’s impressive road victory at Marquette gave the Panthers 20 wins for the ninth consecutive season. One league victory in their final five games will give them double-figure Big East wins in each of those years. No league member can match that streak.

They’ve done it mostly with players who stayed in the program four years and bought into the culture of selflessness established by coach Jamie Dixon and his predecessor, Ben Howland.

This might rival Gonzaga’s rise to national-power status as the most dramatic transformation for any program in the past 10 years.

Heady times.

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I’m not sure if the map is exactly right, but if you don’t live in Philly or Pittsburgh, you might want to check your local CBS Station’s program guide if you don’t want a nasty surprise on Sunday at noon.

I have the DirecTV sports package, and thankfully they air the alternative feed on channel 729 and 729-1 for HD.

Good luck.

UPDATE (4:50): Hat tip to SilverPanther in NYC for fining a better, more detailed coverage map.

It’s been a while since I had a hangover. It isn’t the pray for death type. Just the hurting head, moving a few steps slower and not in a mood to think type. I didn’t set out for this to happen. It rarely does. Late game time, meant drinking late. Not getting enough water back in the system and not nearly enough sleep. And oddly enough, absolutely no sympathy from the wife. I will say, that the Southern Tier Gemini was delicious.

So let’s move through things.

The box score produced some amazing numbers. One of the best 3-point shooting teams out there was shut down in the second half to only 1-10 after going 4-9 in the first half. Pitt held Marquette to only 35% shooting in the game. Pitt played some of its best perimeter defense in the second half. Aided in no small part by Marquette’s lack of size inside to really feed the ball.

While Pitt was troubled with turnovers (15), the team shot  almost 55% for the game. That kind of shooting meant Pitt could only generated 4 offensive rebounds and pointed out the silliness of rebounding margins for this game. Pitt ended up winning the rebounding total 33-30. Of course Marquette had 13 offensive rebounds — which happens when you miss that many shots.

Ashton Gibbs only scored 2 points — both at the free throw line — and missed 6 shots from the field.  This was okay since he didn’t take a high volume of shots and there was some tremendous balance and moving the ball. 23 baskets and 19 assists. Yet no one on the team had more than 5 assists. That is great ball movement and unselfishness in the offense. Gilbert Brown — Gilbert Brown led the team with 5 assists. Nasir Robinson and Brad Wanamaker were second with 4 apiece.

Then there was Gary McGhee going 5-5  and getting 6 blocks. He was having fun against the undersized Golden Eagles. Dante Taylor got some sort of message in the second half. He is not there on defense, but he got fed on three straight possessions and slammed them all home.

They are not taking it well in Milwaukee.

The Eagles’ no-margin-for-error game has been all about making three-pointers, protecting the basketball, winning most of the hustle arguments and letting Lazar Hayward roam. But against Pitt, they couldn’t make three-pointers. Ten turnovers isn’t a bad total, but against Pitt, they were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball when it mattered most.

And Lazar Hayward really struggled. He really, really struggled. But credit the Panthers. They had a whole lot to do with the way they frustrated Marquette’s best player by making him take tough shots.

Pitt made Marquette look like a different team.

“I would say we took ourselves out,” said Lazar Hayward, who moved into fifth place on MU’s all-time scoring list with an 11-point night. “We weren’t playing together, playing for each other, playing team defense. When we’re not playing team defense, we don’t play well. When we don’t create for each other, we’re not a good team.

“It would have been a good one to get. We know exactly why we lost. We’re going to go back to work. We know we weren’t us today. When we’re not together, collectively a 12-man team, we’re not very good.”

Coach Dixon was happy with how things were on offense –mostly.

“Other than the turnovers in the second half, our offense was about as good as you can be efficiently,” coach Dixon said.

Added McGhee, “Our motion offense was one of the best days we’ve had. We moved the ball around. We shared the ball. We got it inside. We got it outside. Everything we needed to do for our offense.”

Honestly, the turnovers really didn’t surprise me. Pitt averages about 13 TOs per game. Marquette is one of the top teams in the Big East at forcing turnovers. Add in just how much ball movement and passing Pitt was doing to get those shots and it isn’t too outrageous. 11 in one half is not usually the recipe for success, but when you shoot 60% in that same half, it kind of compensates.

One of those shots was a three by Robinson. The only three Pitt made in the second half, and the Marquette beat writer considered a dagger. Something the scribes needed to know more about.

“I had confidence,” Robinson said. “I caught the ball and was ready to shoot.”

Dixon said he did not have a problem with the shot because it was in the latter part of the shot clock and Robinson’s teammates were having a hard time getting open. Robinson was wide open at the top of the key with his man cheating off and daring him to shoot.

Dixon said Robinson has the green light to shoot a 3-pointer in that situation.

“In that situation, yes he does,” Dixon said. “We have had discussions about that. It wasn’t the first pass. The ball was reversed and he was wide open.”

In most other times, it is big, big red light.

20 wins or more for a 9th straight year. .500 or better in the Big East for 9 straight years. 9 straight years of making the NCAA Tournament. Anyone who doesn’t understand how special a time it is for Pitt basketball is under 30 and needs to look at history.

I was in school in the Paul Evans era at Pitt. A period of great talent and tremendous underachievement. Pitt’s basketball history is long, but no one can reasonably claim it is a high and proud legacy. It is filled with mediocrity and worse. At best it has been punctuated with moments of excitement and possibilities. But until this new millennium there has never been a period like what Pitt is enjoying.

I am not saying that this is the peak of what Pitt can accomplish in basketball. It isn’t. I believe this team and program has greater things ahead of it. It doesn’t happen without what has come before and will come after. Right now, it is something special. This is a time where we are in the midst of a golden age. We are so lucky to be part of it even as fans.

I’m probably hoping against hope that the Orange-Hoya tilt ends early. I expect that the first few minutes will be unseen.

9 PM ESPN2. We’ll get the liveblog going around then, unless there is severe absurdity ahead of it.

As usual, if you need to break out the chat from the site, Click Here.

Otherwise, you will find it below.

Marquette’s “gold out” versus the blue and gold. LiveBlog tonight because truly live games always trumps NBC’s version of “live” in the Olympics. Let’s hope that the Syracuse-Georgetown game on ESPN2 doesn’t end up in double-OT like last night’s ND-‘Ville game. The Texas-Mizzou game lost nearly the entire first half of coverage.

At this point, the Golden Eagles are probably in the NCAA Tournament. Their RPI is not particularly pretty (57), but their Pomeroy is outstanding (20). Still they are looking at finishing above .500 in the Big East and while they do have that loss at DePaul and to NC State, they have wins over Xavier (neutral court) and Georgetown to counterbalance. No other bad losses. No other great wins. A good team that is running hot right now.

This is not just a nationally televised home game for Marquette, it is their last big resume building game on their schedule. After this it is lower-bubble team Cinci, Three more teams just trying to keep from finishing in the lower-8 of the Big East in St. John’s, Seton Hall and Notre Dame. The closest thing after Pitt to a game that can help them is Louisville. All of which contributes to the importance of this game for Marquette.

Pitt is going to face a very excited and fired-up crowd. They know the importance, and you can bet the players for Marquette is well aware of the importance. Even if they go to the “one game at a time, we don’t pay attention to that stuff” cliches.

“We don’t really know anything about the tournament,” said sophomore guard Darius Johnson-Odom. “I don’t know what our record is right now, to be honest with you. We just take it one game at a time.”

Their game plan sounds vaguely familiar.

MU, meanwhile, will continue to stick to the formula that’s gotten it back above .500 in the Big East: Take care of the basketball, make the extra pass, knock down the open shot and play as hard and as efficiently as possible on the defensive end while also giving great effort on the glass.

“It’s such a specific recipe that if you miss a little pinch of something, we’re going to lose. Not a tablespoon, not a cup – if we miss a pinch, we’ll get blown out,” MU coach Buzz Williams said. “To be able to follow that same recipe every single game, every single practice, it’s a testament (to) who our guys are mentally and emotionally as much as it is physically.

“When you have no margin for error, and you can only subscribe the same recipe — no changes, no additions, no deletions — that’ll grind you up. To be able to do that speaks to their will.”

Yes, it is familiar. They do play a very efficient offense. It’s a solid defense that still likes to go for turnovers when given an opportunity. And yes, Pitt is 0-3 at the Bradley Center.

And with junior forward Jimmy Butler and junior-college transfers Dwight Buycks and Darius Johnson-Odom developing into immediate contributors, Williams has patched together a team that is fighting for a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Johnson-Odom, Cubillan and Acker have filled in admirably for James, McNeal and Matthews.

“They’re still getting a lot of production,” Dixon said. “They don’t have the physicality of [James, McNeal and Matthews], but they shoot it better. It’s different, but they’re getting production out of those guys.”

Acker is shooting 50 percent (35 for 70) from 3-point range and Johnson-Odom is shooting 49.5 percent (54 for 109).

They have helped Marquette become the top 3-point shooting team in the Big East and among the best in the country. The Golden Eagles shoot 42.4 percent from 3-point range as a team. That ranks second in NCAA Division I behind Utah State, which shoots 42.6 percent.

The Golden Eagles, though, do not have the size of some of the recent opponents, so Pitt should have an opportunity to get on the boards.

“We need to hurt them in other areas,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Hurt their size, hurt them on the glass and get some scoring around the basket.”

While I think Dixon overstates the issue of rebounding, he is not wrong in this case. The reason why Marquette has to be one of the most efficient offensive team is that they are not a good rebounding team. You can bet they will be active and will crash to get boards, but their size is not helpful. Of course, if you keep scoring on most of your opportunities, rebounding is not as vital.

Unbelieveable. (hat tip to TJ):

Pitt senior safety/linebacker Elijah Fields has been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.

Fields (6-2, 225) has had off-field issues throughout his career and had been disciplined several times — including being suspended for the entire 2007 season — but had seemed to pull it together enough to have his best season last year.

Still, he had several incidents of insubordination and other minor issues throughout the season, but the final straw came last week when he had a video posted on his Twitter page of himself partying with friends and apparently drinking alcohol.

If (big if) he can make sure his academics are in order, he can still transfer to a D-2 or D-1AA school in time to play his final season of eligibility and maybe pursue the NFL as the classic big talent on/big risk off player.

If there is one thing I think I have avoided doing on this blog, is taking personal shots at a Pitt players and coaches Avoiding much in judging their character or who they are. I, frankly, don’t know them and I generally find it unfair since I can really only judge them by their on-the-field performance (or when they end up in the news for other reasons).

Having said that, in light of his past history and now this, I don’t think I’m making any leap to say that Fields has shown just how absolutely clueless and unable to comprehend concepts of personal responsibility. It’s no longer a kid making a mistake or youthful indiscretions. There have been too many screw-ups. Too many punishments. It is so clear that he doesn’t get it and sad to say, I don’t think he ever will.

He has pro-level talent. People say he’s a nice enough guy. That’s not enough. He continually has made the wrong choices and assumed that he would be allowed to skate by.

His loss will be a hit to depth and talent level. He’s not worth it any longer.

UPDATE (2/18): Sigh. Gee thanks Spencer for finding this. In a nod to either his cluelessness or what not, while Fields’ Twitter account is deleted, he left his TwitPic mostly intact. No party pictures. Just a bottle of Grey Goose on a hotel room desk and more unnerving: Cash. Wads of cash.

There is no question that Marquette is hot. They have won 5 straight in the Big East. They have gone Samson on this, by not cutting their hair in the streak.

Of course, MU hasn’t lost since Buzz Williams decreed that players and coaches avoid the barber.

Williams was upset that MU wasn’t being “us” on every possession in a close loss to Syracuse. Then came the order.

“‘I’m not sure why you guys are forgetting that we have to be ‘us’ every single possession,” Williams recalled he told his team on the plane after the loss to the Orange. “‘So what we’re going to do is you guys can’t cut your hair. And I can’t cut my hair. And hopefully we’ll grow enough hair that there will be enough protection for your brain to not forget.'”

The team claims that it isn’t the reason for the streak, but they aren’t going to risk messing with things either.

That five-game winning streak is the same as Pitt’s best run in the conference. The only teams in the Big East with longer conference winning streaks this year are Syracuse (10), Villanova (9) and Georgetown (6).

Most of the conference can never get a chance to get rolling for very long. Nine teams have only been able to muster 2-game winning streaks — including Georgetown — and of course DePaul has only won one conference game this year. USF (4 games) is the only other team to win more than 2 games in a row in the Big East this year.

It’s also worth noting that is not too hard to lose at least a couple straight in the course of the season. Villanova and Syracuse obviously have not lost 2 straight to this point. The only other team to make that claim? Georgetown. They can’t seem to win more than a couple in a row, but they don’t lose more than one at a time Actually, even Georgetown doesn’t make it on this list when limited to the conference games only. They lost to Syracuse and USF in conference — sandwiched around the non-con Duke win.

It has not been an easy conference to get and keep rolling this year. That Marquette has been one of the few to do so is just another reminder of how tough a game tomorrow will be.

The Marquette game tomorrow Milwaukee is a big one. 9PM on ESPN. The ex-Warriors are having a “Gold Out” (What? You thought Pitt was the only one who could do that?) for the game. Pitt has never won at the Bradley Center. It seemed like a good time for a Q&A with Cracked Sidewalks. One of the older and best Big East blogs out there and still not assimilated by SBNation. Tim Blair and Rob Lowe provided the answers to my questions. You can find my responses to their questions here.

1. Like Pitt, Marquette lost their marquee triumvirate of Jones, Matthews and McNeal. The difference, is that despite their overpowering presence, Marquette still had Lazar Hayward coming back for his senior year plus seniors Cubillan and Acker. The emergence of Jimmy Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom is at least surprising to those outside of Marquette. Talk a little about what the strengths are of these two and whether you expected their emergence this year?

We don’t regard Jimmy Butler’s emergence as being that big of a surprise. Butler came on strong to close last season and his efficiency as a role player was off the charts good, so it’s not that surprising to see him increase his possessions and still be very efficient. Jimmy Butler’s strength is that he always stays within his role, never playing out of character. He gets a ton of offensive rebounds and draws a great deal of contact, and is generally very good from the free throw line. If anything, we’d prefer that he was a bit more selfish. However, his game-winning shot against UConn and increased focus on driving with the ball give us hope.

As for DJO, this is a total surprise. When we looked JUCO’s in the Big East we found that it was rare for JUCO players to make any sort of significant contribution. However, DJO’s ability to shoot the open jumper and drive to the hoop have been the key to success this season (IMO). The big thing that always stands out about DJO is a comment we heard from Buzz, (paraphrasing), where it was basically that DJO was the only player Buzz could ask to “go get a basket” and he’d be able to do that. Essentially, everyone else needs to have a play run or find a shot within the offense; DJO can go get one.

2. Year two of Buzz Williams. It seems that things are working out better than expected. How are you feeling about the program under his control? There’s a pretty good argument to be made that he or Jamie Dixon will be the Big East Coach of the Year.

Honestly, we see Boeheim as a more likely candidate for Coach of the Year right now. However, this year the coaching job by Buzz has been a real revelation. The conventional wisdom on Buzz was that he was a great recruiter and unknown coach. This year, I don’t see how anyone could regard his coaching job as anything but great. Marquette has been competitive in almost every game this season except for the second half of the NC State game. Plus, considering the low expectations for this season we’re pretty pumped to even be in the conversation on the NCAA tournament.

As far as the program under his control, our quibbles are relatively minor. They are things like “Is Buzz wound too tight?” “Can he develop freshmen players? “Can he sign and develop big men?” In the big picture, we’ll take good recruiting, a competitive team, and a team that responds well in the face of adversity. The future looks bright in upcoming years in terms of incoming talent and Buzz’ coaching.

3. This is the slowest tempo Marquette team since Travis Diener was around. That’s not completely surprising given the change in players, but do you see this as more of the future with Marquette, or just an adjustment given the change in players and issues of depth?

This as more an adjustment given the personnel and issues of depth. The focus is on getting a good look and many times that doesn’t develop until later in the shot clock with the offense. Last year the team played at about an average pace overall. We believe that when the team gets deeper they’ll play probably at an average pace.

(rob’s note – this gets into questions of playing a higher risk strategy, especially when coupled with threes, that might not be beneficial given the team’s positive overall efficiency margin.)

4. Having lost 7 games by 5 points or less, Marquette had been labeled one of the unluckiest teams. The Golden Eagles have now won 3 games by 3 points or less. Do you see this as part of a balancing out of things through the course of a season? A growth in confidence and improving in the season or something else?

It’s a little bit of luck and a little bit of responding to the situations. There’s definitely a view that lucky/unlucky trends tend to even out. However, part of the reason MU lost those close early games was because they frankly choked at the free throw line and/or failed to make stops in key situations late in games. What we’ve seen in some of the recent close games has been the team responding positively to pressure situations by making free throws, field goals or getting stops down the stretch. This improvement in tight games comes through repeated exposure to these situations and the maturation of a team forced to integrate a lot of new talent while dealing with a spate of early-season injuries and a player departure. Buzz’ team has proven it can take a punch and not only survive, but thrive.

5. One of the things — besides the key injuries — that seems to have hurt Marquette late in the season seemed to have been the players wearing down. It looks like Marquette is again playing a very short bench with several players getting at least 30 min/game in the Big East grind, are you concerned about that?

The short bench that Buzz employs has us concerned but more from a depth perspective. When MU was in the throes of late-game chokes earlier this year some fans cited the short bench and fatigue as a possible cause. Still, MU righted the ship in close games without amending the rotation all that much. As for wearing down late in the season, we don’t quite see it. If you’re referring to last year, that was more the Dominic James injury leading into the season’s most difficult stretch (UConn, @Louisville, @Pitt, Syracuse). Previous years (like 2007 with McNeal’s arm) are also more attributable to injuries. In our opinion, it’s more a matter of lack of depth — and the options a longer bench can give a coach — than wearing down.

Thanks again to the guys at Cracked Sidewalks for the knowledge.

When Woodall’s minutes were falling, and he was struggling I mentioned that he seemed to be having his “early Keith Benjamin phase.” The post-WVU game confirmed that Woodall had been pressing when getting into the game. So if he he can carry this forward, his minutes will go back up and Pitt will have some much needed depth to give the guards more rest.

“He played very well,” Dixon said. “He made solid decisions. He made the simple pass and the simple play. If he sees the results I hope that is where the development will occur.

“It wasn’t anything flashy. He didn’t make any spectacular plays. He didn’t force anything. He just let things come to him. It’s really that. That’s the most important thing.”

If Woodall can continue to play well it will allow Dixon to reward him with more minutes. That means Dixon could afford to rest Gibbs and Jermaine Dixon more as well as giving Gibbs more of an opportunity to play shooting guard, where he said he is more comfortable.

Still, it is just one game. It has to carry forward for it to be his turning point moment. Otherwise it is just a blip on what some have felt was a mistake. Regardless, you should be rooting for Woodall to succeed.

Still waiting to find out what Gilbert Brown will do from game to game? Join the club.

Heck for the entire team, it is about consistency and maturing beyond their years.

“This team, more than any other we’ve had, can get better,” Dixon said.

Difficult to imagine, though, that this team of mostly unheralded and underappreciated players hasn’t already hit its peak. The Panthers — 19-6, 8-4 and tied for third in the Big East and up to No. 19 in the AP poll — have upset two Top 5 teams (Syracuse and West Virginia). They are nearly locked into a spot in the NCAA Tournament. They produced two amazing, last-minute comebacks.

But that’s what the consensus was two weeks ago, that the Panthers had peaked after four losses in five games nearly wiped out a 5-0 run to start the Big East schedule. They rose to No. 9 in the rankings and even higher in the RPI, only to fall back with losses to Georgetown, Seton Hall, South Florida and West Virginia.

Ten days and three consecutive wins later, the Panthers are again selling hope.

Finally, an interview with Ashton Gibbs, who concedes that the Backyard Brawl wiped him out.

“I was exhausted,” Gibbs said. “I mainly just hung out on the couch and watched games. I saw a little of Kentucky-Tennessee and some of the stuff from NBA All-Star weekend. There was plenty to watch.”

…

Q: How did you and your teammates celebrate Friday’s victory?

A: It was so late when I got home. I was so tired that I just went to sleep. We didn’t celebrate too much. It’s all about moving on to the next day and the next game. We’re just thinking about our next game against Marquette.

Q: How tired were you, though?

A: I was really tired. I just needed to get some rest. It was a long game. I played 50 minutes. Just the intensity of it made me tired. Emotionally, it was wild. It was definitely exciting. The atmosphere was crazy.

It will be nearly as crazy in Milwaukee on Thursday. The Golden Eagle fans see this game as a game they will win and they also know that they have to have this game for their just as surprising chances at making the NCAA Tournament.

A day later and there is still talk of this being one of the all-time great games for Pitt and in the basketball side of the Backyard Brawl.  Something that will be hard to dispute.

Until we see how the rest of the season goes, though, the actual impact of the game may diminish the importance. Still the claim that it was one of the best games of the year (and wow, it’s already been challenged a day later) and hyperbole to suggest one of the best ever in the Big East.

That’s all for another time. After the season is over. Gilbert Brown made the point about what it meant for the present. F0r the rest of this season.

“It’s a big emotional boost as well as a confidence boost for us,” he said. “I think we needed a win like this to make us believe we can do this. Early on in the season, when we had our first five wins in the Big East, we were rolling. We really felt like we could get it done and possibly be in contention for a Big East regular-season championship. And then after going through the struggles we went through, pulling this game out it really shows the character of the players, how we fought every day in practice just to get back to this point.”

And why you go through the practices and push through the grind at this point in the season. If you are a player and a coach, getting rewarded with a win like this whey you have worked hard and been through a rough patch is vindication and oh, so rewarding.

But also get this straight: the Panthers played with a will and a wont that’s been missing for much of the past couple months. They won this war of attrition by soldiering through foul trouble and substitutions thanks to a level of play not seen by the bench this season.

Travon Woodall, so largely ineffective this season that he’s affected the offense of Ashton Gibbs, had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 31 of the most pressure-packed minutes he’s ever played. More than his stat sheet contributions, though, was that his performance allowed Gibbs to fill up his side of the ledger. With Woodall at the point, Gibbs was able to get open on the perimeter and made 6 of 13 3-pointers, including one to tie the game at the end of regulation. Gibbs had 24 points and hit at least five threes for the first time since Pitt’s equally improbably upset at Syracuse.

“Sometimes (Woodall) feels like he has to make a play to stay in the game,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I tell him, ‘You don’t have to make a play. Just let things comes to you. I think he sees that and sees the results.”

Woodall was huge and a welcome re-emergence. Most of us thought he was going to be fine mid-way through the non-con. He had some clunkers, but was improving and there was a learning curve to being the PG for Pitt. Then he started struggling. With Jermaine Dixon and then Gilbert Brown returning, and the team actually winning big games in conference, it became harder to risk playing him out there. It was no longer about Woodall and the rest of Pitt taking some lumps in a rebuilding year. It was about possibly being near the top of the Big East. Things went from being a NCAA bubble team, but playing for seed.

“The guy who really stood out to me was Travon,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We keep saying he’s going to make us better, and he really played well. He really played within himself. He was big for us in so many ways.”

…

“Any time I’m on the floor, I feel like I need to have the ball in my hands,” Woodall said. “I want to create for my teammates and get them open shots. I don’t need to score, but I need to have the ball in my hands to set things up.”

It was a turning point for Woodall, who admits to losing confidence over the course of the season.

He had several conversations with Jamie Dixon, including one this past week that lasted an hour. When Woodall related that he felt the need to make plays to stay in the game, Dixon implored him to concentrate on his defense and to make the simple pass, the simple play.

Woodall did that against West Virginia, and he might have won his coach over.

“He played like a veteran,” Dixon said. “I’m very proud of him because I’ve really been on him. I’ve been pushing him, pushing him. I really believe he can be a big part of our improvement.”

The confidence is important. The next 2 games are against guard-oriented/heavy teams. Marquette and Villanova will be all over Gibbs and trying to pressure the ball. Pitt needs Woodall to play with confidence and take care of the ball.

Final thing, since Huggins’ post-game statements came under scrutiny in the comments. I didn’t see much that was inaccurate or disrespectful about them.  Huggins’ concern is not with Pitt after a game is over, but his team and even his fanbase. Comments in the media are as much directed at his players as anyone else. A good article on Huggins after the game. He apparently laid in to the team afterwards.

Almost without fail after a loss, Huggins will keep his team sequestered in its locker room long past what is supposed to be the 10-minute cooling-off period before he exits and meets – and allows his players to do the same – with the media. What goes on in there is mere speculation, but the words rant and rave and scream and yell are generally good bets.

Often his players will even admit to it. Sometimes, as was the case on Friday, they are reluctant even to discuss it.

“I think we’ll keep that private,” point guard Truck Bryant said after enduring the roughly 20-minute tongue-lashing at the Petersen Events Center just after midnight on what had become Saturday morning.

By the time he got to the media, he was noticeably calm almost subdued. He didn’t single out individual players publicly. He bemoaned their mistakes, but it was hardly a rant on his team. His team made big mistakes. Missed shots and Pitt crashed through the opening. Lot’s of things I find distasteful and downright hateable about Bob Huggins, but this doesn’t make it.