On so many levels the game was more of the same from the City Game. Overall, It was Pitt’s 29th win in 32 past meetings. It was also the 10th straight win for Pitt over the Stage Magicians. A 80-66 win.
We also saw a lot of Pitt turnovers in the first half. This has been very typical of Duquesne-Pitt games in the five years Everhart has been at Duquesne. He plays a continually pressing defense. It is usually the first one Pitt faces in the season. As a result Pitt struggles early. Look sloppy. Duquesne either takes an early lead or hangs around.
Then Pitt starts to adjust and while Duquesne continues to battles and makes small surges that make it appear that they have put themselves back into the game, it is extinguished quickly and Pitt takes the game. Last year, with one suspended and one injured player as Pitt was still struggling to come together was as close as the Stage Magicians have come to snagging a win.
This game was about Gary McGhee dominating.
McGhee said the Panthers (8-0) wanted to squash any thoughts of a potential upset early on. After a rough start, when the Dukes raced to an early 9-2 lead, McGhee and his teammates took the game over by crashing the boards.
McGhee was so dominant in the first half that he had a double-double with 5 1/2 minutes remaining before halftime. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. His backup, Dante Taylor, had five points and five rebounds at the intermission.
The Panthers had 33 rebounds by halftime, a number that many teams don’t reach in full games. They pulled down 14 offensive rebounds in the first half, leading to 15 second-chance points. They also picked apart the Duquesne defense, shooting to the tune of 48.6 percent. By the time the first half ended they were in complete control, 42-28.
“We knew they were going to come out with energy,” McGhee said. “But we didn’t want to get into the same situation we were in last year. We wanted to come out strong and set the tone. We came out and did that and we got the victory.”
McGhee got raves from Coach Dixon.
“He scored some points,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “But really his defense was tremendous, and his rebounding. He came up with every big rebound, it seemed.”
In front of 12,860 fans at the new arena, Ashton Gibbs added a game-high 22 points and Nasir Robinson had a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for Pitt.
…
“I know my role is going to be defending and rebounding,” McGhee said. “I have to focus more on offensive rebounding and getting my buckets. I’m not going to get as many touches.”
On a night when guards not named Ashton Gibbs struggled with their shooting, it was McGhee along with Dante Taylor and Nasir Robinson inside that really made it easy for Pitt. Especially with the boards.
Maybe it was Pitt wanting it more, maybe it was good fortune on bounces off the new rims, maybe it was the third-ranked Panthers having a front line that was bigger, or maybe it was a medley of all of those things. What can’t be argued is this: When that final buzzer sounded, Pitt had outrebounded the Dukes, 56-35.
Pitt defeated Duquesne, 80-66, to win the initial City Game at the opulent Uptown arena, but the Panthers’ rebounding edge is what propelled them to the win. Pitt had more offensive rebounds (20) than Duquesne had defensive rebounds (18).
…
“These guys are all physical, they gang-rebound,” senior forward Damian Saunders said of Pitt. “That is something that we have to do. When it came to rebounding, they overpowered us.”As Everhart said: “I certainly thought talent and height had a lot to do with it. I thought we forced them into some tough shots, but we couldn’t get the ball off the rim.”
With the proximity of Duquesne’s campus to Consol Energy Center, the Dukes walked to the City Game. A member of the administrative staff said it was precisely 540 paces from the A.J. Palumbo Center locker room to the front door at the new arena — he counted each step.
But once Duquesne got on the floor with Pitt, it found out the distance between the two programs was much wider.
It wasn’t that many tough shots forced by Duquesne. Pitt shot over 48%. Even with Duquesne’s student section showing up in force (though, quickly silenced) to balance out the Oakland Zoo.
Just not a good night for guards, though, they had some contributions:
Player A — 1-6 (0-1) FG; 2-2 FT; 8 Reb (3OR); 7 TO; 1 Ast; 1 Stl; 4 fouls; 17 min
Player B — 2-6(1-2) FG; 2-2 FT; 3 Reb (0 OR); 4 TO; 4 Ast; 1 Stl; 4 fouls; 24 min
Player C — 1-5 (0-3) FG; 2-2 FT; 4 Reb (0 OR); 2 TO; 7 Ast; 1 Blk; 4 fouls; 29 min
All three had foul problems. None shot well. Those were the lines for Wanamaker, Woodall and Brown.
Wanamaker really struggled with holding onto the ball against Duquesne’s pressure, and started the game throwing an errant pass somewhere near Brown. He still managed to find the ball on rebounds. Mostly in the second half. He got saddled with two early fouls and played maybe 5 minutes or so in the first half. He never seemed to get into the flow of the game.
The thing that surprises me with Brown is that he led the team with 7 assists. It sure didn’t look like he had a good game in any facet last night. His shooting remains off and both he and Wanamaker settled too often for jump shots. Brown’s refusal to attack the basket is, to me, a big reason why he has been unimpressive this season (to be kind). He has tried to incorporate a shot fake into his game this season maybe to get to the rim, but it isn’t very good and defenders aren’t biting. So he has forced too many shots.
Woodall, I thought, had a better night than his stats showed. He may not have much showing up in the stats and he missed some open looks, but the team looked a lot more settled with him at the point.
The best thing to say about last night was that even though the backcourt should be the primary strength for Pitt this year, when most of it struggled, the frontcourt can and did step in to shoulder the load.
J.Dixon must sit Wanamaker more against press and high pressure teams. Even as a senior he has problems with midcourt pressure. Woodall should be subbed in. I hate suggesting that we bench one of our best, if not most versatile, player but its hard to argue he has burned us in the past with sloppy and out of control ball handling.
Can anyone confirm if that was Pens coach Dan Bylsma that they showed sitting courtside in a Pitt hat early the broadcast?
For the Dukies this was the biggest upset opportunity they were going to see this year. In spite of that, after a brief early round of the traditional ‘EAT s**t PITT’ they were content to play amongst themselves for the remainder of the game.
For the Zoo this was just another warmup in a series that Pitt has dominated completely for 10 years now.
Mid-week attendance by the Zoo at the Pete this time of year is iffy so I wasn’t surprised by the turnout for the “City Game.”
you have to remember guys, the make-up of the really hardcore zoo fans are the the kids that DO take school quite seriously. the greek crowd doesn’t make up as much of the zoo as you’d guess based on how tailgating has worked traditionally. back in the early days of the zoo, i was one of the few guys in my house that regularly went to bball games, but we went to a lot of football games and put a ton of effort into tailgates (i imagine this has something to do with being there early and waiting in lines, which makes drinking ahead of time simply more effort than it’s worth). from what i understand, this is still the case with our guys [though, as you might guess, tailgating fell apart this year, much like the team, as the season wore on]… in any case, a large number of the zoo just can’t (and won’t) sacrifice too much time away from finals, so don’t be too hard on them. they still make us very proud 95% of the time.
The Dukies really did the “Eat s*** Pitt” cheer? Nice catholic school like that? With that basketball team, after losing 9 in a row, and 29 out of 32? That really is kahunas. These kids were in first grade the last time Duq won this game, and their grandparents were at Duq the last time the series was competitive. They had to have taught them that.
But it reminds me how enjoyable it is to beat them. For those of us who remember the 60s and early 70s at Pitt, Duquesne was so full of their own bs that they refused to play Pitt, unless it was in the old “Steel Bowl” tournament at the arena. Then Buzz Ridl came, college basketball changed dramatically, Pitt kept up, and Duquesne could not. I was at the first game that Pitt won in over a decade, at the Arena, in 1970, against a much taller and more talented Duquesne team. It was a heated rivalry, at least as intense as WVU and Penn State on the football side, for several years after that. Then it changed.
But after a generation of domination, Pitt still plays them, now Pitt with nothing to gain and everything to lose. But it is not the same game it once was, and while I certainly look forward to it, I cannot blame anyone for not getting as excited about it now as for UConn, for example.
The game should be moved to a weekend….I bet that would bump up the crowd….
