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November 8, 2013

Open Thread: Savannah St-Pitt

Filed under: Basketball,Open Thread — Chas @ 6:54 pm

College basketball kicked off today. Pitt is opening with Savannah State. It’s 7pm It’s on ESPN3.com. SVSU is a MEAC team.

Figure it should be a sloppy game. Even with a couple exhibitions under the belt, there’s plenty of changes on the roster. Add in the rules and enforcement changes for officials and there should be plenty of opportunities to see Pitt players practicing free throws.

Just going to chill in front of the computer and pop open a deuce of Tenacious Wee Aged in Eagle Rare Barrels from Voodoo Brewery  (thanks again to Curt).





Almost halfway through the first half, 19-4, Pitt.

A little higher octane offense?

Comment by Lou 11.08.13 @ 7:27 pm

Just had some Voodoo here in NYC the other day. First time to try a brew from them! I’d have to check my Untappd app to remember which one, but remember really liking it. Hope to try more.

I’m on tape delay until after dinner…

Comment by SilverPanther in NYC 11.08.13 @ 7:36 pm

Here’s a link if anyone needs one:

link to atdee.net

Comment by Jackagain 11.08.13 @ 7:39 pm

That offensive charging fowl on Patterson was a crock…

Comment by Jackagain 11.08.13 @ 7:43 pm

Cornell is beating Cuse 38-32 at the half.

link to scores.espn.go.com

Comment by Jackagain 11.08.13 @ 7:51 pm

What’s up with Zanna? Why not playing?

Comment by HL2Pitt 11.08.13 @ 7:59 pm

Yea right is Z injured or been a bad boy ?

Comment by EMel 11.08.13 @ 8:24 pm

Derrick Randall with 8 & 7 in Z’s absence

Comment by EMel 11.08.13 @ 8:25 pm

Zenna is serving a one-game suspension.

Comment by Mailman 11.08.13 @ 8:28 pm

Zanna, rather.

Comment by Mailman 11.08.13 @ 8:28 pm

Newkirk look smooth from the 3…

Comment by Jackagain 11.08.13 @ 8:40 pm

Looking forward to seeing the stats on this game.

Comment by Lou 11.08.13 @ 9:05 pm

First win. Want to see stats. Any idea where they are? None on ESPN.com. Meanwhile Ko looks like the real deal.

Comment by Pitt Dad 11.08.13 @ 9:07 pm

@ P Dad

Here you go bro, click on Gametracker.

link to cbssports.com

Comment by EMel 11.08.13 @ 9:14 pm

Pitt’s secret Weapon.

Mr. Hawaii in basketball.

I give you Joshua Ko.

Love it I use to live in Hawaii. Great story, this kid can shoot.

Comment by EMel 11.08.13 @ 9:16 pm

Team played great didn’t miss Z at all. 5 or 6 kids in double figures. Randall was more than adequate. Young’s tomahawk 2 hander was impressive, as was his length of the court pre-dunk drive. Newkirk can shoot from 3 which was an unknown.

Would have really liked to see Pitt really push the tempo in this type of game and score 100.

But overall a very good effort, and they did what I said they would……win by at least 30 pts.

H2P !

Comment by EMel 11.08.13 @ 9:20 pm

Thanks EMel

Comment by Pitt Dad 11.08.13 @ 9:25 pm

16 Assists on 26 baskets. Over 76% from the line. Nice.

Comment by Pitt Dad 11.08.13 @ 9:27 pm

Good game Pitt. How was the on campus atmosphere? They didn’t play at the Consol did they? 🙂

Comment by TX Panther 11.08.13 @ 9:44 pm

Patterson is one of the keys for this team….I hope he doesn’t try to do to much…he needs to play within the system

Comment by Keith 11.08.13 @ 10:30 pm

Although Pitt does not have a 7 footer this season, Derrick Randall showed that he can get rebounds. And more importantly, what to do after you get one.

He showed the experience of two years in a Big East program, playing against top competition.

I would like to see Randall at the 5 and Zanna at the 4. Randall seems much more comfortable defending the post and playing with his back to the basket.

Comment by xfmrman 11.08.13 @ 10:49 pm

Good game recap from CBS Sports-AP

Seems to be a lot more extensive story than were use to seeing from the hometown papers and some other sports sites. Enjoy.

link to cbssports.com

Randall ends up with a Double/Double (12 & 12) in his Panther debut. That would be huge if he can be a decent contributor this year. As like xf said Z isn’t the best post defender and not great with back to basket.

Although that could eat into Young’s PT if Z is moved to PF.

Comment by EMel 11.08.13 @ 11:28 pm

Steven Adams had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City tonight. This is exactly what Pitt basketball needs: Players succeeding at the next level. It’s a fantastic recruiting pitch.

Comment by PatMac 11.09.13 @ 1:22 am

@PatMac – thanks for pointing that out. Here’s a nice article/video from an OK source:

link to newsok.com

Comment by BATR 11.09.13 @ 7:04 am

Really impressed with Randall’s finishing — touch with both hands around the basket. Hopefully he’ll help with some of the recent frustrations of bigs missing “bunnies.” Still, not reading too much into it — SavSt was severely outmatched physically at all spots.

Comment by JW 11.09.13 @ 8:25 am

Funny how we have three centers in the NBA.

It was only a tune-up, but Wright looks better, Robinson has slimmed down, should be quicker and has been working on his shot. Randall fits a big need, Newkirk looks like he belongs and is much further along, than most of our previous freshman guards.

Young appears to be as advertised, played the most minutes. Both he and Artis ball handle well for big guys.

Impressed with how Jamie has filled the needs.

Overall success still depends on Zanna and Patterson, but team looks to be deeper than expected, with time to improve before the ACC debut.

One can only dream, what might have been with Adams.

Comment by gc 11.09.13 @ 9:50 am

Zanna’s suspension was timely. Gave Randall a great start. The trade for JJ appears to be a good one.

Comment by gc 11.09.13 @ 9:53 am

I wonder what Zanna did? Before we get to excited didn’t we beat these guys by over 50 last year.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.09.13 @ 9:57 am

Joshua Ko, Mr Hawaii in basketball and he ends up a walk-on? O.K. Hawaii is not exactly a hotbed for bb talent, however, the kid can handle the ball and seems to have better than average outside shot…..a real find.

The mystery is how did he not get any offers and end up 6,000 miles from home in the Burgh?

Comment by isnore 11.09.13 @ 10:09 am

@Isnore, Ko is a walk on and that is as far as it will go. There isn’t a mystery as to why he didn’t get any offers. He doesn’t have D1 talent. I don’t know what brought him to Pitt. He is on the team to help fill out the practice roster.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.09.13 @ 11:25 am

Just drove past the stadium, they are tailgating already. Lets wipe the smirk off Kelly’s face tonight.

Comment by alcofan 11.09.13 @ 1:29 pm

Heard on the game last nite we hadn’t played Sav. State since like 2001, it was a Howland year regardless. You might have them confused with say,….Bethune-Cookman. lol

I bet Mr. Ko saw one of our many games telecasted over the last several years and fell in love with PITT and The Zoo. Who wouldn’t ?

And I wouldn’t write him off so soon, he’s only a freshman, needs to hit the weights, etc. but you can see the kid is a shooter/scorer. And down the road he could be a very deadly stationary type/off the screen type, 3 point shooter off the bench. A Zone buster perhaps.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 1:37 pm

@spirit – According to his official Pittsburgh bio, he graduated high school with a 3.7 GPA. He may just be at Pitt for its academics and it also turned out that he could walk-on to the basketball team. Either way, it was a nice way to end last night’s game, and what’s more, his shooting will be an asset to practice against in-between games. He’s obviously very popular with the rest of the roster, as they went wild each time he hit a shot last night!

Comment by MikePITT 11.09.13 @ 1:43 pm

Emel, Sorry you are right, I get these patsy schools confused. Ko is like Nowanko he is on academic scholarship and has value to the roster as a practice participant. I am not saying either can’t play or contribute, just that they aren’t expected to. There is value to having good walk ons. 1) Gives the scholarship players a player to help them polish their skills against. 2) Gives the walk on the satisfaction of contributing to a major college program 3) Gives the Zoo a chance to go crazy when these guys score in blow outs. 4)These players are usually rock solid character types who are a good influence on their teammates.6) They graduate which helps meet NCAA requirements.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.09.13 @ 2:10 pm

Good pre-game article PITT/ND

Lots of quotes from Rudolph & House. Which are always somewhat humorous. Looks like ND has a pretty fearsome D-Line. Several All-Americans.

link to pittnews.com

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 2:12 pm

We had the Tarheel game on the radio and they were far less impressive than PITT.

We won by a much larger margin. And it was 40-13 at halftime. Think I read that was the 3rd fewest points we’ve allowed in one half.

We came out focused and blew them off the court. Which is what we should always do to rent-a-win teams. Fresno State Bulldogs up next.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 2:18 pm

@Emel, Wonder what my man Talib did? I sure hope this isn’t the tip of some iceberg.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.09.13 @ 2:24 pm

wow, no letup from #2 Florida State THIS YEAR.

In the last many years they’ve always had a hiccup, losing to someone they shouldn’t have in ACC play.

FSU 52…..Wake Forest 0 middle 3rd Q

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 2:24 pm

@ sos22

Good question, he’s always been a model citizen at PITT from my understanding. Maybe it was just something as minor as being late for a team meeting or something on that order.

It worked out good for Randall, with a Double/Double in his debut. Nice to know we have a legit backup at Center.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 2:28 pm

Pedophiles getting smacked by the Gophers. 24-10
4rth Q.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 2:30 pm

Tarheel football team going for their 3rd straight win over the hapless Wahoo’s of UVA. Figures they’ll have their sh*t together when they play us.

28-0 mid 3rd Q

Not missing Renner at all. They were playing 2 QB’s pretty much all year anyway. Williams being the other one.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 2:39 pm

@gc, definitely only a tune up, but, I certainly do like beating tune ups by 30 rather than squeaking by, by 6 or 8.

Kudo’s to whoever was the announce of the Louisville-UCONN game last night. People had it on in the other room, I wasn’t watching, but I heard the promo’s many times for the game tonight, and everytime, this particular announcer said,

“tomorrow night at 8pm, Pitt vs. Notre Dame”

Never said Pittsburgh once. Thank you whoever you were. And, it was a younger voice too.

Comment by Dan 11.09.13 @ 2:42 pm

Emel, When he broke his thumb his redshirt sophomore year supposedly he was horsing around with a teammate. Other than that I always thought he was a model citizen too. That is exactly what concerns me. First we are reading how he is such a great role model with a super work ethic, how he graduated and shared the pleasure with his old and new families. How he has come so far and grown so much, how his father passing had a profound effect on him etc. Then 5 minutes before gametime he gets suspended. Maybe they caught him in bed with Mrs. Peterson. Kind of a take me Mandingo moment.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.09.13 @ 2:44 pm

lmao sos22

A Mandingo moment. Yea like Susan George. haha

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 3:28 pm

20, 11 and 4 was quite a line for Brianna. Congrats to Suzie on her first of many wins as head coach of the Lady Panthers! Holding your opponent to a shooting percentage of 29.7% would make JD smile. Bubbles didn’t even play! I again say that the Panther Women will not end up in last place in the ACC as predicted previously! Her incoming recruits are outstanding. H2P! UPone

Comment by UPone 11.09.13 @ 3:30 pm

@ Dan-o

You’ll be happy to know the play by play announcer for Tarheel football (and bball btw) referred to UNC traveling to PITT later in the season to take on the Panthers.

Good day so far, Pedo’s lose again. They’re program is dropping below Minnesota’s. And they lost to annual big joke doormat Indiana. Pedo State,……the new doormat of the Big Joke.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 3:34 pm

Don’t know how we EVER thought Virginia had a good defense.

UNC 45
UVA 14

Just our offense perhaps, funny all these teams can protect their QB’s against UVA but us. Even Ball State.

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 3:53 pm

Emel, you don’t need a good D to beat us, just a decent pass rush.

Comment by gc 11.09.13 @ 7:03 pm

If they don’t have some plays to make them pay for the Blitz, it’s going to be a long night.

Comment by gc 11.09.13 @ 7:05 pm

Kind of hard to believe gc. O-lines vs D-lines are just two groups of big uglies pushing against each other. Yea occasionally you might come up against a Julius Peppers or a Aaron Donald, for the most part no. Which is why it’s hard for NFL teams to find a good D-lineman.

Something is definitely amiss here. Pitt’s O-linemen, can they be this bad. It’s a matter of holding your blocks on pass plays and driving off the ball on run plays.

I just understand it, Hefner is supposed to be a NFL type coach. All of our starting O-lineman were recruited by other D1 programs, except for Clemmings(who was heavily recruited as a DE) and he’s likely possibly the best of the bunch right now. And he’s had the least coaching. lol

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 7:45 pm

^^I just don’t understand it. ^^

Comment by EMel 11.09.13 @ 7:46 pm

Good Pitt News article on Pitt’s varied defenses against Savannah:

link to pittnews.com

Comment by Howard 11.10.13 @ 11:24 pm

Thanks Howard

It also looked like Pitt was more active on defense. They were switching on everything, ball screens, cuts, off ball screens. They can do that this, more than other years, because their defenders are pretty versatile, most can gaurd three spots. They have big guards, and mobile bigs. The downside in all that switching was they left a bunch of people open. Savanah wasn’t good enough to make them pay. Coming out of the weak non-con, Pitt should have the rotation and responsibilities down and they’ll be pretty good defensively.

Glad to see Randall play well. Pitt desperately needs some bulk down low. Other newcomers, Young and Newkirk are for real. Starting to get a little more optimistic, but we won’t really know anything until mid January.

Comment by Boubabcar Aw 11.11.13 @ 10:18 am

Boubacar, There is plenty of reason to be optimistic. The main reason is the consistent level of success that Dixon teams have thrown up. This years team will be no different.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.11.13 @ 10:56 am

I see where JJ Moore had a double double in 34 minutes starting for Rutgers.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.11.13 @ 11:22 am

The Fresno State Bulldogs bring their Mountain West Conference basketball team to visit the Pete tonight in a 7 pm. game. The MWC, you might remember, is where Kwim Birch landed when he transferred to UNLV after he found the going a little too rough in Oakland two seasons ago. The Bullpups bit into 11 victories last year and managed to lick the Anteaters of Cal-Irvine last week in overtime. The Zoo and friends are eagerly awaiting the return of Talib “Ho” Zanna who is expected back off of an undisclosed team rules violation single game suspension. Between the reappearance of the corrected Kenyan and the visit by the outclassed California Canines a good time should be had by all.

Comment by spiritofsection22 11.12.13 @ 12:41 pm

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