When talking about the 2-3 zone last week, I mentioned how disastrous it was when Pitt attempted to use it back in 2011-12. That was nothing compared to what Pitt did to Howard’s attempt at using the 2-3 zone.
Howard coach Kevin Nickelberry blamed it on the Bisons (2-3) packing the paint in a zone defense, allowing Pitt to penetrate and kick out to shooters.
“I told them the bigs can’t beat us, the guards have to beat us — and the guards killed us,” Nickelberry said. “We tried to cut off what we thought was the head of the dragon.”
Howard lacks big guards, so packing inside on a zone was practically begging Pitt to shoot over the zone. And that is what Pitt did. Getting wide-open looks from outside.
A reasonable person would say it wasn’t an unsound strategy upon reviewing Pitt’s 0-11 3-point shooting in the prior game. But even the biggest optimist on Howard’s staff would have to concede that it wasn’t a shooting performance that would be repeated. Instead Pitt decimated Howard from outside. Shooting 6-8 on 3s in the first half.
All part of an incredible first half shooting performance.
Cameron Wright was in disbelief upon hearing Pitt shot 81 percent from the field in the first half against Howard in the Progressive Legends Classic.
“Nobody told us that,” Wright said. “I feel like you guys make those statistics up sometimes. We had a great first half, I guess.”
Try the best in school history.
After setting a school record by missing all 11 3-point attempts against Fresno State, the Panthers broke another by sinking 17 of 21 shots in the first half of an 84-52 victory over Howard on Sunday at Petersen Events Center. The previous mark was 80.8 percent (21 of 26) against George Washington on Jan. 9, 1980.
Most of the time, we’d be thrilled with that kind of shooting percentage from the free throw line. Not all over the court.
Lamar Patterson was exceptionally hot, leading the team with 20 points (7-11 overall, 4-5 on 3s).
Coach Jamie Dixon said that while the Panthers’ shooting in the first half and the rest of the game was solid, he was more impressed with their shot selection and offensive execution.
“I don’t know that it was shooting, but execution, decision-making, passing,” Dixon said. “Sometimes it is guys making shots, but this was running good offense. We had 13 assists at half and that, to me, is the biggest indicator. We were getting layups.
“We were getting some penetration, inside touches and kicking out, and those are the 3-pointers that you make. Last game, we were 0 for 11 from the 3-point line and everybody asked about it. Today, we were 8 for 15 from the 3-point line and of course, nobody asks.”
The Panthers were also good from the free-throw line, shooting 18 for 23 (78 percent).
Really, that was the only concentration in the stat sheet. Ten players played at least 10 minutes. Among those ten, only Randall scored zero points. The other eight players scored from 4 to 11 points. Rebounds were similarly spread out on the team. There was a lot of sharing going on.
Not too much to be said about a blowout like this. I will say that Howard has a keeper in guard James Daniel. Good shooter.
For Pitt, the only negative was Josh Newkirk playing a little too fast. 5 turnovers in only 12 minutes is not going to get you extra minutes with any coach. And that is doubly so with Coach Dixon.
After that, it’s just nit-picking about the team. Pitt did what they were supposed to do against a very obviously overmatched team. They beat them down quickly and never let them get even a glimmer of hope.
And the football program will never be perceived as anything but mediocre even if it wins with fans like this… Pitt fans are some of the worst fans in the nation, it’s very sad but true.
On the other hand, it was noteworthy that Zanna did not impress. Both he and Randall brought the ball down to guard level on more than one occasion. I would have liked to see them get the ball into Randall more and see what he can do. Newkirk had a horrible day. I wonder if there are plans of him moving over to #2 in the future. He has a decent stroke and it can be improved. He also would be able to use his quickness to go to the hoop from there. Right now his ball handling looks subject at this level for the point position.
The chemistry of this year’s team seems to be excellent. I loved watching Wright and Patterson during yesterday’s postgame interview, available here:
It wasn’t all that long ago that Pitt was one of a handful of schools that had both their football team AND basketball team in the Top 25 in the same year. Let’s hope that happens again in the not so distant future. Being a “basketball school” already is a good start…
I also forgot to mention how pleasantly surprised I am with Artis. I really didn’t expect much but he seems to be improving with every minute of experience he gets. He, like Young does not seem in awe of the situation as freshmen. It should be interesting as to how the rotation finally plays out and where he fits once we get into league play.
As what happened with Fresno and then Howard.
Because while that might get us thru the non-con unscaithed or close to unscaithed, it will lead to being inconsistent on the road in the ACC.
Also Fresno was a better team than Howard and they had longer guards so there’s that too. Howard after all is a MEAC team so games against them should be 30+ point routs. If they aren’t, it will most likely mean a 2011-2012 type season.
It was a rout, but we got little production from the 5 spot. Z and R didn’t score much, optimally would like to see Z score at least 10 points a game and R at least 5.
Also would have liked to seen Lamar be left in the game longer, as he should have been game high scorer. As soon as the Bison player overtook him, their coach took him out of the game.
We need that one ‘go to’ guy. Lamar getting 30 would have worked wonders for the kid’s confidence.
Pitt doesn’t have that “go to” guy. No one player on the team is that indispensable that without him Pitt would lose to Belmont and almost lose to Holy Cross.
The worst thing Pitt could do would be to try to force a good player (not great) into that role. Lamar is a good player, but he is not a go to guy. He is not an alpha dog. Pitt is going to have to have a “go to guy by committee”. There are a lot of guys who can step up and carry the load offensively, on a game by game basis, depending on the matchup and who has a hot hand.
Next year at this time, Young very could develop into that role, but he’s not there yet.
Previous Pitt teams were too dependent on one decent player, Woodall last year and Gibbs the year before. That didn’t work out too well.
Last year, we set a record against DePaul at home… what was it… biggest margin of victory ever for a BE team in a BE conference game.
Then, when we played DePaul on the road… we set another record… highest FG% ever in a BE game.
But, DePaul, was NOT a very good team… and then how did we end up… losing to Cuse in the BE Tourney and then a hideous performance in the big dance.
So, setting records against poor teams… is the mark of a team that does not come out well when the going gets tougher.
And Patterson led the way on this one.
I fail to see any logic in the above statement??
H2P