This week Pitt heads to the Carrier Dome for a no questions asked, must-win game. Pitt cannot rely upon a win over Miami next Friday to get to bowl eligibility. While Miami isn’t a top 10 team like they were a few weeks ago, they’re still a better team than Pitt across the board. Syracuse, however, is a flawed team still in transition after Doug Marrone left to coach the Buffalo Bills. The ACC set the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE up as Pitt’s cross-division rival, meaning the two teams will play annually even though they’re in different ACC divisions. (more…)
November 21, 2013
Pitt put this game out of reach early and then coasted in the second half. Lehigh never had a chance at Pitt. They made a brief run in the first half to get within 3 points (it was 4 points until the commercial break when the officials reviewed a shot to determine it was really a 3 by Lehigh). From that point, Pitt went on a 22-2 run in a bit under six minutes. Lehigh never got the deficit under 20 until the final couple minutes.
The first half was Talib Zanna inside and Durand Johnson outside.
Johnson said that his hot game started the previous game when he was 0-for-4 from the 3-point line. It made him hungry to work on his game and make sure he never had a shooting game like that again.
“After the last game, I was down on myself,” he said. “I felt bad, I was 0 for 4 and I’m a shooter, so I got in the gym and got a lot of shots off and I realized I wasn’t jumping as much as I need to when I was shooting them so I worked on it and came out ready.”
[James] Robinson said that Johnson’s offense off the bench is a nice perk for the Panthers, but he is a much more complete player than people give him credit for.
“It is great to know when he comes in he will bring energy and enthusiasm,” Robinson said of Johnson. “And when he is scoring like that, it just adds to it. He is much more complete player than a scorer, he brings energy and athletic he is a lot better passer now.”
I do agree with James Robinson. Johnson has been much more in the flow of the games. Not just settling in a corner with his arm raised for a pass (regardless of where the ball is on the court or if he is being guarded) to come to him.
