It’s easy to look at many of the final scores of half the Pitt games this year: 100-47, 93-49, 96-75, 95-79 and yesterday’s thrashing of Davidson 94-69; and conclude that Pitt is really upping its tempo. It is moving up and down the court to score that way.
Eh, somewhat.
Pitt is moving more quickly this season. They are getting out in transition more. They are definitely bringing up the ball at a faster pace. But their tempo. The number of possessions they have per game. Well, that is still in the lower half of the country.
Pitt’s adjusted tempo through the first 10 games is at 68.0. Far faster than the 61.3 of last year, but it puts them at only 274th nationally.
The obvious thing is that Pitt is shooting the ball so much better. As a team they are shooting 50.1% from the field, and 39.8% on threes. Last year it was 44.7% and 33.9%, respectively. The eFG% is at 56.8. That is 15th nationally.
Here’s a reason for adjusted tempo to still be in the lower 30% nationally in tempo. Pitt’s defense is significantly improved. Last year was, without a doubt or debate, was the worst defensive team in the Jamie Dixon era. Even that injury and transfer-ravaged 2011-12 season wasn’t as bad defensively. This team is not elite level defense, but they are good and getting better.
They took a team like Davidson completely out of their rhythm. Davidson is a very well-coached team that constantly runs and cuts to create space and good shots. Davidson did that at first, and raced out to a lead that Pitt struggled to match at first. But Pitt was with them defensively. Making them work hard and deeper into the clock to get open. Davidson was just finishing. But you could see them tiring. Making Davidson have to either start firing shots quickly or wearing themselves down trying to get their shots. Davidson ended up speeding themselves up, on offense to try and beat Pitt.
In that game, Davidson came out hitting 3 of their first 4 three-point attempts. But, only one of those shots was uncontested — Young came out late on Sullivan. The rest of the game, Davidson went 3-26 on the perimeter! Pitt kept them completely off-balance.
What this is doing, is shortening the game for the other team. So, even if Pitt is playing faster offensively, they will still have less possessions in a game than a team that fails to slow the opponent down.
Sterling Smith has been a revelation on the defensive end. He’s a rare player that transferred to show he could play defense, rather than showcase his offense.
“Coach harps on we’ve got to get a lot of rebounds,” said the 6-foot-4 Smith, who is expected to make his seventh consecutive start when the Panthers (5-1) face Central Arkansas (1-6) at noon Sunday at Petersen Events Center. “A lot (of it) is hustle. I take it seriously and try to get a lot of rebounds.”
…
Dixon made no guarantees regarding playing time, but Smith’s willingness to play defense and buy into the team concept moved him ahead of junior Chris Jones in the rotation. His defensive focus is a constant, and he’s becoming more dependable on offense.“Last year, my team didn’t play a lot of defense,” Smith said. “I know that’s going to win us a lot of games.”
Smith hounded Jack Gibbs in the game. Kept him from getting clean looks outside, and no space to drive inside.
Gibbs scored nine of his team-high 21 points in the first half, but Smith hounded him into 4-of-10 shooting that set the tone for the rest of the game.
“We had a pretty good idea of what he was going to try and do and how they were going to try and use him,” Robinson said. “We used (junior) Jonathan Milligan to simulate how Gibbs would play, and I think he did a really good job giving us their looks, and we were prepared as a team to defend.”
At the other end, the Panthers attacked the underbelly of Davidson’s interior defense. Good ball movement led to multiple players receiving open looks, and the Panthers made them count.
“Pittsburgh’s very, very good,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “They’re deep. They’re strong. They’re athletic and very well coached.”
Gibbs came in shooting 54% overall and 37.5% from 3s. He didn’t get a single 3, and 8-20 overall.
Pitt did that sort of job to the entire Davidson team. No one was getting open with any consistency. This was the best Pitt had looked playing man-to-man. Not having to switch up to a zone. Which allowed Pitt to grab rebounds with better consistency.
Sagarin computer says we 18 BB and 33 FB, Steelers 8.
As for Sunday, remember he was in foul trouble and missed most of the 1st half anad the team didn’t miss a beat. He is capable of big games though and expect a few this season.
Football and hoops voting are both loaded with favoritism every year. Take notice of certain teams ranked high at the beginning of every season (ie, Georgia in FB) and then drop way down as they inevitably start racking up losses during the year, only to be ranked at the top again the following year.
Oh well, I said my peace on that…
For Christmas this year, I’m asking for a “tackle eligible” thrown to Oneil, as well. Like, maybe down near the end zone; or on a crucial 4th down!!
Re ratings: if I was one of the raters, I’m going to “protect” my picks as far into the season as I can – if for no other reason than to make me look clairvoyant. I’m not going to drop one of my initial picks out of the Top 25, unless there is someone below that has beaten a couple of rated teams, or “big name” teams. You gotta earn your early season rating. Ego can be a powerful thing! Have patience, and keep winning! We have plenty of name teams on the schedule through which winning will move us up the ladder!
On the recruiting front. Damar Hamlin has scheduled all of his official visits. Pitt gets the last one at the end of January. means that Narduzzi gets the last chance to convince Mr. Hamlin that Pitt is it. No doubt about it in my mind that Damar would be the cherry on top of a very good recruiting class that Nard Dog is in the process of finishing up.
I agree that we did well on turnovers against Davidson. I remember quite a few stolen passes by Pitt near the top of the key which Dixon discussed in his post-game interview with ESPN when he said:
“We really want our bigs to take that ball out of the point guard’s hand using the ball screens.”
To watch that interview, go to:
But don’t get down on him for just one bad game. In 8 days, we will play Syracuse, and nobody takes apart the Syracuse zone as well as he does.
It is natural to compare Young to Artis so he, and just about anyone else, would come up short to Young as far as consistency goes … so I guess I am picking on Artis. I apologize
Sterling Smith is shooting 48.8% from the field, 54.5% from three, and 91.7% from the line. That’s some pretty crazy shooting.
(and he can defend)
Also, JR is shooting > 40% from 3 pt line compared to 29.8 last year. Hope he doesn’t wear down
As far as rankings I think many have good points. It does matter to some extent for exposure and perception but winning will do that also. I kind of reject the notion we don’t know much about this team. I thought the Purdue game told us a lot. They need polish: they got smacked around in the first 5-10 minutes and lost their heads a bit toward the end, but they also have heart: the comeback was very impressive and implies we could have won it if not for the slow start. It’s way in the past now but the Gonzaga non-game is really a shame. Had we held on I’m sure we’d be ranked right now.
Very excited for ACC play. The media scoffs at our #10 pre-season ranking, and yes that sounds a little off, but all 9 teams ahead of us are typically great programs. We can’t afford to drop any winnable games this year. A couple bad loses or un-clutch finishes could be the difference between a 4th and 8th place finish.
Geeked as ever for the Syracuse game. Our big three are veteran zone breakers and match up well. Young in particular with his mid-range game and passing ability should be huge.
Hail to Pitt!
What is the answer about Weah’s two yards?
H2P
If the team continues to do well and exceeds expectations … more power to them and JD. I must admit my expectations have risen than what they were just a month ago.
PoD will see a WR, PN will see a CB
Why not start with Navy?
Manhandle the Midshipmen and knock them out of the top 25 – if Pitt can’t get in with a win, so be it…
HTP!
Whitehead — #4 best frosh per Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports and #10 per Mike Farrell, Rivals
K Pugh — PA AA Player of the year (D Jeter all-state)
Garner, Wheeler, Coleman — AAAA All-State (as is M Saunders, D Hamlin and D Adams)
Hope the 412 crew is paying attention.
Hail to Pitt!
Hamlin, Hudson and Mathews need to see that before they make their decision on which school to commit to.
Thanks for the link Dino…
That was DYNOMITE!
A 3 loss Vanderbilt is 25th, WVU is something like 18.
Let’s go Pitt, this is embarrassing.