Both Pitt and Syracuse come into the game with losses. Both teams have their coaches saying pretty much the exact same thing as being the problem.
Coach Boeheim:
Presumably, they’ll show up at tonight’s game vs. the Panthers before they fall behind 12-0.
The Orange will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak in four years as it faces Pitt, which is coming off its first Big East setback, 55-50, at St. John’s on Saturday. By tip-off tonight, this most likely won’t be a matchup of two ranked Big East teams.
No. 9 Pitt (4-1 Big East, 15-4 overall) will drop out of the Top 10 in the new poll, which comes out today. After being blown out by No. 3 Connecticut last Monday and by No. 8 Villanova on Saturday, SU (3-2, 15-4) certainly won’t still be the Top 25.
Offensive impatience buried the Orange in 12-0 holes in each loss.
“Our offense is killing us,” coach Jim Boeheim said after ‘Nova forced 10 turnovers in the Orange’s first 12 possessions — a stat that still sounds like it can’t be true. “As much as it has been the other team, it’s been ourselves.”
Now, Coach Dixon.
Pittsburgh fell behind 14-0 in the first six-plus minutes, shot a season-low 35.2 percent from the field and was outrebounded 36-32.
“We were impatient,” Panthers coach Jamie Dixon said. “Rushing things offensively and that hurt our defense. We had some foul problems early and that hurt us. We just didn’t play well. Our offense has a lot to do with our defense. They go hand in hand.”
Both teams shot under 40% in their losses and turned the ball over a ton in the first half of their Saturday losses. Oh, and both teams staged furious comebacks in the second half that didn’t quite make it. And yes, both teams star guards are struggling right now.
Carl Krauser had 10 points but went 5-of-17 from the field and missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute for the Panthers, who are 11-0 this season and 59-5 all-time at the Petersen Events Center.Carl Krauser had 10 points but went 5-of-17 from the field and missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute for the Panthers, who are 11-0 this season and 59-5 all-time at the Petersen Events Center.
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Syracuse fell behind 20-4 and committed 15 first-half turnovers before rallying in the second half of an 80-65 defeat Saturday to Villanova. Senior guard Gerry McNamara, who averages 16.9 points, was held to four on 1-for-7 shooting while committing six turnovers.
Both teams see this as the end of the end of a rough patch of games in a short span. Pitt of course is playing its 5th game in 12 days — sandwiching home games around 3 on the road.
But the scenario appears much tougher for Syracuse (15-4, 3-2), which faced a challenging five-game stretch that began Jan. 11 with an 88-82 victory at Notre Dame.
Following the Wednesday night game, the Orange stayed in the Midwest for a Jan. 14 contest at then-No. 25 Cincinnati — Syracuse won, 77-58 — before returning home last Monday to entertain No. 3 Connecticut.
The road-weary Orange fell to the Huskies, 88-80, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
Since then, Syracuse dropped an 80-65 decision at No. 8 Villanova on Saturday and, in Pitt, will face its fourth consecutive nationally ranked team tonight.
While Boeheim has publicly bitched about it and it all being for TV. Coach Dixon has been more tactful, especially because he knows Pitt can use exposure.
Pitt lost for the first time Saturday to St. John’s, 55-50, in the Panthers’ third consecutive road game in a week’s span. The Panthers looked like a tired team. They shot poorly and got outrebounded, a sign that their legs might be weary. But Dixon and his players refused to say playing a third consecutive road game was the reason for the loss.
“That question is going to be asked because of all the road games we’ve played, but I don’t think that’s why we lost,” Dixon said. “We looked stronger in the second half, so that really wasn’t the case. We were just impatient and missed a lot of easy shots. We rushed some things.”
“We’re not going to use that as an excuse,” said Pitt senior Carl Krauser, who was 5 for 17 from the field and scored 10 points against St. John’s. “We just had a bad game. They did what they had to do. And we didn’t do what we had to do.”
The Panthers enter the Syracuse game looking for answers on offense. They have shot 38.1 percent from the field the past three games, including a season-low 35.2 percent against St. John’s. They had shot more than 40 percent in 13 of their first 15 games, only shooting poorly in victories against Maine and South Carolina.
They are averaging 62 points per game the past three games, 13 below their season average.
Um, context helps. Pitt’s last 3 opponents are in the upper-half of the conference in scoring defense. St. John’s is ranked #1 (7th nationally), Rutgers #4 (31st) and Louisville #6 (44th). Against Rutgers it was 39.3% shooting and Louisville was 37.7%. Additionally, all 3 hold opponents to under 40% shooting on average. A high shooting % and scoring a lot should not have been expected.
Now as for complaints about how the Big East does everything for TV on its scheduling: No s**t! The Big East came in to being for TV purposes. It is merely staying true to its roots in basketball by continuing to do things that way.
The game tonight will be the second consecutive game where Aaron Gray will be matched up inside against another big guy. Daryl Watkins, who hasn’t exactly shown much yet. Here’s a comment from Syracuse Post-Standard beat writer Kim Baxter:
But anywho … you get the idea. Gray is a big kid who knows how to throw around his strength. It’ll be interesting to see him go up against SU’s Darryl Watkins (6-11 and 258 pounds). We’ve been hearing all year how Mookie will play better against centers his size. Here’s his chance.
She sounds skeptical.
Matt Glaude and I will try to get some Q&A’s up today ahead of the game.
