The Cinci-Pitt game was by far, Pitt’s fastest paced game of the season.

Pitt

Poss 79.3 Pace Fast
O-Rating 112.2 D-Rating 87.0 (Eff. Margin +25.2)
eFG% 62.3 PPWS 1.27
A/TO 1.1 TO Rate 22.7% A/B 59.4%
Floor Pct 54.7% FT Prod 31.6

Cinci

Poss 78.2 Pace Fast
O-Rating 88.3 D-Rating 113.8 (Eff. Margin -25.6)
eFG% 45.3 PPWS 0.98
A/TO 0.8 TO Rate 20.5% A/B 44.4%
Floor Pct 43.8% FT Prod 17.2

No shock that Pitt’s offense was going very well yesterday. It’s interesting, compared to their season numbers. The Effective Field Goal% and Points Per Weighted Shot were much higher than average (50.3% and 1.08).

Pitt’s possession per 40 minutes is 69.0, and Pitt was slightly more than 10 over that for this game. That’s big to have had 10 extra opportunities. Especially since Floor % and FT Production were close to the average.

Despite having 19 assists, the team’s Assist to Baskets % was lower (67.4%) because Pitt made so many shots. Despite Pitt’s 18 turnovers, the TO Rate wasn’t that much higher than normal (19.5%).

As is usual in Pitt wins, Pitt got to the line. They were aggressive and forced the other team to foul rather than let them shoot. Of course, Pitt was aided by Cinci twice fouling on 3-point shots. Rarely see that once in a game, let alone two times.

Other numbers that stood out. A by-product of Aaron Gray’s 6-7 shooting, was that 0 of his 10 rebounds were offensive. Also a factor was that Pitt shot better than 56 % for the game. Still, Gray gets a fair amount of offensive rebounds following his own shot. Only missing once, limits those opportunities.

Pitt’s defense really did a fine job against Cinci, even though the Bearcats shot 42%. Cinci turned the ball over 16 times, more than they usually do. Going into the game, Cinci turned the ball over an average only 11.625 times/game. The perimeter defense was very good as well, forcing Cinci to go inside more.

Part of why Pitt was able to have its way so easily with Cinci, was that Cinci’s defense was put in an unfamiliar position of playing zone to try and limit Aaron Gray.

Even though they struggled with several Panthers, UC simply had no answer for 7-foot Aaron Gray, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 10 rebounds.

“We gave up 89 points and we had to play more zone than we’d like because we had no answer for Aaron Gray,” Kennedy said.

While Gray had a good start, leading scorer Krauser had a quiet first half with just three points, before finishing with a team-high 18.

“They’re the epitome of a good team. They have other options if Krauser or Gray, their marquee guys, are just OK. … As a result they go to their bench and they find options,” Kennedy said. “We’re very dependent on our core guys, and with the exception of Jihad Muhammad, I’m not sure the rest of them played the way they need to play for us to even be competitive in a game like this.”

Showing they had no answer to Pitt was set right at the start when Pitt got the rebound off Cinci’s first shot,the whole Cinci defense moved out to defend the perimeter. Ramon fired a pass to Gray alone under the basket. He looked around genuinely stunned that there was no blackshirt near him before putting it in the hoop.