Now that all football is done, the 6pm games on ESPN begin.

It’s a Coaches Versus Cancer day, so expect to see Jamie Dixon and Tim Welsh in sneakers.

If you are listening to the radio, be sure to leave a comment on how Hillgrove and Groat do when they have to say Weyinmi Efejuku.

6:12: Just got over here as the Hofstra game just went final. Missed the first 14 points of the game.

6:16: Oh, Gray will abuse Hill if the Friars leave it one-on-one.

6:21: 17-14 Pitt, 12:08. Sam Young not exactly looking that sharp early. Inconsistency is a killer for him.

6:24: 18-17 Providence, 10:46. Pitt slipping into Providence’s game by rushing some shots. Need to control the tempo.

6:42: 30-30 Providence, 3:03. Young recovered from missing some shots, a couple turnovers to notch 6 points. Cook has 7 points.

Providence was getting some tremendous penetration from Curry. This is probably the second best I’ve seen the Friars play on the road (the best was against UConn).

Is anyone else feeling a mixture of amusement and annoyance when they keep referring to rivalry week, with the implications that Pitt-Prov is a rivalry game?

6:56: Pitt trailing 34-33. Gray only played 8 minutes in the half with 2 fouls. Pitt’s shots were a mix of some rushed shots and others that just didn’t go. Graves and Ramon were 0-5 and very little. The team looks uncomfortable and unsettled.
Herbert Hill has been able to back down on the Pitt defense and Sharaud Curry has been very creative. The other players for the Friars haven’t shot that well.

Lots of time, and no reason to panic. Mild frustration is permitted.

7:23: Pitt leads 47-43, 13:11 left. Pitt has gone on an 11-1 run. Kendall has taken two charges in this game.

Just some less than smart play from Pitt too often, while Providence — and I can’t stress this enough — is playing one of their best games. They are, though, one of the bad FT shooting teams in the BE.

Pitt’s guards are not having a good game. Graves, Ramon and even Fields are struggling. Not just shooting, but spacing and ball movement overall.

7:38: Pitt leads 57-52. If Gray could just finish — at least two easy ones just rolled off the rim — he’d be closer to 30.

7:47: Graves grabs back the turnover on the errant pass, and wow! 63-59, and after the TV TO, a chance for one more.

7:59: Here’s a statement you don’t get to read everyday. Pitt has the advantage at the free throw line against Providence.

8:07: Whoever the color guy was that simply said “Fatigue” when Curry missed a FT was dead-on. Curry’s played the entire game. Can’t believe how much Gray struggles at the line, though, down the stretch.

8:10: Pitt wins, 74-68. It wasn’t pretty. It was a less then impressive win. Still that’s okay. Pitt was probably due for a bad game. The timing was important. Better to struggle in this game rather than the prior or even the next two.

Half-hour to game time.

7:40: 8-4 Pitt, Graves heading to the line fouled with 15:52 in the half. Good energy from Pitt. Thrilled to see more than just Gray getting after the offensive boards.

7:50: Pitt leading 12-4 11:51 left. Sam Young is looking very good on both ends tonight. WVU’s shots aren’t falling — right now. Need to build up the lead because they will start falling, and with the 3, they can catch up really fast.

7:56: Pitt now up 16-7. Pitt is running more to keep WVU out of their 1-3-1 and it is working. Part of the reason why Sam Young is looking so good in this game, as well.

8:01: Pitt up 18-10, 7:34 to half. Gray better adjust to the fact that he won’t get a call tonight. The refs are not giving the inside players anything.

8:14: A bad gamble on defense let Alexander score and fire up the crowd a bit. Pitt still leads 25-14 with 2:21 to the half. WVU is still struggling with their perimeter shooting.

8:19: Pitt leads 27-17 at the half. Graves had a nice drive to the hoop, but the defense didn’t give and the shot couldn’t fall to end the half. The Mountaineers only shot 3-16 on 3s and 3-9 elsewhere. They are taking — even for them — too many 3s. Pitt has struggled going 0-4 from outside, but not taking many 3s has limited that. Otherwise, Pitt has shot 12-19 from the rest of the field.

Sam Young has 8 points on 4-5 shooting and a bunch of rebounds. Gray and Graves each have 6.

Da’Sean Butler has been the only thing working for WVU. 8 points and 2-3 on threes.

8:43: Here comes the Hoopie run as Frank Young scores 5 points in a 7-2 spurt to close it to 7 points. 16:14 in the game. Gray bricked 2 free throws.

8:52: Sam Young is having his best game ever. 16 points and crashing the boards. Frank Young has cramped up.

Pitt now up 37-24 with 13:52 left. Mike Cook made a sweet little pass out of the double team for Young’s slam.

9:00: 11:20 left Pitt up 41-26. Pitt is playing a solid team game. They are feeding the hot hand — Sam Young. The defense isn’t letting up. This is such a solid game.
Georgetown just put away Louisville 73-65.

9:09: Pitt up 49-33 with 7:13 in the game. Ramon has drilled a couple 3s. The only negative in this game has been Gray not hitting any free throws.

9:18: WVU has gotten hot and like any young team, when their offense starts working, they get more intense on defense. That’s the short answer how they went on a 14-3 run to get it to 49-45 before Sam Young hit a big 3.

Then dumb mistake when Ramon and Young both went for a rebound that let Frank Young grab it and get fouled and heading to the line after the break.
3:35 left, Pitt up 52-45.

9:27: And that was it for WVU. Frank Young missed his FTs. Pitt continued the run and Gray dropped 2 FTs and now Ramon has hit 4 straight FTs.   WVU finally scored to snap an 11-0 run by Pitt.
Pitt withstood a couple hot streaks from WVU — never panicked and adjusted.

60-47 Pitt wins.

Sam Young had 21 points and 7 rebounds. Definitely a career night.

Gray finished with a 14-9 points-rebounds. The team shot 24-43, and held WVU to 16-50 shooting.

Should be a very close game tonight. From a match-up standpoint, this will be a big challenge for Pitt with the Wildcat guards. ‘Nova is also unbeaten at the Wachovia this year including an outstanding performance versus Texas.

7:11: Pitt up 8-4, 15:01 in the half. Slow sluggish start plus being at an NBA arena rather then the cozy home court, really quieted the crowd. Could hear the pro-Gray, -Cook and -Pitt contingents pretty well. So far the guards are doing a nice job of not being too bothered by Villanova’s guards. Surprised to see ‘Nova standing around so much early.

7:20: This will not be a good game for Sam Young. He’s being beaten by the ‘Nova players on defense. He already looks frustrated — and it effects him on offense by trying to make amends.

Both teams playing tight defense, getting up on the guards.

7:29: God-damn! Pitt showing little energy. Not boxing out. Only running on offense, not getting back on defense. When Gray is the only one hustling back, that’s ugly.

7:32: In case you were wondering: Cook is 0-4, Young 0-2, and Gray is 3-4. The team is shooting 6-19 (‘Nova at 7-23). Gray has 8 of Pitt’s 17 rebounds. 18-17 Villanova, 6:30 to the half.

7:38: Villanova up 26-20 with 3:53. You know, Pitt missed some early shots that were good looks, and it seemed to hit their confidence. They just seemed stunned the shots weren’t falling, and ‘Nova would get out on them for the rebound. Frustrating to see 8 turnovers already.

7:50: I’m not sure ‘Nova should feel that great about the way they played. Yes they have the lead, but aside from Sumpter they aren’t looking too good. Nardi and Reynolds already look tired — at least they don’t have the legs under their shots.

Pitt, however, can only feel crappy about the way they played. Digger Phelps complaining that they aren’t getting it inside to Gray enough. Here’s the problem. Pitt is struggling to get it inside to Gray. The Wildcats are doing solid work bodying up on the perimeter to give no space for the 3 or to see around them to make the pass inside.

11 first half turnovers. Mike Cook is playing like he’s nervous in front of his friends and family. Definitely in his head.

28-23 Villanova.

8:13: Pitt being much more aggressive after another passive start to the half. Suddenly the fouls are being called on ‘Nova as Pitt drives. It’s that simple. Refs are consistent with it.

Have to credit Villanova with a defense first approach. They are asking and the guards are agreeing to spend their limited energy on the defensive end and let the frontcourt do the work on offense.

8:22: That sucking sound is the forward position for Pitt tonight. Young, Kendall and Cook 1-13, 6 turnovers, and 8 rebounds (6 for Kendall).

Despite that Pitt just took the lead on a Benjamin 3. 38-37 Pitt, 12:20.

8:37: Damn, have to corral those loose balls! Pitt leads 47-45, 6:44 left. Sumpter heading to the line.

Benjamin has been very good, but 3 fouls put him on the bench for a couple so he’s there for the final minutes — at least that’s what I’m believing.

8:43: memo. Never do lettuce related throwing event on a basketball court.

8:49: Pitt leads 54-49, 3:50 left. Still too close.

I have to concede to shock at seeing Young get back on the court in the second half. Especially now. I’d like to see Benjamin back out there, but that’s me.

9:03: Pitt wins 65-59!!!

Big, big win. Much like the Syracuse win, a bad first half, gave way to a great second half effort. Corrections were made. The intensity turned up and they forced the opposition to play the way Pitt wanted. Beautiful.

Antonio Graves had a great game on both sides for Pitt. He was excellent on the defensive end, even when he struggled in the first half. In the second half he was the sparkplug. 13 points, 6 assists, 4 steals (and on the negative 4 turnovers).

Pitt, only had 4 turnovers in the second half for 15 total. Villanova ended up having more (17).

Aaron Gray had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

UConn just lost at home to Providence. The ‘Nova-ND game should be good. I’m curious about the Syracuse-Louisville game tonight.

Of course, all attention on this game. I really expect this to be disturbingly closer than I’d like. St. John’s matches-up and plays well against Pitt. Plus they are hot at the moment.

I like the play-calling crew. John Sanders on play-by-play with Bob Valvano on color. Valvano is one of the better color-analysts.

4:20: Pitt leads 15-10 under 10 minutes in the half. Really like what I’m seeing from Pitt. A lot more activity from all players trying to get rebounds and just effort in general. Surprising move by Dixon to go small early — Kendall, Cook, Gray and Fields all took an early seat and Pitt did quite well with keeping St. John’s off-balance. Not settling for 3s. Taking it inside.

4:28: Valvano nailed it with Kendall. Giving up the ball to Young was questionable –got away with it — but Kendall had it to throw down if he wanted to. Just failed to be aggressive.

4:30: Pitt up 24-12, 7:49 to half. 50% shooting, Gray has 6 points and 5 boards. Pitt has early control of this as St. John’s has struggled to take care of the ball and shoot.

4:41: I hope this is a good sign for Sam Young, and not just because of inferior competition, but he looks so much better today. Playing with a greater awareness of the whole team not just his own game.

He just took a charge. He’s shot 3-4, and just played like he cares on defense.

4:50: Pitt failed to score for the final few minutes, but because of the lead built up and good defense; Pitt has a 33-23 lead. The 3-point shots aren’t falling today (1-7, Ramon and Fields 0-5) — and it’s the only thing keeping the Red Storm even close (4-10). Everywhere else St. John’s is 4-20.

Hard not to expect more of the same in the second half.

5:10: Pitt leads 40-23, 17:32 left. St. John’s has no energy compared to Pitt. If Pitt sank a couple of the 3s, this would be total blowout. Nice to see them going inside a lot. Also love seeing the whole team going for rebounds. Not just standing and waiting for Gray to corral them.

5:15: Young does know how to kill his own momentum by falling in love with taking 3s. He shouldn’t be taking 4 3-point shots in a game. Let alone by this point in the game (1-4).

5:21: Beauty 3 by Ramon off of Biggs’ screen. That was perfectly executed. It’s nice to see real flashes of knowing how to execute from players who have struggled. Honestly, I was more excited by Biggs’ coming up to set the screen then the 3 from Ramon.

46-29 Pitt.

5:38: Gray got the double-double and now all subs in. 68 points and only Gray and Young reached double digits. Cook has 8, Ramon, Fields and Graves all have 7. Pitt has them outrebounded 39-26. Under 3:30. 68-39 slaughter.

5:46: Pitt has 9 players with more than 10 minutes of playing time. Excellent. Nobody will get over 26 minutes for the game. Considering the next game on the road at ‘Nova; they need to be ready.

Rizk and Polen are in the game with 2:02 left. 68-41.

5:50: 72-46 Pitt wins. Rizk with a nice assist to excite the crowd and especially the bench.

Nice to get an easy home win. Especially when I didn’t think it would be that way.

You didn’t think I’d forget.

8:10: Pitt up 10-6, 14:44. Fields has knocked down 2-3 wide open 3s as the Bearcats are collapsing on Gray. Gray is going to have to come out early. Sikes is going to keep him very far out on defense. He won’t be getting a lot of rebounds.

8:18: Pitt is getting wide-open 3s as Cinci is in fear of letting Pitt in the paint. Fields has 9 points. Ramon dropped his 1st 3 and was fouled. 17-8 under 13 minutes.

8:37: It may be bad form to complain when the team is up by double digits. Still, the refs seem to be taking pity on the smaller Cinci team with no calls under the basket. Gray, Biggs and others have been shoved and hacked with impunity.

8:49: Halftime. Pitt up 38-26. Lovely camera work at the end. Focused tight on Fields, missed Cinci’s shot and Pitt getting it out to Graves. Fields was not missing in the first half. 5-6 all 3s for 15 points.

As I said earlier today, Gray keeps getting pulled away from the glass on defense. No one else is helping on the glass. It has allowed Cinci to get 7 offensive boards and make extra shots 10-27. With Pitt shooting so well, very few offensive rebound opportunities.

Pitt has 7 turnovers — all but one from the Centers and Forwards.

9:12: It’s getting frustrating to watch Gray play so passively. It’s one thing to pass out of the double-teams. It’s something else to keep seeing him hesitate when he gets the ball — giving Cinci time to get better position to defend.

9:21: I have to think part of Gray’s hesitation to slam at the moment is the fact that he hurt his wrist on a slam in practice. Just watched him choose to bank an open lay-in. It looked like he thought about the slam and then changed his mind just as he started going up.

9:36: Pitt 61-41, under 8 minutes. Now it’s a matter of just practicing some stuff. Giving other players some time. Not getting hurt and maybe pad a couple stats.

9:55: Pitt now 6-1 in the Big East and 3-0 on the road. 67-51 win.

Pitt just took their time and showed mercy to Cinci. Gray, Cook and Graves all missed their chances to get to double digits on scoring.

Sam Young showed why he needs more minutes and why he doesn’t deserve them at various points during the game. This time, the good outweighed the bad.

Just nit-picking, especially with such an easy win, but I think this would have been the kind of game — at least in the second half — to play a bit more 2-3 zone on defense and let Aaron Gray stay inside. Conserve his energy and let the team practice it a bit more. It might help against say a team like Marquette.

Sitting on the newly assembled couch some Bell’s Hopslam Ale (it’s a double IPA with 9.5% ABV) in hand, ready for this one. Should be a very good, very close game. I expect Gray to be forced outside a lot on defense, so it will be up to the forwards to help on rebounding.

Can’t believe a second straight week of Pitt’s game going opposite an NFC playoff game.

3:13: Pitt leading 10-9 13:33 to the half. Gray looks very aggressive on the offensive side and is 4-4. Only a couple double teams so far. As expected, Marquette is trying to bring Gray as far out on the perimeter on defense as possible.

Forward Hayward already on the bench with 2 fouls, meaning the ineffectual Fitzgerald in. Some early flops from Marquette against Cook one worked the other didn’t.

3:24: Now down 15-10 and Marquette is looking very sharp. They are pestering Pitt’s offense now that they seem to have some confidence going right at the hoop. Pitt seems a little stunned to be put back on their heels.

3:30: Pitt now down 24-17 with 7:39 left, but Ramon heading to the line. I’ve seen and read their struggles shooting the 3. So naturally they are burying some really deep ones right now. Sigh. Pitt’s shifting to the 2-3 zone to keep them from penetrating was correct. It’s just that with those deep 3s, it’s hard to stop.

3:40: Well the crowd is fired up by some very questionable calls going against Pitt. The tech on Dixon and an offensive foul on Gray for backing down Barro were both stunners to even the CBS play-calling crew. Usually on coaches techs, the play-callers are talking about how a coach needs to chill. Apparently these refs have a short fuse. I’m still confused about the offensive foul call against Gray. Frustrating, as Fields then (legitimately) picked up his 3d foul.

Mike Cook has been very sloppy with the ball. 3:55 29-23 Marquette.

3:48: Pitt down 32-27 with 55.2 seconds left. Graves and Ramon are doing a very good job. Starting to get some calls on the inside as Marquette keeps shoving in the back. No, I’m not frustrated.

3:51: Halftime. Marquette leads 32-27. I am not ready to be overly concerned yet. Marquette has done what I expected. Just that their 3s have been falling 5-11 (technically 5-12, but the last one was an attempt before the buzzer) and a 5-6 FT shooting for a team that shoots about as well as Pitt. Dominic James has been the story with 14 points on 5-9 shooting (4-6 on 3s).

Kendall has 4 assists along with 3 rebounds and 5 points. Gray hasn’t had many more opportunities as the Golden Eagles have been double and triple teaming him.

The second half, Pitt needs to bury a couple 3s (only 2-7) and do better with the ball. If you are wondering about Sam Young, well when he was out there briefly, all he did was keep the ball and turn it over because he never even pretended that he was passing. I’m guessing Dixon wasn’t going to let him do that. Aside from Fields (3 fouls) the starters are going to play a lot in this tight of a game.

4:14: Pitt down 40-35, 15:33 in the game. Gray heading to the line. This is just going to stay tight the whole way. Hayward and Matthews for Marquette have 3 fouls.

4:20: 44-37. Pitt not hitting free throws for this game. Oy. Benjamin’s ball handling against Marquette is not exactly inspiring for earning more minutes.

4:35: Pitt still down 50-45, 8:48. Just not able to finish closing the gap. Got to within 3, but then Marquette got another spurt. 4 fouls on Mathews.

4:38: Does CBS actually have instant replay? I’m just curious.

4:47: Pitt still down 54-51. Got it within 1, but again, couldn’t get the lead. Marquette is doing a great job at denying many good looks from outside.

4:53: WTF? Fitzgerald for Marquette draining 3s? This is a Bryan Butch nightmare repeat. A guy who has been a bitter disappointment finally comes up large when facing Pitt.

Fields has received a harsh lesson this week about where he really stands in the Big East with the top guards.

Graves has been good on defense, but only 1-7 shooting 3s. A credit to Marquette’s guards that they have the speed on defense to keep Pitt from getting good looks on the perimeter.

 5:31: Crap. Lost in OT. 77-74. Marquette suddenly shoots lights out from the FT line. Pitt shot like it usually does at the line. That’s it. Frustrated by the loss.

Gray was 2-8 from the line, to unfortunately be the big goat. When he doesn’t even come close to his season average of somewhere near 60% from the line, that kills. Especially with the misses in OT. I don’t know if it was the sore wrist or not, but that killed Pitt. Hate to say it about the guy when he had 16 points and 9 rebounds. The fact is, though, he only shot 50% and had 4 turnovers. It wasn’t a particularly strong game from him despite the hot start.

I think some of why Pitt didn’t get him the ball as much in the first half was that Fields was forced to sit with foul issues early. The point guard and guy who gets it inside to Gray — or at least starts things.
Pitt’s inside game suddenly looked weak when the guards from Marquette were keeping Pitt from getting good looks at 3s.

The drill remains the same.

7:11: Did anyone see what happened to Thabeet? I didn’t see it. The officials, though, are really letting the teams bang. The only foul, when Kendall made a dumb reach-in after he got bumped and stripped. UConn definitely looks uncomfortable with being stuck playing at Pitt’s style, but they don’t look able to break it out and run.

7:12: Okay, now they showed the camera angle where Cook accidentally clocked him going up for a shot.

7:20: Pitt’s second squad not looking nearly so good as the starters. Sam Young looks like he is back to struggling again. Getting killed on the boards. Pitt not boxing out or out-hustling UConn. The Huskies seem a bit fired up with Thabeet knocked out.

Vitale is right, the Huskies are really establishing the post position. 11-11, 10:48 to the half.

7:26: The TV timeout gave Pitt the chance to get most of the starters back in (including Kendall with 2 fouls) and Pitt went on a 6-0 run. Cook has yet to score, but Gray has 6. 8:40 to halftime, Pitt up 17-11.

7:29: Dear god, that Vitale address to the Pittsburgh Zoo. No profanities? Where’s the fun in that?

7:38: Thabeet back. Apparently they were afraid he broke his nose. Some interesting spurts from UConn, to keep it close than I’d like. They are really slapping at the ball to get a bunch of turnovers. Not too worried about the shots not falling, yet — frustrating, but they will fall. 19-16 Pitt, 4:20.

7:47: Ramon drops a 3 at the buzzer to retake the lead, after surrendering it for the first time. 24-22
Dixon bothered by poor offensive execution. Standing around too much, going inside, but the shots not falling. No kidding. Gray has 10 rebounds but is only 4-12 with 8 points.

Too much standing not enough, cutting gives the perimeter defense of UConn time to slap at the ball and get position to stop drives. Should be an interesting halftime speech.

8:10: Cook is just having a horrible game (weak offensive foul call). Shots not falling, struggling with the passes, turnovers. Just struggling.

8:22: Ugly, ugly game. Pitt is still not shooting well. UConn’s athleticism is really compensating for inexperience tonight. Pitt just remains out of sorts. Unable to finish shots. Pitt holds an overall rebounding edge, but UConn has a 10-8 advantage on offensive rebounds. Every shot sees more blue under the basket than white.

34-33 Pitt, 11:08

8:28: 41-34 Pitt, 8:51 left. Calhoun had to take a TO after Fields nailed a big 3 and was fouled (missed the 4-pt play), but UConn failed on shots the other way. Pitt got the basket after Kendall missed the jumper, Gray rebound and threw it right back to Kendall — still wide open — who dropped it.

8:37: Another Dick Vitale speech to the Zoo about drinking. Um, not exactly the speech from Hoop Dreams. I do like the fact that he doesn’t preach abstinence in drinking. That works about as well as preaching it with sex. I’ll climb off of my soapbox now.

8:46: 48-37 Pitt, 3:55 left. Ramon has been big tonight, 14 points and 4-4 on 3s. Gray has been great in the second half. 4-12 in the first, 4-4 in the second; 17 rebounds with no other Pitt player with more than 2. Cook hasn’t scored or done much on the boards. He is the leading assist man in the game with 6.

8:55: Second half runs against UConn stat that they showed kills UConn this year. They just fade, and can’t stay together. Have to concede that to be a function of youth. They will be so good in another year. Hell, under Calhoun, I expect them to be a dangerous team by the Big East Tourney.

Vitale called the game for Pitt at 2:24 and Pitt up 53-40. He also congratulated Dan Shulman on his son’s upcoming Bar Mitzvah. Okay.

8:56: Damn. Kendall got the ball first, but his angle got the rest of the arm to foul out with Biggs.

8:57: They mentioned the verbal from Nasir Robinson. Cool.

9:00: Missing the point that, yes, Cook has only 4 points. If he looked a little further he’d see that whole 6 assist part.

It’s now 57-48 with 52.8. Dumb foul by Graves.

9:09: Damn, forced to agree with Vitale — again. Pitt has not played smart in the final couple minutes. Some dumb fouls to drag this out.

In the words of Dan Shulman, “Pittsburgh will hang on to win” by 9 points. 64-53. PittHoops called the differential. Definitely not Pitt’s best game. The good news, was that it was still good enough against UConn. The Huskies were the ones that couldn’t make free throws — 10-23.

Aaron Gray finished with 22 points and 19 boards. The team, after shooting 10-30 in the first half, went 10-15 in the second.

Pitt won despite not losing the battle of offensive glass 18-10. The overall rebounding appears to be tied at 36. UConn caused 18 Pitt turnovers. I’m not thrilled with the way Pitt played, but the fact that Pitt had a bad game and still notched the win makes me feel pretty good. Homecourt in college basketball. Never underestimate it.

I’ll be making comments throughout, but I won’t be doing a full liveblog. Everyone knows the drill by now.

12:12: Pitt is looking to have the Bulls aggressiveness against the Pitt size inside work against them by drawing fouls. It looks like it will be a bit ugly and unncecessarily tight, but it should make things wide open later. Still waiting for a little more aggressiveness from Gray to the basket.

12:21: The bad, Pitt is looking a bit sloppy especially on offense. The good, they are a bit more aggressive going for rebounds.

12:29: If there is a game for Pitt not to have the shots fall — and there have been several that have just bounced around and out — this would be it. 5-21 shooting. Pitt is killing on the offensive boards (9-2 advantage), but not getting the ball back in the bucket.

12:32: Kendall gets his 3d foul with 7:15 in the half. Guess we’ll get to find out how Pitt plays with more time for Young and Biggs.

12:42: Pitt took a quick TO after Gransberry just blew past them for an easy lay-in. Biggs totally lost him. Biggs is out of the game after the TO.

1:00: Halftime. Pitt leads 32-22. A mix of things for the poor Pitt shooting — 12-35. Pitt seems to be pulling up a lot more for jumpers and taking outside shots (not 3s, but just jump shots). Cook’s jumper isn’t going, and Young seems to be pulling up again rather than taking it straight to the hoop. 3 point shooting is steady, and not over done, 5-10.

1:06: Gray picks up his 3d foul right away going over the back trying to rebound his own miss. Correction, Kendall only has 2 fouls, the third was given to Graves who also has 2. Biggs, despite poor play in the first half, looks like he gets some extra minutes. I’d like to see them move Kendall to C and bring in Young.

1:19: The Bulls are already worn down, under 14 left. USF is standing around a lot on offense trying to conserve energy. Pitt now leads 41-26.

1:29: In a scrum for the ball under Pitt’s basket USF’s Saaka is rolling and writhing in pain, forcing John Sanders to comment, “Saaka might be hurt.” Really? Way to hedge. 48-29, 10 minutes left.

1:35: USF had to expend so much energy in the first half against Pitt — keeping things close, but they have no bench to help and they are already wiped out. Pitt with under 8 minutes left has played 9 players at least 12 minutes. Fields leads with 25 minutes.

1:45: Pitt may not have been able to hit their jumpers or finish close to the rim, but man, Pitt has been hitting the 3s. 63-41, 3:14 left. Kendall and Biggs have even hit 3s. 10-16 on 3s. 13-40 everywhere else.

 1:53: 69-48 Final. Pitt had 10 players score, as Hudson added a basket at the end. Depth. Have to love having it. Inside game was lousy, but this was the time to have that kind of bad game.

Open comments. I’ll be watching the game and posting some stuff. Not a full liveblog. Tonight’s adult beverage to get me through is the the Dalmore Single Malt Scotch, Cigar Malt.

7:20: Whenever there is a shot by Pitt, there is no one else besides Gray under the basket. Making any attempt at a rebound a 1-on-3 battle. Gray had better be well conditioned. The plan for every team is to draw Gray as far from under the basket on defense as possible.

Not a pretty start for either team, but I don’t like what I’m seeing from Pitt’s rebounding effort. Pitt is 1-4 on FTs.

7:35: Majerus after Benjamin’s 3 in the corner. “Pitt finally with some ball movement.” Yep. Too much standing around on offense.

The good news for Pitt is that the game is still very close. Pitt can adjust and hopefully get some coffee or something for the second half.

7:47: Pitt trailing at the half, but only by 1. 34-33.

Coach Dixon heading into the lockerroom. As you expect just positive. Folks, the day he rips his team or anything like that at halftime is the day we know pressure is getting to him.

Pitt needs to find Gray. Period. They aren’t even trying to get him the ball. Part of that is Pitt seemed to have a bit more trouble than expected with the zone.

I was really scared when Cook came down badly and seemed to be grabbing his groin, but he seems okay by the end of the half.

I’m really bothered by the poor rebounding. None of the guys at power forward are providing much.

8:04: Syracuse has to burn an early TO as Pitt goes on a 7-0 run in the first 1:12. Much better energy coming out of the break.

8:10: Terrance Roberts is flat on his back. His face ran right into Kendall. Looked accidental, but he staggered down.

8:25: Levance Fields has gotten so aggressive on offense the last couple weeks. And he is 8-13 tonight.

Roberts for Syracuse is getting stitches and checked for a concussion.

8:37: Syracuse is having Krauser flashbacks with the way Fields has played.

Harris for ‘Cuse is showing why Pitt wanted him badly.

Rick Majerus is sticking to his talking points about Ramon. Kind of comical.

Syracuse is making its push, Pitt has to slow it down.

8:58: Pitt wins by 8, 74-66.

Levance Fields for the post-game interview. Talked about the team, and how Gray opens things up for the others and he just happened to be knocking them down.

I nice road win against a place that used to be a house of horrors until the new century.
The post-game credits to Pitt’s mental toughness and not panicking under pressure. Bardo in the studio may be the first analyst to say that any player for Pitt can and will step up — rather than complaining about the lack of a go to guy.

I’m not going to do the liveblog tonight. There’s a ton of other b-ball and football I have to keep at least a little bit of attention to watch at the same time. I’ll be posting comments along the way in this post tonight.

8:10: Nice. Pitt off to a 7-0 start before A&M could get their first bucket. 13-5 Pitt, with 15:52 on the clock. Pitt has nailed 3-3 on 3s. The hardest thing in this game, may be keeping interest of the players.

8:28: Pitt now up 24-13. Six Pitt players have scored. Gray already has 7 rebounds in 9 minutes. Cook leads with 8 points. Ramon is only 1-4 shooting, missing a couple wide open 3s. 7 assists on 9 baskets.

8:44: Halftime. Pitt leads 37-26. Pitt is struggling to keep interest in this game. FAMU is not a good team. Cook has led in scoring with 13. Gray has 8 rebounds, but not a lot of touches as the zone FAMU runs keeps Pitt taking jumpers and outside shots. So Pitt has shot only 14-35 (40%) with 16 3-point shots (making 7). The eFG% was 50%. Best stat, though, 12 assists on the 14 baskets. That tells you how well Pitt is passing the ball.

9:15: Pitt up 47-26. The Rattlers are yet to score in the half, 15:18 left. It isn’t that Pitt is even trying at this point. FAMU is just no where near the same class. Jarvis is an idiot, complaining that Pitt isn’t moving the ball enough. 17 baskets, 15 assists. The “problem” is that Pitt hasn’t had to force anything because FAMU isn’t good.

9:18: Greene for FAMU was tossed, after clocking Sam Young somewhere around the head. The refs didn’t hesitate, there is some speculation that he had done something close to it earlier, and repeating it even harsher was enough to toss him.

The Rattlers seem like they are just pissed about being so outclassed. 50-30 with under 14 minutes left.

9:36: Pitt is just playing this out. The best you can say is that Gray has gotten a lot of rest in the second half. This is the time to give Gilbert Brown and a few others some real time. To go cliche, you just want to get this game ended without anyone getting hurt. The body language for FAMU is they just want to go — they’ve taken enough abuse in the non-con and are tired. I can’t say I blame them. Sanders and Jarvis talked about how Gillespe, the FAMU coach, raised over a million for the athletic department by scheduling guaranteed games like this over the last 7 years. That isn’t raising money. That’s just using the players they have as cannon fodder to build their funds. Send them out there to get the crap beaten out of them.

9:57: Jeff Rizik gets statistical relevance!! He gets his first basket a few seconds before the end of the game. The smiles on the bench makes it great.

It wasn’t an impressive win, despite cruising by 26, 77-51. The best thing you can say is no one got hurt. The team gets to celebrate the New Year and then everything gets real serious.