PITT Postgame

[Dcuse]

That the players stopped playing intense defense has little to do with Red. It's on the PLAYERS.

How dare you not blame Autry for everything bad in the world. Do you realize the forum you’re on? Excellent game plan jumping all over them early by coach. God forbid you are given credit for anything.

 

[Dcuse]

Nice win, if we could ever put together two first halves into one game we could play with anybody.

I thought Red did a nice job switching up the D's in the second half. Almost every time he did that they had to do a reset that slowed their momentum.

Wasnt thrilled with the substitution pattern, particularly not getting Betsey some more run. He was on fire when in there.

It was the Donnie and Kyle show out there today. Donnie was clutch whenever we needed a key hoop in addition to having an overall well rounded game and Kyle was intimidating with monster plays. JJ also put together a solid game. Today, he earned his minutes.

As positive as many things were out there today, the elephant in the room is that George continues to have way too many TOs for a PG. Six will not cut it against better teams. Also, though the trey shooting was good overall, Kingz lagged in that department. He hasnt shot well for a couple of games now. If those two guys could step up a bit, it would make a big difference when the competition toughens. I get that not everybody is going to play well every game, but these two guys are key to consistency IMHO.

However, any W in the Pete is a great thing !!!

Agree with the Betsey comment. Other than that,there was nothing to criticize coaching for in my eyes.

 

[Cstate]

I unfortunately missed the first half, which seemed to be explosive so would have loved to see it. So while watching the second half I had no idea of everyone’s minutes played, but did notice Kiyans arms crossed body language on the bench, while others were very engaged. Just looked at espn box score and saw he only paid 10 minutes (our 3 subs didn’t play much). Hopefully that changes and he becomes the teammate that earlier in the year grabbed the mic in the postgame locker room celebration and cheered all his teammates up!!

 

[tbonezone]

2-1 in the ACC puts us currently at #6 with wins over # 15 and #17.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

How dare you not blame Autry for everything bad in the world. Do you realize the forum you’re on? Excellent game plan jumping all over them early by coach. God forbid you are given credit for anything.

 

[kirbivore]

2-1 in the ACC puts us currently at #6 with wins over # 15 and #17.

Maybe they can finish noine or higher and avoid playing on Tuesday in the ACCT

 

[phil77]

It’s a two way street. He has to make himself available and demand the ball. Too often he stands out on the wing and puts his hand up as if he wants the ball kinda sorta . Watch how KD (similar size, build and denied the ball much harder) forces himself into positions to get the ball. It’s an effort thing. Not something you need crazy talent for .

I think this is some of both. It is a product of the offense we try and run. It is too random and lets the player in this case Donnie do what he feels most comfortable doing instead of what needs to be done to help the team


I will go find it at some point but at one point in the 2nd half, we ran some motions and cuts and passed the ball around, and it ended up with a cross screen getting Donnie the ball on the block. So that play was clearly called from the coach. So if we have that play and we showed we can run it well, then we should be calling that play every time down court, especially late in the second half or if the team needs a basket, but we must have a counteraction to it when they try and take the cross screen away. Either way, Donnie is actually involved in the offense, and the defense is having to focus on him.

 

[Otto21]

Only posting bc I said something in other thread without mentioning- Tremendous game Donnie! Several back breakers, great job!!! I’m frustrated with a lot and you all make so many tremendous points, I cannot add and agree. But I do love this team and I hate Pittsburgh and we don’t win at the Pete often, so I’m happy!!!!!! Let’s go baby!!! Ride the momentum!!!

 

[kirbivore]

Only posting bc I said something in other thread without mentioning- Tremendous game Donnie! Several back breakers, great job!!! I’m frustrated with a lot and you all make so many tremendous points, I cannot add and agree. But I do love this team and I hate Pittsburgh and we don’t win at the Pete often, so I’m happy! Let’s go baby!!! Ride the momentum!!!

Problem is with all the good this team has a ceiling due to Red dragging them down.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Ken Pom up to 64

Does Tennessee losing today affect that number?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Solid win, even moreso than Georgia Tech.
-Donnie changes everything. Obviously the scoring and shooting is huge. But when the ball goes through him the offense flows. Bad possessions can be saved late in the shot clock. He moves the ball with thought and poise. Nitpick is he needs to be meaner and more convicted when securing the ball after rebounds. But what a program changer. I wish we made a little bit more effort to get it to him in the low post instead of giving the defense more time to throw multiple guys at him.
-Terrific first half for JJ. Took good shots and had some great assists. Defense was sound. Not as good in second half but still played well overall.
-George on the other hand was excellent in the first half and poor in the second. What was that running 1 on 3 shot. Some inexcusable turnovers.
-as I said on the game chat it is not recency bias or hyperbole to say Kyle’s dunk was one of the best we’ve ever had for our program. He should’ve played more in the second half particularly after he sat so much in the first half with foul trouble.
-nice to see Betsey get set up for threes.
-Kingz d was surprisingly lacking.
-Kiyan didn’t force and had a nice assist though he struggled on d.
-Great to win on road by 11 as a dog. Need to take care of business and keep stacking wins. Good win.

Very solid analysis. Thanks for taking the time to write that.

 

[Blanko97]

Too many HOF caliber coaches on this board that forget there are two teams out there. It did get a bit dicey for a few minutes there. The refs swallowed the whistle and Pitt kept clutching and grabbing (what did they have to lose). We stopped scoring for a few minutes. In that same time, Cummings made 3-4 incredible plays. That’s sport. That’s not bad coaching.

A lot of it is coaching

 

[IthacaMatt]

Nice win, if we could ever put together two first halves into one game we could play with anybody.

I thought Red did a nice job switching up the D's in the second half. Almost every time he did that they had to do a reset that slowed their momentum.

Wasnt thrilled with the substitution pattern, particularly not getting Betsey some more run. He was on fire when in there.

It was the Donnie and Kyle show out there today. Donnie was clutch whenever we needed a key hoop in addition to having an overall well rounded game and Kyle was intimidating with monster plays. JJ also put together a solid game. Today, he earned his minutes.

As positive as many things were out there today, the elephant in the room is that George continues to have way too many TOs for a PG. Six will not cut it against better teams. Also, though the trey shooting was good overall, Kingz lagged in that department. He hasnt shot well for a couple of games now. If those two guys could step up a bit, it would make a big difference when the competition toughens. I get that not everybody is going to play well every game, but these two guys are key to consistency IMHO.

However, any W in the Pete is a great thing !!!

Yeah, you wish George was a little more solid with the ball. That's back to back games where he had trouble just holding on to it and getting the offense started. We don't need to see any more of that, thank you.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This is who we can be. That's 2 games in a row. I think they're starting to feel it building.

 

[RedtheGOB]

Am I crazy or is the free throw thing fixed somehow? Seriously Kingz and George were the only ones that missed them tonight. 83%. Kiyan 2/2, Suare 2/2, JJ 2/2, and Kyle goes 1/1.

Feels like a switch flipped somewhere. Wonder if anyone heard if they actually did anything different lately but it's showing.

 

[Orangello]

Substitutions = Reds kryptonite

 

[Dcuse]

Problem is with all the good this team has a ceiling due to Red dragging them down.

Great post. Terrific analysis. You sound like a real hoops guru.

 

[RedtheGOB]

I missed pieces but watched the score updates. Gotta be honest I'm not sure how people can crap on this result so much.

From the Pitt TO at the 5:40 min mark where they were battling back Pitt made one more real basket, a 21 foot pullup 2 pointer from Cummings, lowest % shot in basketball. Then with 20 seconds left of garbage time we let them score another lay up. How can people be so upset when we give up 2 points in the last 5 mins of a game on the road, even against a bad Pitt team.

My biggest gripe was the end of the 1st half we had a 16 point lead with a min left and Kingz missed a wide open 3. Then we gave them 2 buckets and went into the half with just 11.

Not the worst problems to have.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

This is who we can be. That's 2 games in a row. I think they're starting to feel it building.

There may be another reason we are winning.


You’re welcome

 

[McCuse]

Am I crazy or is the free throw thing fixed somehow? Seriously Kingz and George were the only ones that missed them tonight. 83%. Kiyan 2/2, Suare 2/2, JJ 2/2, and Kyle goes 1/1.

Feels like a switch flipped somewhere. Wonder if anyone heard if they actually did anything different lately but it's showing.

Shhhhhhh!

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Good win. The offense looks better—much more movement, though still seemingly without architecture. Defense seems to have taken steps back since Vegas and we look like the world’s worst switching team.

Donnie—well, my impressions of him are unfair. He’s really good on offense, but somehow when he misses, it’s more disappointing/upsetting to me than it should be. I just expect him to make them all. Not fair, because I must be underrating him on that ridiculous basis. He does look like a draft pick, though. On defense, not so much. Barely challenges a lot of shots, flatfooted.

Funny, how there was discussion about how good we were with vs without him. I admit I didn’t recognize just how significant he would be to have back, but he really has stepped up offensively from his previous level.

JJ was fantastic. So glad to see him have a strong game. He has the capacity to be quite good, but as good as he was today, he was equally awful in the previous game. We need him.

Kyle was great. He needs to be able to stay on the floor. Dunk of the year.

 

[Fan Always]

Can’t help but wonder why Kiyan played only 10 minutes?

 

[McCuse]

This is who we can be. That's 2 games in a row. I think they're starting to feel it building.

Donnie is starting to look like the 5 star, McDonald's All American we were hoping for! Very encouraging.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Can’t help but wonder why Kiyan played only 10 minutes?

Because IthacaMatt got in Red’s ear

 

[powdersmack]

Maybe they can finish noine or higher and avoid playing on Tuesday in the ACCT