SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 33,597
- Like
- 64,680
- We’d been blade running in building up this feel- good winning streak. It was fun pulling victory from the jaws of defeat and having everything go our way at the end of the games but the euphoria disguised the fact that that could easily have bene a five game losing streak, (actually seven as we’d lost the two previous games. We again dug a hole for ourselves, again made a stirring comeback but this time we came up short because we couldn’t make the plays necessary to win the game. You can’t have a strategy based on miracles. We’ve got to play well for 40 minutes to make sure we get the wins we need.
- There’s not much slack in the rope: that was our 10th loss with two games against Louisville, a game against Duke and trip to Georgia Tech coming up. This was the year to finally beat Pitt and the best we could get was a split. We needed this game badly and didn’t get it.
- It was a strange game. We seemed to be struggling on offense while playing aggressive defense for the first time on the road, (except for the Connecticut game), as JB confirmed in his post-game comments. Yet the final score was 75-80, which makes defense seem to be the problem.
- It was in one respect: we continue to let the other team’s best shooter have open shots. This time it was Cam Johnson, who went 6 for 8 from the arc. His teammates were only 2 for 10 and both teams shot .500 inside it. Scoring wise, (what else is there?) Johnson’s threes were the difference.
- Well, here’s something else: We got killed on the boards, 25-41. Pitt may be a different team defensively but they can still hit the boards. They had as many ‘team’ rebounds as our best man had individual rebounds. I’m so sick of getting hammered there by this team. This was the big stat in the first half, when they built up most of their lead. At half time, they’d rebounded 11 of their 19 misses: 58%. We’d rebounded 1 of our 16 misses. One. of. Sixteen. (6%). That’s one more than a dead man, as I recall. Three guys were tied for the team lead with 2 rebounds: Gillon, Battle and White. What does that tell you?
- Three plays stand out in my mind: 9:54 left, down 43-51 after two straight baskets by Roberson and a steal by White, the ball goes to Robey and he fumbles it between his legs, a bizarre version of Sherman Douglas’s famous “hike” assists. Only this time Pitt gets the breakaway dunk to give them a 10 point lead. 5:37: Down 51-58 Tyler Roberson gets bounced around like a pinball and misses a lay-up, producing another run out at the other end to make it 51-60. No call. 40 seconds left, down 70-74, Gillon passes to an open Lydon in the lane, who does his best “Dr. Strangeglove” impression and the ball goes out of bounds. Ugh, ugh and ugh. We lose by 5.
- I was hoping for a fast start for a change and we got it, taking a 7-1 lead. It was still 15-10 when Pitt went on a 3-14 run to take control of the game. In fact from the 112:32 point of the first half to the 14:51 point of the second half, (17 minutes and 41 seconds), we go out-scored 15-31.
- That pretty much paralleled Andrew White’s game. He hit his first three shots for 7 points in the first 5 minutes and 14 seconds. He seemed right on target, like he would have a huge game. This next point came with 7 minutes and 20 second left in the game, 27 minutes and 54 second later, during which time we were out-scored 37-52. White missed 6 straight shots during that time. White took only those 6 shots in almost 28 minutes of play. The Pitt defense has to be credited with that but I recall a couple of open looks that Andrew missed and a 2 foot lay-up as well. . White hit 4 shots down the stretch, including a couple of threes and got to the foul line for three more points to wind up with 20. He was a big part of the comeback but he was AWOL as we fell behind.
- Pitt was credited with 25 assists for 26 baskets. Really?
- I like the press as a concept but I don’t like the way we do it. We should trap with 2 guys to force the pass, have the third guy look for the steal, the fourth guy cover the long outlet and the center should have his feet nailed to the floor under the basket and let the fast break come to him, the way Jeremy McNeal used to. Instead three guys surround the guy with the ball. The fourth guy has to cover 80 feet and the center comes up to try to harass somebody, leaving the basket open. No wonder JB doesn’t like to press. .
- There were rumors the team had been hit hard by the flu this week. Tyus Battle was obviously suffering from it and played only 16 minutes, scoring three points and having some uncharacteristic defensive lapses. But you had to wonder if other teammates were also affected. Taurean Thompson also played only 16 minutes and seemed sluggish, (he also suffered from the referee flu, as usual). Tyler Lydon couldn’t get shots off. He was 0 for 1 in the first half and didn’t score. He didn’t even seem to be trying to get open for a shot. He gutted it out in the second half to wind up with 8 points and 6 rebounds but you have to wonder if illness and/or fatigue played a role in his mishandling that pass at the end. It was the 7th straight game in which he’s played 40+ minutes, (and he played all 45 vs. NC State). We’d got Louisville in two days. Nobody gets over the flu that fast.
- There’s not much slack in the rope: that was our 10th loss with two games against Louisville, a game against Duke and trip to Georgia Tech coming up. This was the year to finally beat Pitt and the best we could get was a split. We needed this game badly and didn’t get it.
- It was a strange game. We seemed to be struggling on offense while playing aggressive defense for the first time on the road, (except for the Connecticut game), as JB confirmed in his post-game comments. Yet the final score was 75-80, which makes defense seem to be the problem.
- It was in one respect: we continue to let the other team’s best shooter have open shots. This time it was Cam Johnson, who went 6 for 8 from the arc. His teammates were only 2 for 10 and both teams shot .500 inside it. Scoring wise, (what else is there?) Johnson’s threes were the difference.
- Well, here’s something else: We got killed on the boards, 25-41. Pitt may be a different team defensively but they can still hit the boards. They had as many ‘team’ rebounds as our best man had individual rebounds. I’m so sick of getting hammered there by this team. This was the big stat in the first half, when they built up most of their lead. At half time, they’d rebounded 11 of their 19 misses: 58%. We’d rebounded 1 of our 16 misses. One. of. Sixteen. (6%). That’s one more than a dead man, as I recall. Three guys were tied for the team lead with 2 rebounds: Gillon, Battle and White. What does that tell you?
- Three plays stand out in my mind: 9:54 left, down 43-51 after two straight baskets by Roberson and a steal by White, the ball goes to Robey and he fumbles it between his legs, a bizarre version of Sherman Douglas’s famous “hike” assists. Only this time Pitt gets the breakaway dunk to give them a 10 point lead. 5:37: Down 51-58 Tyler Roberson gets bounced around like a pinball and misses a lay-up, producing another run out at the other end to make it 51-60. No call. 40 seconds left, down 70-74, Gillon passes to an open Lydon in the lane, who does his best “Dr. Strangeglove” impression and the ball goes out of bounds. Ugh, ugh and ugh. We lose by 5.
- I was hoping for a fast start for a change and we got it, taking a 7-1 lead. It was still 15-10 when Pitt went on a 3-14 run to take control of the game. In fact from the 112:32 point of the first half to the 14:51 point of the second half, (17 minutes and 41 seconds), we go out-scored 15-31.
- That pretty much paralleled Andrew White’s game. He hit his first three shots for 7 points in the first 5 minutes and 14 seconds. He seemed right on target, like he would have a huge game. This next point came with 7 minutes and 20 second left in the game, 27 minutes and 54 second later, during which time we were out-scored 37-52. White missed 6 straight shots during that time. White took only those 6 shots in almost 28 minutes of play. The Pitt defense has to be credited with that but I recall a couple of open looks that Andrew missed and a 2 foot lay-up as well. . White hit 4 shots down the stretch, including a couple of threes and got to the foul line for three more points to wind up with 20. He was a big part of the comeback but he was AWOL as we fell behind.
- Pitt was credited with 25 assists for 26 baskets. Really?
- I like the press as a concept but I don’t like the way we do it. We should trap with 2 guys to force the pass, have the third guy look for the steal, the fourth guy cover the long outlet and the center should have his feet nailed to the floor under the basket and let the fast break come to him, the way Jeremy McNeal used to. Instead three guys surround the guy with the ball. The fourth guy has to cover 80 feet and the center comes up to try to harass somebody, leaving the basket open. No wonder JB doesn’t like to press. .
- There were rumors the team had been hit hard by the flu this week. Tyus Battle was obviously suffering from it and played only 16 minutes, scoring three points and having some uncharacteristic defensive lapses. But you had to wonder if other teammates were also affected. Taurean Thompson also played only 16 minutes and seemed sluggish, (he also suffered from the referee flu, as usual). Tyler Lydon couldn’t get shots off. He was 0 for 1 in the first half and didn’t score. He didn’t even seem to be trying to get open for a shot. He gutted it out in the second half to wind up with 8 points and 6 rebounds but you have to wonder if illness and/or fatigue played a role in his mishandling that pass at the end. It was the 7th straight game in which he’s played 40+ minutes, (and he played all 45 vs. NC State). We’d got Louisville in two days. Nobody gets over the flu that fast.
Last edited:
