The Upside - Pittsburgh I

[SWC75]

- Suddenly we are 13-7, 6-3 in conference and have 4 conference road wins, two against tier 1 teams. And we only need 4 wins in 11 games to guarantee that ‘the streak’ continues.

- During the 25-5 run in the first half that is the reason why we won the game, we looked like an NBA team, (even if we don’t have NBA bodies). We moved the ball so well both on the break and in the half court that Pitt, a good defensive team, had no answer at all for us. We have three shooters with range, 3 guys who can drive to the basket and score and two improving inside guys. We get great spacing, don’t turn the ball over and share the ball. What more can you ask for on that end of the court?

- But arguably we won this game on the defensive end, getting stops all through the 25-5 run and also when we really needed them after that to hold onto the lead. We blocked 6 shots in this game, (a couple of the spectacular variety), and had 6 steals. We are crushing drives to the basket, forcing travel calls or SOS passes back out of the paint. We also dominated the defensive boards, getting 29 of the Panther’s 37 missed shots, (78%). That’s a big part of defense, too.

- Marek was the best player on the court, scoring 17 with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 black and a steal. The one block was amazing. He just rose up as high as he needed to get a hand a jump shot and crush it like a soda can. I don’t think it had left the shooter’s hand. But it was more than the numbers. We just played better when he was in there. The ball moved better. We got better shots. Our execution was better. Pitt’s run at the end of the first half happened with Marek on the bench due to foul trouble. His touchdown pass to Elijah with 29 seconds left was probably the play of the game.

- Buddy Boeheim had another one of his great runs in the first half, scoring 13 of his 18 points during the 25-5 run. On one play Hughes made what seemed too chancy a pass from about 30 feet. The defender was coming right at him but Buddy snatched the ball away before the guy could intercept it, turned around, letting the hapless defender fly out of bounds while he calmly nailed a 25 footer.

- Quincy Guerrier was a force inside, scoring 10 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in 27 minutes of play. I wish we’d had a guy like that back in the days when big, brawny Pitt players used to push our guy around. He did make one mistake that infuriated Jim: he got control of a loose ball on the floor and, instead of getting it to a teammate, allowed himself to be tied up with Pitt holding the possession arrow. Off came the jacket and the chewing out during the subsequent media time out was something to see. Jim barked at Quincy like a dog playing with a toy. Why do I put that on the upside? Because I expected to see Quincy relegated to the doghouse at the end of the bench in the wake of that. Instead, when the time out was over, he was back out there on the court. We needed him, even if the coach was mad at him.

13-7 with 11+ to be done

LET’S GO ORANGE!

 

[dasher]

- Suddenly we are 13-7, 6-3 in conference and have three conference road wins, two against tier 1 teams. And we only need 4 wins in 11 games to guarantee that ‘the streak’ continues.

- During the 25-5 run in the first half that is the reason why we won the game, we looked like an NBA team, (even if we don’t have NBA bodies). We moved the ball so well both on the break and in the half court that Pitt, a good defensive team, had no answer at all for us. We have three shooters with range, 3 guys who can drive to the basket and score and two improving inside guys. We get great spacing, don’t turn the ball over and share the ball. What more can you ask for on that end of the court?

- But arguably we won this game on the defensive end, getting stops all through the 25-5 run and also when we really needed them after that to hold onto the lead. We blocked 6 shots in this game, (a couple of the spectacular variety), and had 6 steals. We are crushing drives to the basket, forcing travel calls or SOS passes back out of the paint. We also dominated the defensive boards, getting 29 of the Panther’s 37 missed shots, (78%). That’s a big part of defense, too.

- Marek was the best player on the court, scoring 17 with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 black and a steal. The one block was amazing. He just rose up as high as he needed to get a hand a jump shot and crush it like a soda can. I don’t think it had left the shooter’s hand. But it was more than the numbers. We just played better when he was in there. The ball moved better. We got better shots. Our execution was better. Pitt’s run at the end of the first half happened with Marek on the bench due to foul trouble. His touchdown pass to Elijah with 29 seconds left was probably the play of the game.

- Buddy Boeheim had another one of his great runs in the first half, scoring 13 of his 18 points during the 25-5 run. On one play Girard made what seemed too chancy a pass from about 30 feet. The defender was coming right at him but Buddy snatched the ball away before the guy could intercept it, turned around, letting the hapless defender fly out of bounds while he calmly nailed a 25 footer.

- Quincy Guerrier was a force inside, scoring 10 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in 27 minutes of play. I wish we’d had a guy like that back in the days when big, brawny Pitt players used to push our guy around. He did make one mistake that infuriated Jim: he got control of a loose ball on the floor and, instead of getting it to a teammate, allowed himself to be tied up with Pitt holding the possession arrow. Off came the jacket and the chewing out during the subsequent media time out was something to see. Jim barked at Quincy like a dog playing with a toy. Why do I put that on the upside? Because I expected to see Quincy relegated to the doghouse at the end of the bench in the wake of that. Instead, when the time out was over, he was back out there on the court. We needed him, even if the coach was mad at him.

13-7 with 11+ to be done

LET’S GO ORANGE!

we have 4 acc road wins

 

[SWC75]

we have 4 acc road wins

Thanks. I fixed it.

I've used the same opening line for three Upsides in a row and forgot to change that one after the ND game.

 

[grepal]

- Suddenly we are 13-7, 6-3 in conference and have 4 conference road wins, two against tier 1 teams. And we only need 4 wins in 11 games to guarantee that ‘the streak’ continues.

- During the 25-5 run in the first half that is the reason why we won the game, we looked like an NBA team, (even if we don’t have NBA bodies). We moved the ball so well both on the break and in the half court that Pitt, a good defensive team, had no answer at all for us. We have three shooters with range, 3 guys who can drive to the basket and score and two improving inside guys. We get great spacing, don’t turn the ball over and share the ball. What more can you ask for on that end of the court?

- But arguably we won this game on the defensive end, getting stops all through the 25-5 run and also when we really needed them after that to hold onto the lead. We blocked 6 shots in this game, (a couple of the spectacular variety), and had 6 steals. We are crushing drives to the basket, forcing travel calls or SOS passes back out of the paint. We also dominated the defensive boards, getting 29 of the Panther’s 37 missed shots, (78%). That’s a big part of defense, too.

- Marek was the best player on the court, scoring 17 with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 black and a steal. The one block was amazing. He just rose up as high as he needed to get a hand a jump shot and crush it like a soda can. I don’t think it had left the shooter’s hand. But it was more than the numbers. We just played better when he was in there. The ball moved better. We got better shots. Our execution was better. Pitt’s run at the end of the first half happened with Marek on the bench due to foul trouble. His touchdown pass to Elijah with 29 seconds left was probably the play of the game.

- Buddy Boeheim had another one of his great runs in the first half, scoring 13 of his 18 points during the 25-5 run. On one play Hughes made what seemed too chancy a pass from about 30 feet. The defender was coming right at him but Buddy snatched the ball away before the guy could intercept it, turned around, letting the hapless defender fly out of bounds while he calmly nailed a 25 footer.

- Quincy Guerrier was a force inside, scoring 10 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in 27 minutes of play. I wish we’d had a guy like that back in the days when big, brawny Pitt players used to push our guy around. He did make one mistake that infuriated Jim: he got control of a loose ball on the floor and, instead of getting it to a teammate, allowed himself to be tied up with Pitt holding the possession arrow. Off came the jacket and the chewing out during the subsequent media time out was something to see. Jim barked at Quincy like a dog playing with a toy. Why do I put that on the upside? Because I expected to see Quincy relegated to the doghouse at the end of the bench in the wake of that. Instead, when the time out was over, he was back out there on the court. We needed him, even if the coach was mad at him.

1

13-7 with 11+ to be done
For me, the big upside of the Pitt game is that Syracuse won the game despite an off scoring game from our best player and without shooting the three well at all. This was the type of game we would have been soundly beaten if we had played it 4-6 weeks ago. The rebounding, improved defense and some inside scoring make us a more well rounded team. 'Cuse still needs to take each game one at a time and take care of it's business every game.
LET’S GO ORANGE!

 

[Scott11]

I like that JB was willing to put Goodine in to spell one of the guards not in garbage time and without an injury or foul trouble. It is unrealistic to expect BB and JG3 to be at their best late in the game without a blow. The first thing that hurts a shooter are tired legs.

Plus Brycen is the most athletic defender we have at guard. He may be/likely is an upgrade defensively over the starting guards. He showed some confidence running the point and can help a bit on the boards. He had the big 3 at Notre Dame and if he can be a threat enough shooting to keep defenses honest he can be a real asset.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I like that JB was willing to put Goodine in to spell one of the guards not in garbage time and without an injury or foul trouble. It is unrealistic to expect BB and JG3 to be at their best late in the game without a blow. The first thing that hurts a shooter are tired legs.

Plus Brycen is the most athletic defender we have at guard. He may be/likely is an upgrade defensively over the starting guards. He showed some confidence running the point and can help a bit on the boards. He had the big 3 at Notre Dame and if he can be a threat enough shooting to keep defenses honest he can be a real asset.

Would have liked seeing him get 4 minutes or so in the second half as well

 

[Delmar]

With 4 starters returning next year, we could be very good. And if a center might want to be a senior transfer, well, the sky is the limit.