7 out of 8 Ain’t Bad… My Favorite Meatloaf Song
March 15th, 2008 | by The Prowler |
This Pitt team, the same team that seemed to be falling apart as it neared the end of February, has once again proven why Pitt fans get excited in March and why Jamie Dixon is one of the best coaches around. Somehow, no matter what the situation has been during the season, Dixon manages to get his players ready for the Big East Tournament. For the seventh time in eight seasons Pitt is playing in the BET championship game. Just like all those other years, Pitt dominated this tournament with defense. Unlike years past, though, the defense was unexpected. Most Pitt fans would have been satisfied if Pitt lost to Louisville, expecting a win in each post-season tournament. All of a sudden, the talk has changed. Now we are staring down a shot at a BE Title and maybe a potential 5 or 6 seed, which would open up a legitimate Sweet 16 shot for the Panthers.
What shouldn’t be a surprise at this point is that Pitt’s player of the game was, again, Sam Young. This guy is just a true competitor. He has shown up every game in this tournament and on a night when Pitt hit some cold streaks, he actually had his best shooting night of the tourney (22 points on 9-14 shooting). He also added 3 steals and 4 rebounds, but his scoring was what made the difference tonight.
Tyrell Biggs had an unexpectedly good night as well. Biggs has struggled the last10 games or so but his 8 rebounds in 31 minutes tonight proved crucial. His biggest contribution was his big body and the defense it provided. The minutes were nice considering DeJuan Blair struggled with foul trouble all night.
Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon added solid play as well, both scoring in double figures and grabbing 5 boards apiece.
The story of this game was defense. Pitt held Marquette to a pathetic 31% shooting- a number that would make the best Pitt defensive teams proud. Pitt shot a solid 49%, though that is surprising given the long periods where they didn’t seem to score any points. Most remarkable was the fact that Pitt held Marquette to a mere 2 points in the last 9.5 minutes of the first half, forcing them to shoot 0-16 from the field during that time- all with Blair on the bench.
On the down side, Pitt was out rebounded by 11 and allowed Marquette to get 17 offensive rebounds. Luckily Marquette couldn’t seem to convert even after getting their own shots back. Combine the rebounding difference with the 16-28 free throw shooting by Pitt, and you will see why this score looks closer than this game ever was. Pitt never trailed, and aside from the last 2 minutes or so, they were never seriously in jeopardy of losing.
Now Pitt gets a rematch of last year’s BET championship game, playing G’Town. Pitt won’t be able to give up 17 offensive rebounds and beat the Hoyas. On the plus side, Blair will be fresh since he only played 10 minutes against Marquette. This will come in handy as Blair is going up against Roy Hibbert, a significantly better center than any he has faced thus far in the tourney. If Pitt can play that suffocating D against G’Town, and if they can eliminate the scoring droughts, then they might yet bring home a (very unexpected) conference title. Even if they lose, this team has shown us and the selection committee what they are made of. I imagine there isn’t a team in the country that wants a potential match-up with Pitt in the NCAA tourney.