This game wasn't as close as the final score. Pitt thoroughly dominated in perhaps their most complete game since the season opener against Albany.
Robert Morris from the NEC is no slouch, they've dominated that conference for the past four years (and earned a few NCAA bids under former Pitt assistant Mike Rice Jr). Unfortunately for them Rice is beginning his 2nd year as Rutgers' coach. Their new coach's name is Andrew Toole, who's 31 and the youngest coach in D1.
Pitt is 30-0 against RMU and 67-0 all-time against that conference, so they weren't losing tonight.
Last year, they gave Pitt all kinds of trouble with pressure defense, they pressed all day. Tonight, they barely did. I'm not sure if the pressure D was because of Rice (makes sense) and that the new coach doesn't like to do it as much, or they just graduated a few good players (also possible), but their D was meh this game.
Side note, Pitt won @ the Palestra against Penn 78-58 on Friday.
Onto the grades (we're gonna do this quickly because the Steelers are about to kick off).
Gibbs - He found a way to get 21 points, but he really didn't have a good night. Didn't shoot well, forced some threes. Grade B+
Woodall - He had some garbage points at the end, but he really didn't have to do much all game because of the performances of some other guys (See Wright, Cameron). But he's been a double double machine this year. Grade B+
Birch - He earned his second straight start because Taylor's been sidelined with migraines. Against Penn he went for 15 and 10, and tonight he blocked everything. 6 in total on the evening or one off the panther record, which happens to be held by?...GARY MCGHEE. GAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRYYYYYYY!!! Yeah, that record is gonna fall this year. He also chipped in 8 points and hit a nice 17 foot jumper. Grade A+
Robinson - Meh game from Robinson, he only took one shot, missed 3 free throws in a row on 2 straight possessions in the first half and that's really all I remember from him. Grade C
Moore - Moore hit a couple of threes but generally didn't do much this game. Still waiting for him to break out. Grade B
Patterson, Taylor - Both didn't play the past two games, Patterson was suspended for two games for violating team rules, and obviously I mentioned Taylor with the migraines.
J. Johnson - played 12 minutes, didn't turn the ball over and hit the two open 3's he was given. You can't ask for more than that from him at this point. Grade A
Zanna- NIGEEEEEEERIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA! WHAT A BEAST! He had 10 points, but only one of those points came when he was given the ball. The other 4 buckets were pure hustle offensive rebound putbacks (one on a missed free throw which is always difficult) 15 boards on the night for him (7 offensive!) My co-mvp of this game. Grade A+
Wright - My other MVP, Wright was everywhere tonight. He had two straight steals in the first half for easy buckets. The second one he dunked and got called for a technical for hanging on the rim, which was total bullshit because the rules say that if you're hanging on the rim to avoid injury (i.e. there's someone directly underneath you) then there's no technical. Wright dunked, then hung on to avoid ending the life of the poor RMU player underneath him. Refs didn't see it that way. What a joke. But basically, Wright hustled his butt off, he drew a charge, made a 3, and was all over the place. Grade A+
City Game against Duquesne @ Consol on Wednesday Night.
Do it. Hail to Pitt.
JO
p.s. Mewelde Moore is a joke.
I'm curious: how do you keep track of players' stats during the game? Do you look them up after or just keep track yourself?
ReplyDeleteNice writeup! I'm enjoying them; I hope you keep em coming.
I have some idea of what player's stats are just by watching, like for example I figured Birch had between 5-7 blocks tonight by counting them, but I wasn't sure if he would get credited for a few because I think 2 were after another player had fouled his guy and the player just threw up a meaningless shot that had no chance of going in.
ReplyDeleteI always check the box score just to make sure.
I've considered bringing notes during the game, but it's hard when you're standing up to write anything.