Villanova vs. Pittsburgh Brief Postgame Notes

Posted by Brian on February 21, 2010
Big East Play, General
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UPDATED:

Postgame Quotes

ORIGINAL:

Game just ended: 2:26 pm eastern time.  Pittsburgh Panthers defeat Villanova Wildcats 70-65.  Some notes on the game are below.

-Before getting to the game action, let me first say that I love games on CBS, even though I may be in the minority that like Verne Lundquist. 

-The game started out very sloppy for both teams, with bricks being thrown up left and right along with fouls and turnovers galore.

-The Panthers began to seize the momentum of the back and forth affair about midway through the opening stanza.  They certainly weren’t lighting it up from the field, but they got numerous second chance opportunities via their offensive rebounding. 

-Jay Wright earned yet another technical foul, which has got to be about his 4th of the year.  Some of the calls were questionable, but I have definitely seen worse this season.  After the technical foul shots, the Panthers were up 10 or 11, but the Cats made a mini run towards the end of the half to keep themselves in the game. 

-The two biggest problems of the first half for Villanova stemmed from their poor foul shooting, and as I mentioned before, getting thoroughly dominated on the glass.

-Halftime score: Pittsburgh 29 Villanova 23

-Did you really expect anything else in the second half, other than a typical, hard-fought Big East slugfest?

-Each team bended but never broke in the final 20 minutes.  The Cats cut it to 2 on multiple occasions, but a response was delivered each time by Gilbert Brown or Ashton Gibbs.  Sometimes, it seemed like the Panthers might pull away, but a response was delivered each time by Corey Stokes or Scottie Reynolds.

-In the end, though, Pitt just made more plays down the stretch to stave off the Wildcats.  On a crucial 1-1 free throw opportunity with 2 mins left and Villanova down only 3, Gilbert Brown missed the front end, but the overpowering Gary Mcghee, as he did so many times throughout the game, muscled his way to an offensive rebound.  Then, with the Cats down 4 and a minute left, Villanova put the full court press on.  The Pitt inbounder tried to throw a bomb to a streaking teammate (ala Reggie Redding in last year’s Elite 8), but the pass was way too long.  The hustling Pitt player dove into the stands, somehow saved the ball by knocking it in play, and it went off Antonio Pena’s hand out of bounds.  One more…Ashton Gibbs, who shoots 90% from the free throw line, missed 2 free throws in a row with 45 secs left, but on the push-out, Scottie Reynolds threw it right to a Pitt player.  These plays were not the sole reason for the loss obviously, but they serve as an example of the mistakes made by the Cats today. 

-Two last comments from me…1) As unathletic as Gary Mcghee is, he absolutely mandhandled the Villanova frontcourt today, and in my opinion, he won the game for the Panthers.  2) Jamie Dixon deserves coach of the year honors. 

Pittsburgh had 20+ offensive rebounds.  Enough said.  Let the ranting begin. 

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9 Comments to Villanova vs. Pittsburgh Brief Postgame Notes

Mark
February 21, 2010

I’m disappointed in our effort. I felt like after the loss to UCONN the energy would be back. We came out flat and sloppy. Pitt played with much more effort and toughness than we did. Fortunately for us, our talent level is that much better that we were able to stay in this game. We had chances late, but it just wasn’t there: Scottie throwing the ball right to Gibbs after he missed those free throws, on that long bomb, etc… Hopefully we’ll right the ship heading down the stretch.

BrendanC
February 21, 2010

Pena is sooooo bad how does no one see this?

Brian
February 21, 2010

Big Tone is extremely inconsistent. Regardless, he has to play due to the limited options down low.

Dave
February 21, 2010

at some point, Jay Wright is gonna have to start recruiting true big men if Nova ever wants to have a real shot at a national title. I love this team as much as the next guy, but the four guard scheme, coupled with a glorified small forward just doesn’t get the job done. They need another option for days like today when Scottie, King, and other scorers aren’t producing.

Josh '12
February 21, 2010

I just have to say that I am thoroughly scared for our team in the long run. We can’t have games like this if we are going to one of the elite teams. Last year at this time we took some losses but always bounced back. We have lost 3 of our last 5 now, and I can’t see this getting better with Syracuse and West Virginia still on the ticket. I love this team and I think we can still make this season great but someone other then Scottie has to seriously step up on a game to game basis. Also, what is our identity as a team? I thought we were one of the best drive and dish teams in the nation but teams are recognizing this and stopping it and we have no offensive answer. Sorry for ranting…

Esteban D' Amur
February 22, 2010

Pitt and UConn are the types of teams that beat us. Big front court players that go grab offensive rebounds and that shut down the driving lanes on the other end.

Nova’s man to man defense is not helping with the offensive rebounding. Too often, a guy gets beat and the weak side defender goes to help, thereby leaving a guy to grab the miss.

Jay needs to add some wrinkles to the offense. Teams are aggresively jumping out on the pick and roll and forcing the ball handler back. The pick man is diving either too far or too quickly. I would like to see the pick man, from time to time, fake the pick and dive to the free throw line area. It would suck up the weak side defender and open up the floor for either a lay up or a swing pass to an open shooter.

Frankly, I didn’t expect Nova to win this game. Pitt doesn’t lose at home to good teams. This is why that UConn game was big.

Nova Fan '06
February 22, 2010

The game was just thoroughly unenjoyable to watch as a Villanova fan. I felt like we were scrambling the entire time just to stay in it, much less win.

J92
February 22, 2010

That was a typical Pitt game – they always play great defense. The were able to limit our dribble drive penetration and I hadn’t realized how reliant we were on scoring off that penetration. I agree with Esteban – love the pick and roll but why not add a few plays to set up some outside shots? Actually we did have some good open looks – Stokes just can’t knock them down consistently. He is not money ala Eric Eberz.

They outhustled us on the boards. They really aren’t that much bigger than us – they just outmuscled us. I’m surprised Mouph didn’t get more minutes – I thought Connecticut might be a break out game for him.

OK – last complaint, why was Scottie forcing the issue for the quick lay up toward the end of the game? When you get to about 20 seconds left you have to start looking for 3’s to reduce it to a 2 posession game…

All right – that’s it for my rant, on to the next game.

John Paul
February 23, 2010

I took the long trek (from north of NYC) out to Pittsburgh for the game and came away disappointed – but not shocked. Pittsburgh is 130-11 since they opened the Petereson Events Center about 9 years ago! That’s about 1 loss per year at home.

I agree with Esteban’s points about Pitt and UConn and that is why I fear Kansas as well. We need to avoid being a #2 seed in their region. Let’s hope we get Duke again in our region.

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