...and as I posted earlier today, this one was big --- not the win part (expected) as much as how we did it. By and large it was mission accomplished.
Starting with the (lotsa) good:
- Despite Pitt's attempts to slow down / ugly-up the game we scored the rock through attacking D and offensive efficiency. 59.3% FGs always works, and even more encouraging was breaking 50% from 3. And while we didn't get to the line nearly as much as we should have
, we regained our FT efficiency --- 13/15 works. I wanted to hang 90 pts. on em --- we called off the pace late so 85 works.
- Speaking of defense we flat played some today, especially with our starting backcourt in the game. Forced 19 TOs, and many led to transition. That defense was led by our resident nasty dog, Joel Berry with 3 Steals (3 more TOs caused), 2 Blocks and 6 Boards (some in heavy traffic)
- Speaking of transition, as y'all know I keep these by the Carolina system as opposed to what they put on the TV screen --- we had 14 Fast Break and 26 Secondary Break points. 40 Pts in the transition game is good stuff.
- Speaking of efficiency, 26 Assists on 32 made FGs.is pretty damned sporty, and I was trying to keep close track on this, we only had 10 total Blown Assists that didn't result in FTs and that's pretty good for the course of a game. We also absolutely destroyed their forays in to Zone defense (2-3 and 3-2).
Now the bad:
- Rebounding. The obvious 29-41 Rebound deficit is hard to swallow. Even more glaring to the eye is us only getting 1 Offensive Board to their 19. Now, I'm gonna mitigate those numbers somewhat in two ways: First, thanks to our aforementioned offensive efficiency there just weren't that many opportunities on our offensive glass. And second, let's be honest, Pitt was committing utter mayhem on their side. There were two-hand shoves and back-climbing galore, none of which they were called for. Still, I would have liked to have seen some stronger blocking out against a "physical" opponent.
Ironically, their getting away with mayhem emboldened them to the point they were committing stupid, blatant offensive fouls right in front of the zebras and finally started getting popped for them.
Misc. stuff:
- Nice floor game from Theo despite not scoring - 6 Assists led the team.
- Good to see Luke stroke that 3 (that Stretch-4 ability is something we'll be seeing more of in future seasons --- but damn, I wanted KW to make that one he took.
The best for last:
- I posted earlier that I was looking for swagger today, and we got it. Our Big guys finished through contact (often uncalled) inside and didn't back down from the "physical" stuff, and our perimeter guys took it to em. When JB's first 3 went down, the lid was off --- Justin is finally stroking the 3 without that past hesitation --- and Marcus is acting like he thinks he's gonna make every one. JB took it the rack like a man and JJ wasn't short-arming his floaters. Good signs...
Starting with the (lotsa) good:
- Despite Pitt's attempts to slow down / ugly-up the game we scored the rock through attacking D and offensive efficiency. 59.3% FGs always works, and even more encouraging was breaking 50% from 3. And while we didn't get to the line nearly as much as we should have
, we regained our FT efficiency --- 13/15 works. I wanted to hang 90 pts. on em --- we called off the pace late so 85 works.- Speaking of defense we flat played some today, especially with our starting backcourt in the game. Forced 19 TOs, and many led to transition. That defense was led by our resident nasty dog, Joel Berry with 3 Steals (3 more TOs caused), 2 Blocks and 6 Boards (some in heavy traffic)
- Speaking of transition, as y'all know I keep these by the Carolina system as opposed to what they put on the TV screen --- we had 14 Fast Break and 26 Secondary Break points. 40 Pts in the transition game is good stuff.
- Speaking of efficiency, 26 Assists on 32 made FGs.is pretty damned sporty, and I was trying to keep close track on this, we only had 10 total Blown Assists that didn't result in FTs and that's pretty good for the course of a game. We also absolutely destroyed their forays in to Zone defense (2-3 and 3-2).
Now the bad:
- Rebounding. The obvious 29-41 Rebound deficit is hard to swallow. Even more glaring to the eye is us only getting 1 Offensive Board to their 19. Now, I'm gonna mitigate those numbers somewhat in two ways: First, thanks to our aforementioned offensive efficiency there just weren't that many opportunities on our offensive glass. And second, let's be honest, Pitt was committing utter mayhem on their side. There were two-hand shoves and back-climbing galore, none of which they were called for. Still, I would have liked to have seen some stronger blocking out against a "physical" opponent.
Ironically, their getting away with mayhem emboldened them to the point they were committing stupid, blatant offensive fouls right in front of the zebras and finally started getting popped for them.
Misc. stuff:
- Nice floor game from Theo despite not scoring - 6 Assists led the team.
- Good to see Luke stroke that 3 (that Stretch-4 ability is something we'll be seeing more of in future seasons --- but damn, I wanted KW to make that one he took.
The best for last:
- I posted earlier that I was looking for swagger today, and we got it. Our Big guys finished through contact (often uncalled) inside and didn't back down from the "physical" stuff, and our perimeter guys took it to em. When JB's first 3 went down, the lid was off --- Justin is finally stroking the 3 without that past hesitation --- and Marcus is acting like he thinks he's gonna make every one. JB took it the rack like a man and JJ wasn't short-arming his floaters. Good signs...
