Pitt led this basketball game for 31 straight minutes. A Josh Newkirk 3 made it 11-8 with 12 minutes left in the first half. With 2 minutes left Pitt led 54-48 at home against the number one team in the country. On the last possession, Patterson threw up a desperation heave to beat the shot clock and Zanna Lorenzo Charles'd it with a putback dunk. It really seemed like this was going to be Pitt's breakthrough win. The Pete was rocking. Ennis and Fair had been contained. Pitt had a +10 rebounding edge.
It would be wise to never assume anything with this Pitt team.
C.J. Fair 3 pointer 54-51 Pitt (1:40 remaining)
Robinson 3 point miss (1:10 remaining)
C.J. Fair jumper 54-53 Pitt (0:52 remaining)
Patterson missed layup (0:15 remaining)
Patterson missed tip (0:15 remaining)
Ennis gets fouled and promptly sinks two free throws to give Syracuse it's first lead in over an hour.
At this point, I'm thinking, "Maybe it's Pitt's time for a huge buzzer beater."
It would be wise to never assume anything with this Pitt team.
Pitt brings the ball down, Zanna somehow gets fouled. He's a 60% free throw shooter going to the line for 2 shots with 4 seconds left. "He probably misses both," I thought.
It would be wise to never assume anything with this Pit tteam.
He makes both. 56-55 Pitt. Syracuse with no timeouts has to get the ball in. The Zoo is out of control, it's hectic. Syracuse doesn't have a play, they'll probably have to throw up a 50 footer, and Pitt's going to win.
DIXON CALLS TIMEOUT TO SET HIS DEFENSE.
What the f*ck?!?
Okay, so let's look back at something.
There's no timeout here. Dixon has nobody guarding the inbounder. Fields is out in no man's land staring at him near the free throw line. What is his job exactly? Is it to deny the catch by Reynolds? Jermaine Dixon is doing a great job of that by just holding him. Reynolds runs past Dixon, the inbounder has a clear shot to get it up to another player who runs a beautiful hook and ladder with Reynolds to allow him to get past another defender (Sam Young). Reynolds is now past the guards in the open floor against two bigs (Brown and Blair). Brown does all he can to not foul, but you know how that ends.
Flashforward to the Syracuse game. Dixon calls timeout this time. He's gonna put a man on the inbounder this time and make the first pass difficult.
Dixon again doesn't guard the inbounder. Josh Newkirk, who is guarding Ennis, backs off him. He wants to keep Ennis in front of him. Cam Wright, who had been guarding Fair near midcourt, allows him to go by. That's okay, Michael Young picks him up, but now Wright is in no man's land. He tries to help on Ennis, who is now dribbling up the court with speed, but he can't foul, so he just stands there and lets him continue to go by. Newkirk is doing a great job staying with Ennis, but a jump stop gives Ennis enough separation to get a shot off. Wright tries to come flying in with a hand, but it's too late. The 35 footer goes in and Syracuse wins.
I will give Pitt a little bit of credit. They did improve their defense slightly. Ennis had to take a shot from 35 foot. Reynolds was able to get into the lane. There was an extra second of time for Villanova, but that shouldn't make up that much of a difference. However, I still do not get the idea of not guarding the inbounder. That extra man gives you the opportunity to double, but the threat of fouling a guard coming with speed is too great. Double teaming becomes useless in this case. I would have put Michael Young on the inbounder, or possibly put Zanna in the game with his long arms. That would have left Young to cover Fair. If Young guards the inbounder, I would've put Patterson on Fair. Fair can still shoot over Patterson (he proved it 30 seconds earlier), but it's close enough. After the inbounds, Zanna's job is effectively done. The play will be behind him in about 1 second, but really that's all you need from him. Rakeem Christmas or Jerami Grant (two bigs) are not taking a last second shot. You only have to worry about Ennis, Fair or Cooney. It starts with trying to deny Ennis as much as possible. He's the only player with enough speed to go the length of the floor in 5.5 seconds. Once Ennis makes the catch and picks up speed, the rest of Pitt's defense is useless because anything close to contact is going to be a foul. He finds a spot and buries the shot.
Ironically, Dixon should know to defend this play because he ran the exact same play with Gibbs.
Gibbs makes the catch, comes with speed, jump stops and buries the shot from almost the exact same spot as Ennis (other side of court obviously). Notice how Providence also didn't guard the inbounder.
The only grade I'm giving is an F to Dixon for his late-game coaching. In the Virginia post, I talked about some previous Pitt games that went down to the final shot. Pitt won some and lost some. That post is a little misleading, however, because I was able to name all the last second shots Pitt has made in the last ten years. Gibbs, Ramon, Fields and Zavackas (if you count the 3 to tie). That's it. On the other hand, I neglected to mention at least ten other times an opposing player has hit a last second shot to beat Pitt. Pitt's defense is superb for 39 minutes. In the last minute, though, they always find a way to throw up on themselves. I'm sick of it. I should really stop caring, but I can't.
Hail to Pitt,
J.O.
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