| 23 November 2011
(Very abbreviated recap due to the holidays / Brawl.)
The AP article paints a good picture of the biggest play in the game:
Trailing by three in the final seconds Tuesday night against Pittsburgh (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today, No. 17 AP), La Salle's Sam Mills had the ball -- and a dilemma -- in his hands.
Take the 3-pointer or drive to the basket?
Mills saw Pitt point guard Travon Woodall in the way and opted to head to the hoop.
Bad idea.
Woodall stretched out every last inch of his 5-foot-11 frame to block Mills' late layup attempt, helping the Panthers escape with a 73-69 victory.
"Normally I would just go up and contest the shot to make it difficult for him," Woodall said. "At that point in time we needed a stop and I just went after it."
And at the end of the day, Pitt's 73-69 victory of the Explorers was about Travon Woodall more than anyone else. Woodall's improved shooting has him as the early favorite for the Big East's most improved player award, but it's also his 10 assists that point to an exciting season from the redshirt junior. Then there's the surprising things that make him so fun to watch through four games - his rebounding, his ability to get position for charges, his willingness to get on the floor after the ball, and yes, even his blocks. Woodall has had a lot of detracters during his four years in the program - some very much justified, some not so much - but it seems like the New Jersey native has finally pulled it all together.
Travon Woodall is the clear headline of this game, but the play of Khem Birch has to be a close second. The highly anticipated freshman played extremely well in limited minutes, accumulating six rebounds, four points and three blocks in only 14 minutes. Perhaps more importantly to Dixon, Birch was active on defense after being tentative and unsure through the first three games. This time, Birch looked confident in where he was going and where he was supposed to be at the other end of the court. With another disappointing performance by Talib Zanna (what happened to this guy?), it wouldn't surprise me to see Birch's minutes increase at center with Zanna headed back to the power forward position behind Nasir.
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