| 14 November 2011
In college basketball, style points don't matter. And that's a very, very good thing for the Panthers who stole one from a MAAC team at home last night, 86-78 in come from behind fashion. In reality, it was much, much closer than the score indicates, with Pitt finally taking the lead with less than five minutes remaining. The pundits who cling to the "Pitt wins with gritty defense" line may finally be forced to wake up this season, as the Panthers allowed 45 (!) points in the first half against a team without a whole lot of firepower and was playing with only nine players.
Gibbs and Woodall (or "Ash-Tray" as the Twitterverse is suggesting they be called) were once again the majority of Pitt's offense. Gibbs produced a fantastic 24 point evening, but was once again overshadowed by a tremendous game courtesy of Woodall - 17 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds. Add in Nasir Robinson's 22 (earned, unsurprisingly, by working the middle of the 2-3 zone) and the threesome was responsible for 73% of the Panthers' points; and probably a great deal more when you factor in Woodall's 10 assists.
Dante Taylor put out a terrific burst down the stretch, but otherwise it was an unproductive night for the big man. Taylor sparked a 7-0 run with under five minutes to go that put the Panthers back ahead of the Bulldogs Broncs. His enthusiasm was infectious - he almost single-handedly got the crowd back in the game - but Pitt is going to need more than eight points and four rebounds from their starting center to be a contender this year. Yes, Pitt was taking what the 2-3 zone gives you, but Dante needs to do a better job getting rebounds and creating his own offense.
As for the bench, JJ Moore was ineffective in relief of Lamar Patterson, who was in foul trouble nearly the entire game. Morre's defense was particularly suspect, and he didn't play a single minute in the second half, despite Patterson picking up his third foul 90 seconds into the half. Wright played those minutes instead.
Khem Birch continued to be the back-up power forward with Zanna subbing in for Dante Taylor at five. Despite not playing the first two games with a finger injury, Dixon said after the game that he expects Malcolm Gilbert to get into the action in the frontcourt, so look for him to challenge Zanna for minutes when he's healed up.
John Johnson played sparingly, but contributed with a three and an assist in his six minutes of PT. Durand Johnson and Isaiah Epps did not play.
There's plenty of basketball left to play and this is only one game, but needless to say, most will be watching Pitt's defense against Long Beach State Wednesday night very, very closely.
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