** I recall a thread from about three months ago talking about how the Hoop Team’s depth would be a real asset.
** That’s the nature of preseason threads, I suppose. It feels like every player can be a major contributor until the season starts and the best players emerge as your best players.
** Before today, I’m not sure one would have called Pitt’s bench a strength. Sure, we’ve been weathering the Dunn Thumb storm, and we’ve had important contributions here and there from each. But even in
@JimHammett 's pregame article, he gave the nod to the Cal Bears’ bench over the Panthers. And that was even before we learned Ish Leggett wouldn’t be playing.
** Toss in four fouls in the second half for both GDG and Cam, and there’s some real reasons to worry.
** Yet somehow, Beebah, Jorge, Amsal and Papa came up with 74 important and productive minutes They weren’t always spectacular minutes. But they were the minutes the team needed from them.
** Maybe that’s even selling Beebah a little too short. He shook off a little bit of a slow start to score 13 points in the games final 23 minutes. Maybe more than his points was his willingness to play physical and get on the court for loose balls.
** It seemed to me that physicality and toughness were lacking from all of the Panthers in the game's first 16 minutes. And if you don’t want to commit to that, one can at least say with certainty that we were getting our collective butts kicked on the glass.
** When a missed Bear shot banged off a Panther hand out of bounds at the 2:31 mark of the first half, it was their 9th offensive rebound of the game. That’s too many for a whole game, not to mention a half.
** But somehow the Panthers cleaned up their rebounding act from that point on, and the Bears ended the game with only two more offensive caroms.
** At the center of our revived rebounding efforts was our center, who brought much more needed physicality in the paint and on the glass. In fact, he collected more rebounds today than he has in any game since his freshman year.
** Perhaps more impressive was Cam’s play on the offensive end. It was worth a worry that he might try to force a little too much in Ish’s absence. Instead, his offensive decision making and efficiency were nothing short of splendid.
** Plain and simply, this was Cam’s best game as a Panther. Congrats Mr. Corhen!
** Let’s also not forget that it was Cam’s first half and-one started the Panthers on their road back from the 16 point deficit.
** I’m not one who usually complains about referees, but I will certainly be happy enough to never see Paul Szelc at the Pete again.
** Paul looked like an amateur out there today spending more time fighting with Jeff Capel, and even Tim O’Toole, instead of properly calling the game. In fact, it looked to me like he was arguing more with Capel (instead of the other way around) while the whole crew was busy at the monitor looking too long at Austin's T, until Szelc finally called Capel for a ridiculous technical as well. And just to show this isn’t just homerism, Paul spent too much time jawing with Cal Coach Mark Madsen too.
** Little harm though. Somehow, the Panthers ended up with the ball after that whole Ref Show, and Tony Henderson seemed to offer the Panthers a make up T as an apology for Paul. So we picked up a point there I suppose.
** When the first half dust settled, the Panthers were only down four and somehow it was pretty clear the Panthers had taken control. And it only took the Panthers 5 second half minutes to turn that four point deficit into a three possession lead.
** Most of that three possession lead was generated by Jaland of course. Despite this being an effort where the bench filled in capably, and Cam stepped up wonderfully, this was no doubt Jaland’s operation.
** Jaland wasn’t perfect, being a little looser on his drives than one might like. But he’s relentless and whenever this team faces adversity, that’s when he plays his hardest. And we simply needed to tolerate some wild drives within Jalan's work to let him accumulate 27 points and 8 assists.
** And while seeing our depth step forward was a welcome sight today, seeing Ish, or even Damian, on the floor on Saturday against the Cardinal will be even more welcome.
** For now, Congratulations to all of our 11-2 Panthers.
