Big-time game for the role guys.
McGowens and Johnson had slow starts on Wednesday. In the end, both made big plays and fueled Pitt's second half turnaround, but when things weren't going so great for those two, it was 9 first-half points from Toney. Or another double-double from Champagnie, he scored six straight points to close the first half. Ryan Murphy of course hit the big shot, but he was 4-5 from the field as well. Those three guys did exactly what Pitt needed them to do tonight. Johnson and McGowens are still going to drive this team, but it's nice for Pitt to have Toney really come on lately, and Murph's best skill to shine in a close game, and Champagnie to continue to have a surprising freshman season. This team has a few more options than last season.
There is no such thing as a bad win
Pitt was favored by 12. They came out sluggish, turned it on big time, then almost let a 10-point lead slip away. Was that an ideal strategy? Of course not. But looking around college basketball...uh wins have been hard to come by this season. Michigan climbed to the top 5 this season and has lost 4 of 5. There have been 7 different No. 1 teams. In the ACC alone, you have Clemson beating Duke recently, and Georgia Tech almost knocking off Louisville tonight. College basketball is bananas this year. Winning ugly is still winning.
12 more
I still don't know what to make of this team. What I do know is they won 13 regular season games last season and 3 conference games. Pitt has won 13 overall and 4 league games already. So if nothing else, they are taking some step forward this season and they are grinding out some wins. If you are a fan of this team, it has to be somewhat encouraging it is January 23rd and there are meaningful games ahead.
Still some lingering issues
Pitt is still turning it over too much. There are still crazy scoring droughts throughout every game. The post play is hit or miss. They are just a wildly inconsistent team. To an extent, they are what they are and there are just some limitations to this team. So there's still a lot of room to improve, but against better teams that can bite them more than it did tonight. Pitt was fortunate to pull it out, but Saturday should be a much more difficult game.
McGowens and Johnson had slow starts on Wednesday. In the end, both made big plays and fueled Pitt's second half turnaround, but when things weren't going so great for those two, it was 9 first-half points from Toney. Or another double-double from Champagnie, he scored six straight points to close the first half. Ryan Murphy of course hit the big shot, but he was 4-5 from the field as well. Those three guys did exactly what Pitt needed them to do tonight. Johnson and McGowens are still going to drive this team, but it's nice for Pitt to have Toney really come on lately, and Murph's best skill to shine in a close game, and Champagnie to continue to have a surprising freshman season. This team has a few more options than last season.
There is no such thing as a bad win
Pitt was favored by 12. They came out sluggish, turned it on big time, then almost let a 10-point lead slip away. Was that an ideal strategy? Of course not. But looking around college basketball...uh wins have been hard to come by this season. Michigan climbed to the top 5 this season and has lost 4 of 5. There have been 7 different No. 1 teams. In the ACC alone, you have Clemson beating Duke recently, and Georgia Tech almost knocking off Louisville tonight. College basketball is bananas this year. Winning ugly is still winning.
12 more
I still don't know what to make of this team. What I do know is they won 13 regular season games last season and 3 conference games. Pitt has won 13 overall and 4 league games already. So if nothing else, they are taking some step forward this season and they are grinding out some wins. If you are a fan of this team, it has to be somewhat encouraging it is January 23rd and there are meaningful games ahead.
Still some lingering issues
Pitt is still turning it over too much. There are still crazy scoring droughts throughout every game. The post play is hit or miss. They are just a wildly inconsistent team. To an extent, they are what they are and there are just some limitations to this team. So there's still a lot of room to improve, but against better teams that can bite them more than it did tonight. Pitt was fortunate to pull it out, but Saturday should be a much more difficult game.
