Georgia Tech Game & Other Dribbles ...

[DT_PITT]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, they responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. They combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots down the stretch when their team needed them.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still, all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 start at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualify as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies for getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

 

[Franb]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, they responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. The trio combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots down the stretch when their team needed them too.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite the our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still. all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 tart at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualifying as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies to getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

About time you said something nice about 1 of the twins!

 

[Vader_Storm]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, we responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. The trio combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots when their team needed them too.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite the our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still. all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 tart at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualifying as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies to getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

1) We are not settling for a ton of 3s like earlier in the season and we are attacking the basket much more.

2) Jaland Lowe has been surging on offense and his ORTG offensive power rating is surging. His ORTG power rating has rocketed higher the last 11 games and has really taken it to another level the last 5 games.

3) We won the rebound margin the last 2 games.

4) The bench has been shortened considerably. Jeffress barely plays and Jorge has not played which the 2 of them have been black holes on offense. Let's keep it this way with Ish coming off the bench and Guillermo coming off the bench as the 2 bench spark plugs.

5) Fede has actually tried the last 2 games and has given some effort. I wouldnt call it A effort by any means, but he's now giving considerably more effort than his Terrell Brown effort a lot of the season which was a bunch of pure laziness on the court. He has actually given us some rebounding and some defensive presence and has helped in the last 2 wins.

 

[DT_PITT]

1) We are not settling for a ton of 3s like earlier in the season and we are attacking the basket much more.

2) Jaland Lowe has been surging on offense and his ORTG offensive power rating is surging. His ORTG power rating has rocketed higher the last 11 games and has really taken it to another level the last 5 games.

3) We won the rebound margin the last 2 games.

4) The bench has been shortened considerably. Jeffress barely plays and Jorge has not played which have been black holes on offense. Let's keep it this way with Ish coming off the bench and Guillermo coming off the bench as the 2 bench spark plugs.

5) Fede has actually tried the last 2 games and has given some effort. I wouldnt call it A effort by any means, but he's now giving considerably more effort than his Terrell Brown effort a lot of the season which was a bunch of pure laziness on the court. He has actually given us some rebounding and some defensive presence.

I like Ish coming off the bench. Especially now that he's healthy.

 

[Vader_Storm]

1) We are not settling for a ton of 3s like earlier in the season and we are attacking the basket much more.

2) Jaland Lowe has been surging on offense and his ORTG offensive power rating is surging. His ORTG power rating has rocketed higher the last 11 games and has really taken it to another level the last 5 games.

3) We won the rebound margin the last 2 games.

4) The bench has been shortened considerably. Jeffress barely plays and Jorge has not played which the 2 of them have been black holes on offense. Let's keep it this way with Ish coming off the bench and Guillermo coming off the bench as the 2 bench spark plugs.

5) Fede has actually tried the last 2 games and has given some effort. I wouldnt call it A effort by any means, but he's now giving considerably more effort than his Terrell Brown effort a lot of the season which was a bunch of pure laziness on the court. He has actually given us some rebounding and some defensive presence and has helped in the last 2 wins.

I would add to this, Jaland Lowe is making 3s. This is a big one. He is shooting 42.3% from 3 his last 9 games in a row. That is a remarkable turnaround as he was shooting 18% from 3 his first 10 games of the year. He's always been a streaky shooter from 3, but he is making them right now and we have needed most of them.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

He has actually given us some rebounding and some defensive presence and has helped in the last 2 wins.

His defensive presence was so good in the second half tonight that they took him out after about five minutes and never put him back in the game again.

But hey, the guy he was guarding only scored eight points in those five minutes. Imagine how many he would have scored without Federiko's defensive presence.

 

[Vader_Storm]

His defensive presence was so good in the second half tonight that they took him out after about five minutes and never put him back in the game again.

But hey, the guy he was guarding only scored eight points in those five minutes. Imagine how many he would have scored without Federiko's defensive presence.

Guillermo was scoring at will. That's the first reason.


Baye Ndongo is really good and a legit contender for ACC freshmen of the year. He scored on both of our centers.


Fede still had 7 boards in 22 minutes. For him, that's almost an A+ effort.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Guillermo was scoring at will. That's the first reason.


Baye Ndongo is really good and a legit contender for ACC freshmen of the year. He scored on both of our centers.


Fede still had 7 boards in 22 minutes. For him, that's almost an A+ effort.

The first reason was because Federiko's play was bad in the first half, and got even worse in the second. Diaz Graham's good play, especially on offense, was a bonus.

He (Ndongo) scored 8 points in 5 minutes against Federiko while going 3-3 from the field, and then 5 points in the last 15 minutes while going 2-5 from the field against Diaz Graham. One of those is a little better than the other.

 

[Atlanta Panther]

Having gone to the game I think the turning point was when Tech was up by 6 and GDG HIT BACK TO BACK 3s to tie it up. You could almost hear the people in the stands give an audible Oh No. here we go again. Poor coaching at Tech. They should have worked the ball into Ngondo in the First half more than they did. He almost single handily brought tech back in the second half when they started going to him.

BTW the crowd was piss poor. Announced at about 3500 I reckon. There weren’t too many in the student section either. And some folks think Pitt crowds are bad.

 

[Protes]

I would add to this, Jaland Lowe is making 3s. This is a big one. He is shooting 42.3% from 3 his last 9 games in a row. That is a remarkable turnaround as he was shooting 18% from 3 his first 10 games of the year. He's always been a streaky shooter from 3, but he is making them right now and we have needed most of them.

Jaland is quickly becoming my favorite player on the team. He has just been terrific and his presence on the court while running the point really changes things for us.

 

[DT_PITT]

The first reason was because Federiko's play was bad in the first half, and got even worse in the second. Diaz Graham's good play, especially on offense, was a bonus.

He (Ndongo) scored 8 points in 5 minutes against Federiko while going 3-3 from the field, and then 5 points in the last 15 minutes while going 2-5 from the field against Diaz Graham. One of those is a little better than the other.

I was actually fairly pleased with how GDG stood up against Ndongo. I thought GDG would get bullied and he held pretty strong.

 

[PittPoker]

The first reason was because Federiko's play was bad in the first half, and got even worse in the second. Diaz Graham's good play, especially on offense, was a bonus.

He (Ndongo) scored 8 points in 5 minutes against Federiko while going 3-3 from the field, and then 5 points in the last 15 minutes while going 2-5 from the field against Diaz Graham. One of those is a little better than the other.

Fede played well in the first half I thought. The early minutes of the second half he sucked which led to the hook the remainder of the game.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Having gone to the game I think the turning point was when Tech was up by 6 and GDG HIT BACK TO BACK 3s to tie it up. You could almost hear the people in the stands give an audible Oh No. here we go again. Poor coaching at Tech. They should have worked the ball into Ngondo in the First half more than they did. He almost single handily brought tech back in the second half when they started going to him.

BTW the crowd was piss poor. Announced at about 3500 I reckon. There weren’t too many in the student section either. And some folks think Pitt crowds are bad.

Ndongo was great except for his 4 turnovers in this game. That's a big number. He may have scored more with more opportunity, but he also may have turned it over a lot more with more possessions.

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, they responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. They combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots down the stretch when their team needed them.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still, all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 start at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualify as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies for getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

-The first GDG 3 was the biggest play of the game. At that point, we had been outscored 17-5 and the game looked like it was slipping away. We had about a 5 minute stretch where we looked more like we did during our losing streak. Once he hit that 3 and then Jaland had the and one, followed by another GDG 3 and we gained back control of the game.

-Fede still looks lost. He just looks like a guy who has lost his confidence and is overthinking every move with no reactions. By the time he reacts, the play is already over.

-I think the defense was better than you gave it credit for. Not all the time, but we had a decent amount of really great defensive possessions that really helped us extend the lead.

-Bub may have had his best game. He took the ball to the basket easily better than he has all year long and while he settled for shots a few times, we got much better shots than most of the year.

-I guess what is most important is that we had 4 players in double digits and none of them was named Blake. In fact, Blake forced very little other than his 2 over-penetrations that both resulted in charges.

-Boy, I wish we had a guy like Ndongo. He would make our team much, much better.

-Miami will be tough, but they aren’t as good as last years team.

 

[Sam Young 23]

Great win for the panthers. I was worried a trap game after the high of beating Duke. They definitely responded to the adversity in the second half. Great post as always DT

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

Having gone to the game I think the turning point was when Tech was up by 6 and GDG HIT BACK TO BACK 3s to tie it up. You could almost hear the people in the stands give an audible Oh No. here we go again. Poor coaching at Tech. They should have worked the ball into Ngondo in the First half more than they did. He almost single handily brought tech back in the second half when they started going to him.

BTW the crowd was piss poor. Announced at about 3500 I reckon. There weren’t too many in the student section either. And some folks think Pitt crowds are bad.

I was going to say what crowd. Place was super empty.

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

Great win for the panthers. I was worried a trap game after the high of beating Duke. They definitely responded to the adversity in the second half. Great post as always DT

I wasn’t worried about a trap game. This team, with it’s young players, had lost tons of confidence. That Duke win made them believe again. When you are 2-5, nothing is a trap game.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

Fede has been more serviceable the last 2 games. Jeff has to be better at pulling him when he hits a wall and the twin when he gets gassed.
I like Ish off bench. Seems to get better matchups.
No issue with less minutes for Will.

 

[mo cheeks]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, they responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. They combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots down the stretch when their team needed them.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still, all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 start at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualify as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies for getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

we moved the ball much better, but need to improve on that front. they were fun to watch last night, in the second half. I still don't see us working hard to get Blake open looks. in that zone last night, we had opportunities to find him, but never really looked. with Lowe and Carrington, and GDG shooting well, teams will not be able to focus so much on Blake, which should give him opportunities. I really like our guard trio. If Gdg continues to improve, this can be a very good team. still need a bruiser who can score inside.

 

[mo cheeks]

I would add to this, Jaland Lowe is making 3s. This is a big one. He is shooting 42.3% from 3 his last 9 games in a row. That is a remarkable turnaround as he was shooting 18% from 3 his first 10 games of the year. He's always been a streaky shooter from 3, but he is making them right now and we have needed most of them.

Lowe has a smooth looking shot. That type of shot screams consistency, if he takes good shots.

 

[tetonpanther]

Having gone to the game I think the turning point was when Tech was up by 6 and GDG HIT BACK TO BACK 3s to tie it up. You could almost hear the people in the stands give an audible Oh No. here we go again. Poor coaching at Tech. They should have worked the ball into Ngondo in the First half more than they did. He almost single handily brought tech back in the second half when they started going to him.

BTW the crowd was piss poor. Announced at about 3500 I reckon. There weren’t too many in the student section either. And some folks think Pitt crowds are bad.

Atlantais just a piss poor sports town. Just awful

 

[PittPharm2002]

His defensive presence was so good in the second half tonight that they took him out after about five minutes and never put him back in the game again.

But hey, the guy he was guarding only scored eight points in those five minutes. Imagine how many he would have scored without Federiko's defensive presence.

GDG properly moved, fronted , and used his length to stop Ndongo from his constant rim runs which Fede was giving up

Plus he’s a true floor spacer who can actually catch a pass .

Fede has played better recently - but he was Terrible defensively against GT
I mean , egregiously and fundamentally bad

 

[PittPharm2002]

Lowe has a smooth looking shot. That type of shot screams consistency, if he takes good shots.

It’s the most striking thing about Lowe and Bub-
Is how smooth they are- the moment is never too big

 

[PittPharm2002]

I wasn’t worried about a trap game. This team, with it’s young players, had lost tons of confidence. That Duke win made them believe again. When you are 2-5, nothing is a trap game.

Well said

If this team ever “looks past” and opponent , coaches need fired

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Something that’s being overlooked with the freshman guards and Ish is that teams pressing Pitt are wasting their time . These guys handle the pressure with ease . Plus all three are good FT shooters .

I’ve been a big believer in the twins , watching them shoot the ball for seven footers is impressive and as they become stronger and more confident they’re game changers . The best is yet to come .

The anti Capel fraction had him packing his bags last week , but look at the future . Adding Cummings to Bub and Lowe will give Pitt quite the backcourt , Papa will really help inside and with the twins , Ish and Zac they have an excellent core . A portal shooting guard and a solid big this will be an a pretty good team next season . By the way JC is going nowhere .

With Lowe’s improvement if Bub and Hinson have good shooting nights these guys can beat anyone in the ACC .

 

[PittPharm2002]

The first reason was because Federiko's play was bad in the first half, and got even worse in the second. Diaz Graham's good play, especially on offense, was a bonus.

He (Ndongo) scored 8 points in 5 minutes against Federiko while going 3-3 from the field, and then 5 points in the last 15 minutes while going 2-5 from the field against Diaz Graham. One of those is a little better than the other.

And really the one was because there was a 2 on 1 against GDG- and he tried to deny the pass - so lost contact with Ndogo for an easy dunk .
Wasn’t necessarily a bad play by GDG- he was just caught in between

 

[Pittisit4me]

GDG deserves a ton of credit for that win. He made big buckets when we needed them most. Plus he moved his feet and battled with Ndongo to the best of his abilities. I was disappointed in Fede again. After getting good Fede at Duke, we got slow lazy and poor hands Fede at Tech. What is sad is this team appears to be coming around at the right time, except for Fede. If we can get good Fede more often, especially defensively, this team can win alot of games against its remaining schedule.

They are all growing more confident in making their shots. One can't help but think Blake's outing at Cameron has inspired the entire team. In fact, Bub looked like he is finding his shot, which is huge for the stretch run.

I really think Fede is the key to our finish. He can be difference maker on defense. We are going to need him. I think it is time as fans to start the Fede watch as his play is very important. How many times will we get good Fede the rest of the way? Good Fede is in there somewhere, it is up to Capel and his teammates to bring it out. It starts Saturday against Norchad Omier!

 

[Pitt2006]

As a team they did a good job of limiting second half turnovers (3) versus 8 in first half. Minutes wise, it went Bub, Lowe, Hinson, Ish, Austin, Fede, GDg. I felt Ish made some big shots as well. Not sure how much JC will run the BC, JL, and Ish at same time going forward but maybe that helped with better ball control. Austin with 4 assists. Little team stuff in back to back games. This seemed more reminiscent of last year. Confidence can go a long way, but it would really help if Austin could get his offense going. This isn’t Will who has never done it, but Austin could be that next piece in improving outcome of this season.

 

[GaryMcgheeForThree]

Having gone to the game I think the turning point was when Tech was up by 6 and GDG HIT BACK TO BACK 3s to tie it up. You could almost hear the people in the stands give an audible Oh No. here we go again. Poor coaching at Tech. They should have worked the ball into Ngondo in the First half more than they did. He almost single handily brought tech back in the second half when they started going to him.

BTW the crowd was piss poor. Announced at about 3500 I reckon. There weren’t too many in the student section either. And some folks think Pitt crowds are bad.

What’s the general vibe and feeling when it comes to Ga Tech athletics as conference realignment shakes out?

It seems like they need to ride the coattails of the ACC more than anyone else in the conference? Their games, both basketball and football, just always feel so lifeless to me but I could be wrong.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

The two FR guards were awesome. Man, I hate to think about it, but that is the reality of today, the NBA still is a possibility for Bubs, but both kids are going to have schools throwing money at them.

To pull this off when Hinson was a negative all night was good to see.

 

[PittMan 72]

we moved the ball much better, but need to improve on that front. they were fun to watch last night, in the second half. I still don't see us working hard to get Blake open looks. in that zone last night, we had opportunities to find him, but never really looked. with Lowe and Carrington, and GDG shooting well, teams will not be able to focus so much on Blake, which should give him opportunities. I really like our guard trio. If Gdg continues to improve, this can be a very good team. still need a bruiser who can score inside.

For those who are familiar with him and have seen him play other than some highlight video clips, can Papa Kante be that “bruise who can score inside“ for Pitt next season?

For the rest of this season, Pitt’s going to just have to try to work around that and do their best to make do with what they have.

 

[greekpanther]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, they responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. They combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots down the stretch when their team needed them.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still, all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 start at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualify as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies for getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

Baylor won a NCAA title spreading the court and letting their dynamic guards go one on one against Gonzaga.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

** For Pitt Hoops fans, this should feel like a truly satisfying ACC road win.

** It’s a win that really shows this team has circled the wagons and figured some things out. They have stared adversity in the face and at least at this point, it’s been adversity who has blinked.

** But mostly, I’m just really happy for our guys.

** Just like last year, they’ve always seemed like a very likeable group. But somehow, they seemed to lose their mojo as they went into 2024.

** From a purely basketball standpoint, they seemed to be struggling to shoot the basketball instead of enjoying actually playing basketball.

** And after getting punched in the face to start the second half tonight, they responded to that adversity by playing some wonderful basketball. In the final 18 minutes of the game, our Panthers turned it over just one time. That’s a team playing basketball.

** Still, Georgia Tech had one more punch to throw at us in the form of a reverse haymaker by Kowacie Reeves Jr.

** Maybe the Panthers of two weeks ago don’t recover from that blow. Instead, Guillermo Diaz Graham hit the biggest shot of the game with his three point response.

** The Panthers outscored Tech 35-21 following that last punch. This may have been our best stretch of basketball of the year.

** Of those 35 points, not one was scored by our leading scorer Blake Hinson. Instead, 10 of them were scored by GDG.

** It’s not hyperbole to suggest that these were GDG’s best minutes as a Panther. It’s also completely accurate to state that he changed the game. So he’s my player of the game.

** One of the biggest reasons is always been so fun to have the Spanish Twins on our team is how much they seem to enjoy playing basketball. And when the Twins, particularly Guillermo, play well, the entire team really seems to feed off of it.

** On this night however, Bub didn’t need to feed off GDG. Somehow I get the feeling he was somehow feeding off of Jaland’s stellar performance in Durham.

** Maybe Bub was rising to the challenge. Or maybe he was just settling down. Whichever it was, he was fun to watch.

** Actually, our entire backcourt trio was fun to watch. They combined for 45 points. All three hit some really big shots down the stretch when their team needed them.

** One must wonder what the difference is between the Panthers of the last two contests compared to what we watched in some of the previous games.

** On offense, to my eye, the two biggest differences are spacing and movement. We still aren’t running sets to create shots, but we are starting the offense with movement early on instead of just relying on the high ball screen and roll to instigate the offense.

** After the early movement, the Panthers have fallen into excellent spacing allowing to make use of good one on one match ups and drives to the lane.

** I might even suggest that we ran some pretty decent offense in the first half of the game despite our 8 mostly careless turnovers.

** Defensively, we weren’t stellar but good enough. At least good enough to beat Ga Tech, but we still need better understanding when to double in the paint.

** I’ll recognize that the game plan wasn’t to double Ndongo in the paint so that we wouldn't let Tech’s 3 point game get the best of us. And he hurt us. But not enough.

** Still, all of the talk about what happened during the last 80 Panther minutes notwithstanding, what’s really the most satisfying about this win is what it means for our next 80 minutes.

** Seven days ago, it looked like it was almost time to pack it in for the season after our 0-4 start at home in ACC play. On Saturday, if we can find a way to go to Miami and best the Canes, we can return to the Pete with a good chance to go over .500 in ACC play.

** That wouldn’t just be circling the wagons. That might qualify as starting a stampede.

** Nonetheless, accept my apologies for getting too far ahead of myself. I guess that’s what happens when your team responds to adversity the way we did tonight, and over the last week. No blinking. Congrats guys!

DT, I think one of the most important points you made was about spacing and movement. I watched the game again. When Pitt had good spacing and there was ball movement and guys moving without the ball, we were successful. When the spacing wasn't there and there was just dribble, dribble, guys standing around, throw up a shot, we failed. I think they know that obviously, and it sure looks like Capel coached that into their heads before the Duke game and to continue that against GT.

Have to hope that we continue this type of play and beat Miami on Saturday.

 

[Sam Young 23]

I wasn’t worried about a trap game. This team, with it’s young players, had lost tons of confidence. That Duke win made them believe again. When you are 2-5, nothing is a trap game.

I guess trap game the wrong phrase. Just meant such a high from the Duke game come in not ready to play. Such an emotional ride for them.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

This was entertaining to watch

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I was actually fairly pleased with how GDG stood up against Ndongo. I thought GDG would get bullied and he held pretty strong.

I agree.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

And really the one was because there was a 2 on 1 against GDG- and he tried to deny the pass - so lost contact with Ndogo for an easy dunk .
Wasn’t necessarily a bad play by GDG- he was just caught in between

I agreed with the color commentator, he stepped up a little too soon which made the lob over his head easy. He should have stayed back a little, and if the guy with the ball (I forget who off the top of my head) wanted to pull up for a 10-12 footer then fine, have at it.

You are almost certainly going to give up something there, let it be something like that rather than a dunk.

 

[PittPharm2002]

I agreed with the color commentator, he stepped up a little too soon which made the lob over his head easy. He should have stayed back a little, and if the guy with the ball (I forget who off the top of my head) wanted to pull up for a 10-12 footer then fine, have at it.

You are almost certainly going to give up something there, let it be something like that rather than a dunk.

Oh I agree - he needed to keep a hand on ndongo, but at least I understood his mistake

 

[4Mark_Marty]

Atlantais just a piss poor sports town. Just awful

Too many transplants from other cities

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

-The first GDG 3 was the biggest play of the game. At that point, we had been outscored 17-5 and the game looked like it was slipping away. We had about a 5 minute stretch where we looked more like we did during our losing streak. Once he hit that 3 and then Jaland had the and one, followed by another GDG 3 and we gained back control of the game.

-Fede still looks lost. He just looks like a guy who has lost his confidence and is overthinking every move with no reactions. By the time he reacts, the play is already over.

-I think the defense was better than you gave it credit for. Not all the time, but we had a decent amount of really great defensive possessions that really helped us extend the lead.

-Bub may have had his best game. He took the ball to the basket easily better than he has all year long and while he settled for shots a few times, we got much better shots than most of the year.

-I guess what is most important is that we had 4 players in double digits and none of them was named Blake. In fact, Blake forced very little other than his 2 over-penetrations that both resulted in charges.

-Boy, I wish we had a guy like Ndongo. He would make our team much, much better.

-Miami will be tough, but they aren’t as good as last years team.

"Bub may have had his best game. He took the ball to the basket easily better than he has all year long and while he settled for shots a few times, we got much better shots than most of the year."

Agree. Best example was when he actually went to his left in driving to the hoop (although he scored with his right hand). More stuff like that and opposing defenders will need to let up on overplaying him to the right as much as they have been.