the women lost to Wisconsin tonight, 58-57. Pitt had an open baseline jumper with about two seconds left to win the game and missed it. Not surprisingly, Pitt did not get the rebound to perhaps have another chance.
Why do I say "not surprisingly"? Because Pitt got outrebounded tonight 48-25. No, that's not a misprint. Wisconsin had almost twice as many rebounds as Pitt did. Pitt missed 37 shots. Wisconsin rebounded 33 of them. Wisconsin missed 36 shots but got 15 offensive rebounds. That led to Wisconsin outscoring Pitt in second chance points 13-1.
And here's the kicker. Pitt actually rebounded better in the second half. At halftime Pitt had one offensive rebound on 18 misses and only 9 defensive rebounds on 16 misses. That's a 24-10 advantage overall for Wisconsin.
And add in to the rebounding woes that Pitt only made 6 of 14 foul shots. Really, if you just looked at those numbers you'd wonder how Pitt was even in the game, let alone had a shot to win it at the end. Well Pitt actually took care of the ball reasonably well and Wisconsin did not, they had 20 turnovers to our 13, and they only made 4 threes to Pitt's 9. And tonight that added up to a one point loss.
After last game I said that Pitt came out in the third quarter and put the hammer down, which was good to see because the third quarter was a problem last season. Well, the third quarter problems were back again tonight. Pitt was down two at the half and got outscored 22-14 in the 3rd. But Wisconsin made a basket a minute into the 4th quarter and then didn't score again for the next six minutes, when they hit a three with about one second left on the shot clock. That was their last basket of the game. Unfortunately, that basket also gave them the 58-57 lead and neither team scored the rest of the game. Pitt didn't score after Yacine Diop made two foul shots with 3:44 left in the game to give Pitt a 57-55 lead. That was the culmination of an 11-0 run to turn a nine point deficit into a two point lead.
Most of that good 4th quarter work came after Pitt started pressing. Wisconsin did not handle the press well at all. Pitt wasn't really getting any live ball turnovers off the press, but they did get a 10 second call and Wisconsin committed two shot clock violations. When they broke the press Wisconsin seemed to have a ton of trouble getting into and running their offense. Unfortunately it wasn't enough.
Yacine Diop again led the Panthers with 17 points, 16 of which came in the second half. She was 0-5 from the field in the first half and I believe all five of them were standstill jump shots. That is not her game. She attacked a little more in the second half, and the results were much better. No other Panther was in double figures. Jasmine Whitney had 9, but was only 4-11 from the field. Kyla Nelson and Pika Rodriguez both had 9 points on three 3s. Kalista Walters had a disappointing 5 and 5. Danielle Garvin had a disappointing 5 and 4. And she played some awful defense. When someone gets past her on defense she doesn't hustle to get back or at least head to the basket to potentially get a defensive rebound, she just seems to stop playing. We need more out of her than we have been getting.
Why do I say "not surprisingly"? Because Pitt got outrebounded tonight 48-25. No, that's not a misprint. Wisconsin had almost twice as many rebounds as Pitt did. Pitt missed 37 shots. Wisconsin rebounded 33 of them. Wisconsin missed 36 shots but got 15 offensive rebounds. That led to Wisconsin outscoring Pitt in second chance points 13-1.
And here's the kicker. Pitt actually rebounded better in the second half. At halftime Pitt had one offensive rebound on 18 misses and only 9 defensive rebounds on 16 misses. That's a 24-10 advantage overall for Wisconsin.
And add in to the rebounding woes that Pitt only made 6 of 14 foul shots. Really, if you just looked at those numbers you'd wonder how Pitt was even in the game, let alone had a shot to win it at the end. Well Pitt actually took care of the ball reasonably well and Wisconsin did not, they had 20 turnovers to our 13, and they only made 4 threes to Pitt's 9. And tonight that added up to a one point loss.
After last game I said that Pitt came out in the third quarter and put the hammer down, which was good to see because the third quarter was a problem last season. Well, the third quarter problems were back again tonight. Pitt was down two at the half and got outscored 22-14 in the 3rd. But Wisconsin made a basket a minute into the 4th quarter and then didn't score again for the next six minutes, when they hit a three with about one second left on the shot clock. That was their last basket of the game. Unfortunately, that basket also gave them the 58-57 lead and neither team scored the rest of the game. Pitt didn't score after Yacine Diop made two foul shots with 3:44 left in the game to give Pitt a 57-55 lead. That was the culmination of an 11-0 run to turn a nine point deficit into a two point lead.
Most of that good 4th quarter work came after Pitt started pressing. Wisconsin did not handle the press well at all. Pitt wasn't really getting any live ball turnovers off the press, but they did get a 10 second call and Wisconsin committed two shot clock violations. When they broke the press Wisconsin seemed to have a ton of trouble getting into and running their offense. Unfortunately it wasn't enough.
Yacine Diop again led the Panthers with 17 points, 16 of which came in the second half. She was 0-5 from the field in the first half and I believe all five of them were standstill jump shots. That is not her game. She attacked a little more in the second half, and the results were much better. No other Panther was in double figures. Jasmine Whitney had 9, but was only 4-11 from the field. Kyla Nelson and Pika Rodriguez both had 9 points on three 3s. Kalista Walters had a disappointing 5 and 5. Danielle Garvin had a disappointing 5 and 4. And she played some awful defense. When someone gets past her on defense she doesn't hustle to get back or at least head to the basket to potentially get a defensive rebound, she just seems to stop playing. We need more out of her than we have been getting.
