** If I could remember who posted it, I would certainly give credit.
** Around a decade ago, one of our fellow posters, who I recall also was an accomplished high school basketball coach, uttered one of the wisest hoops idioms I can ever recall reading here on the Lair. Their words: “Shoot Good, Look Good!”
** The point to this phrase at the time was that bad performances can often be masked when jump shots are going in.
** Therefore, tonight I’ll offer my own corollary which I believe aptly describes the game this evening with Purdue Fort-Wayne. That is: “Shoot Bad, Look Bad.”
** With that, I’d even like to suggest that I actually liked the way we played for better parts of this game, despite the fact that we only hit one single solitary jump shot for the entire first half.
** It’s actually hard to believe that every first half point we got in the first half until Zach’s three with a minute to go was a layup, dunk or foul shot.
** Nonetheless, we scored 31 points and held a 14 point lead at the break, with our All-American candidate only downing a deuce.
** Perhaps I’m a little too old school, but I still think it’s a great looking thing when teams can consistently get loose for layups. Threes are pretty, but points in the paint are great too!
** It’s also a nice looking thing when your team can prevent the other team from scoring while clearing the defensive glass. More often than not, I felt it was a focused Panther defensive effort that just did that. A couple of forced shot clock violations make that point.
** Still, how many college basketball games have you watched this year when the teams combined for just 2 threes in an entire half? Maybe this isn’t your cup of tea, and Panther threes flying through the net is your elixir of choice.
** To that end, the earlier parts of the second half looked a little more like what we are used to seeing, including a couple of jumpers by Bub, and the Panther lead ballooned to over 20.
** Then the game got a little weird and our Panthers started throwing the ball around much too wildly, while losing the aforementioned focus on the defensive end.
** This prompted Coach Capel to call one of the few timeouts this year when chewed out the troops for really uninspired shoddy play. The timeout worked for a while I guess, and the Panthers eventually pushed the margin to 24. But the scattershot finish made the final look a little closer than it should have.
** So yeah, shoot bad, look bad.
** GDG didn’t shoot particularly well either, but he did plenty of good things including strong quick finishes in the paint. He also didn’t get pushed around in the paint, although muscling isn’t really the Mastodon’s game plan. Despite his obvious height advantage, this was probably GDG's best complete game as a Panther.
** Ish’s 9 point effort deserves mention because it was the first outing this campaign when he hasn’t scored in double digits. He’s been remarkably consistent.
** And Blake has been beyond consistent, so much so that his 5 point night seemed freakish. But I have no concerns.
** In total, this game really offered few concerns for me. Sure, it’s always less troubling when your team hits about 8 more threes, which is closer to their average. But maybe it’s better to save them for another night. Another night when we will need to shoot better to look much better, let alone give our ourselves a better chance to win.
** After all, these games start next week.
** Until then, Happy Holidays to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans.
** Around a decade ago, one of our fellow posters, who I recall also was an accomplished high school basketball coach, uttered one of the wisest hoops idioms I can ever recall reading here on the Lair. Their words: “Shoot Good, Look Good!”
** The point to this phrase at the time was that bad performances can often be masked when jump shots are going in.
** Therefore, tonight I’ll offer my own corollary which I believe aptly describes the game this evening with Purdue Fort-Wayne. That is: “Shoot Bad, Look Bad.”
** With that, I’d even like to suggest that I actually liked the way we played for better parts of this game, despite the fact that we only hit one single solitary jump shot for the entire first half.
** It’s actually hard to believe that every first half point we got in the first half until Zach’s three with a minute to go was a layup, dunk or foul shot.
** Nonetheless, we scored 31 points and held a 14 point lead at the break, with our All-American candidate only downing a deuce.
** Perhaps I’m a little too old school, but I still think it’s a great looking thing when teams can consistently get loose for layups. Threes are pretty, but points in the paint are great too!
** It’s also a nice looking thing when your team can prevent the other team from scoring while clearing the defensive glass. More often than not, I felt it was a focused Panther defensive effort that just did that. A couple of forced shot clock violations make that point.
** Still, how many college basketball games have you watched this year when the teams combined for just 2 threes in an entire half? Maybe this isn’t your cup of tea, and Panther threes flying through the net is your elixir of choice.
** To that end, the earlier parts of the second half looked a little more like what we are used to seeing, including a couple of jumpers by Bub, and the Panther lead ballooned to over 20.
** Then the game got a little weird and our Panthers started throwing the ball around much too wildly, while losing the aforementioned focus on the defensive end.
** This prompted Coach Capel to call one of the few timeouts this year when chewed out the troops for really uninspired shoddy play. The timeout worked for a while I guess, and the Panthers eventually pushed the margin to 24. But the scattershot finish made the final look a little closer than it should have.
** So yeah, shoot bad, look bad.
** GDG didn’t shoot particularly well either, but he did plenty of good things including strong quick finishes in the paint. He also didn’t get pushed around in the paint, although muscling isn’t really the Mastodon’s game plan. Despite his obvious height advantage, this was probably GDG's best complete game as a Panther.
** Ish’s 9 point effort deserves mention because it was the first outing this campaign when he hasn’t scored in double digits. He’s been remarkably consistent.
** And Blake has been beyond consistent, so much so that his 5 point night seemed freakish. But I have no concerns.
** In total, this game really offered few concerns for me. Sure, it’s always less troubling when your team hits about 8 more threes, which is closer to their average. But maybe it’s better to save them for another night. Another night when we will need to shoot better to look much better, let alone give our ourselves a better chance to win.
** After all, these games start next week.
** Until then, Happy Holidays to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans.
