** The theme for this evening is easy – that is – don’t you just love College Basketball?!
** I took the long walk back to my car from Robert Morris’ new arena thinking such. Following Evansville’s upset of Kentucky at Rupp made me know it for sure.
** The Colonials had a splendid time a few years back when UK visited their old arena and they handed the Wildcats a legendary loss. And for 20 minutes in this contest, it looked like the Colonials might get to christen their fantastic new facility with another win of enormous magnitude.
** The College Basketball atmosphere fans got to experience at RMU was wonderful. The place was packed with upstart, upset ready fans, and a nice contingent of Panther faithful as well.
** For too long in this contest, the Panthers seemed all too willing to make this game another tremendous story for all of College Basketball.
** It wasn’t simply that the Panthers were playing bad basketball when they allowed RMU to go on an 18-0 run and take a double digit lead. Overall, it appeared to me that our Panthers were trying to play team basketball, much unlike we witnessed at the upset at the Pete four days ago. They just weren’t doing it very well.
** The Panthers weren’t even playing terrible defense during that same stretch, as much as they were overplaying to some extent, leaving themselves vulnerable to the extra pass and the open shooter.
** And just as one would expect to go according to a Cinderella script on a night like this, the Colonials knocked them down.
** I like Robert Morris basketball, and I was glad their fans got to enjoy a strong handful of wonderful moments on opening night.
** But not long after, the Panthers buckled down and the game fell into a more expected path of an ACC team against a Northeast Conference foe.
** The game followed that path because Trey McGowens certainly brought his A-game, much more than a team like Robert Morris could handle.
** What was most troubling about Trey’s outing on Saturday wasn’t his lack of production, but more his problematic decision making that left him too often out of control. From today’s opening tip, Trey looked determined to be smart and make the right plays. He made so many of them tonight.
** Coach Capel rewarded Ryan Murphy’s and Terrell Brown’s strong play in our first two games with starting spots, and both responded in kind.
** Expecting monster games from Ryan night-in and night-out is much more than he might be able to deliver. But production like we received like tonight will serve the Panthers well this season and beyond.
** RMU looked to be keying on Ryan, and he helped the Panther cause by sticking mostly to what he can do, instead of try to make plays he probably can’t.
** Still, the biggest reason I’m glad Ryan is a Panther is because he would probably be near the top of my most hated opponent players if wore different colors.
** It’s probably too bad that Terrell Brown may not even become a favorite of many Panther fans. We all understand that he just doesn’t play the kind of game that appears inspiring. But he’s starting to become quietly and consistently productive in a very important way.
** Terrell’s play as a rim protector gives our Panthers a chance to be a truly formidable defensive team if we can get a few of our perimeter issues figured out.
** Does anyone know if something happened to Eric Hamilton, or was Coach Jeff just that much happier with Terrell?
** The Panthers already sport a truly formidable defensive player in Au’Diese Toney, and time and time again tonight he was a stopper. I said this to my neighbor today, none other than @Seneca_Valley. Yet we both agreed even a defensive stopper needs to score from time to time, so hopefully AD will get some confidence from his second half points.
** And then there is Xavier.
** He played his worst 20 minutes of his Pitt career in the first stanza. This time, he looked more that “just off.” He looked plain old bad.
** His second 20 minutes were improved in the sense that he played more like a solid point guard than an ineffective scoring lead guard. But something is certainly lacking in his confidence in finishing at the rim.
** With Xavier taking better care of the basketball, he set the tone for the whole Panther team who turned it over just 3 times in the second half. And that stat was the biggest reason this ended as your basic boring ACC vs NEC contest, instead of an upset for the ages.
** The Panthers even passed the ball a little better as a team in the second half. But they still have a way to go before we can even start thinking about them as a decent passing team.
** Beyond great College Basketball atmospheres like we witnessed tonight, one of the biggest reasons I enjoy College Hoops is because of upsets like Evansville’s tonight.
** But of course, we all like it so much better when our team wins. So with that, congrats to RMU for their fine new facility. And a bigger congrats go to our Panthers for leaving it up to another team to become the Colonials' victim in their new home court.
** I took the long walk back to my car from Robert Morris’ new arena thinking such. Following Evansville’s upset of Kentucky at Rupp made me know it for sure.
** The Colonials had a splendid time a few years back when UK visited their old arena and they handed the Wildcats a legendary loss. And for 20 minutes in this contest, it looked like the Colonials might get to christen their fantastic new facility with another win of enormous magnitude.
** The College Basketball atmosphere fans got to experience at RMU was wonderful. The place was packed with upstart, upset ready fans, and a nice contingent of Panther faithful as well.
** For too long in this contest, the Panthers seemed all too willing to make this game another tremendous story for all of College Basketball.
** It wasn’t simply that the Panthers were playing bad basketball when they allowed RMU to go on an 18-0 run and take a double digit lead. Overall, it appeared to me that our Panthers were trying to play team basketball, much unlike we witnessed at the upset at the Pete four days ago. They just weren’t doing it very well.
** The Panthers weren’t even playing terrible defense during that same stretch, as much as they were overplaying to some extent, leaving themselves vulnerable to the extra pass and the open shooter.
** And just as one would expect to go according to a Cinderella script on a night like this, the Colonials knocked them down.
** I like Robert Morris basketball, and I was glad their fans got to enjoy a strong handful of wonderful moments on opening night.
** But not long after, the Panthers buckled down and the game fell into a more expected path of an ACC team against a Northeast Conference foe.
** The game followed that path because Trey McGowens certainly brought his A-game, much more than a team like Robert Morris could handle.
** What was most troubling about Trey’s outing on Saturday wasn’t his lack of production, but more his problematic decision making that left him too often out of control. From today’s opening tip, Trey looked determined to be smart and make the right plays. He made so many of them tonight.
** Coach Capel rewarded Ryan Murphy’s and Terrell Brown’s strong play in our first two games with starting spots, and both responded in kind.
** Expecting monster games from Ryan night-in and night-out is much more than he might be able to deliver. But production like we received like tonight will serve the Panthers well this season and beyond.
** RMU looked to be keying on Ryan, and he helped the Panther cause by sticking mostly to what he can do, instead of try to make plays he probably can’t.
** Still, the biggest reason I’m glad Ryan is a Panther is because he would probably be near the top of my most hated opponent players if wore different colors.
** It’s probably too bad that Terrell Brown may not even become a favorite of many Panther fans. We all understand that he just doesn’t play the kind of game that appears inspiring. But he’s starting to become quietly and consistently productive in a very important way.
** Terrell’s play as a rim protector gives our Panthers a chance to be a truly formidable defensive team if we can get a few of our perimeter issues figured out.
** Does anyone know if something happened to Eric Hamilton, or was Coach Jeff just that much happier with Terrell?
** The Panthers already sport a truly formidable defensive player in Au’Diese Toney, and time and time again tonight he was a stopper. I said this to my neighbor today, none other than @Seneca_Valley. Yet we both agreed even a defensive stopper needs to score from time to time, so hopefully AD will get some confidence from his second half points.
** And then there is Xavier.
** He played his worst 20 minutes of his Pitt career in the first stanza. This time, he looked more that “just off.” He looked plain old bad.
** His second 20 minutes were improved in the sense that he played more like a solid point guard than an ineffective scoring lead guard. But something is certainly lacking in his confidence in finishing at the rim.
** With Xavier taking better care of the basketball, he set the tone for the whole Panther team who turned it over just 3 times in the second half. And that stat was the biggest reason this ended as your basic boring ACC vs NEC contest, instead of an upset for the ages.
** The Panthers even passed the ball a little better as a team in the second half. But they still have a way to go before we can even start thinking about them as a decent passing team.
** Beyond great College Basketball atmospheres like we witnessed tonight, one of the biggest reasons I enjoy College Hoops is because of upsets like Evansville’s tonight.
** But of course, we all like it so much better when our team wins. So with that, congrats to RMU for their fine new facility. And a bigger congrats go to our Panthers for leaving it up to another team to become the Colonials' victim in their new home court.
