Post game notes
Biggest surprise of the game
Pitt got outscored 24-2 in fast break points. First and foremost, it doesn't matter how good you think you are, if you get manhandled in transition like this, you can turn out the lights against the majority of Power 6 teams. Florida did not turn the basketball over a lot which is a bit surprising but that is more of a reflection on Pitt's defense. Pitt had a lot of tipped passes but we just couldn't get the turnovers to get our transition offense running. But when Pitt turned the basketball over, man oh man did we pay the price. Because between the actual steals Florida had where they finished with ease in transition, or a wild circus shot that Hinson, Carrington, or a few of the others put up last night, we got burned badly for playing this reckless style of basketball with poor turnovers and poor shot selection. Not only is Blake Hinson one of the worst defenders easily on this basketball team, he is lazy in transition defense. All offseason it was said how much better shape he is in. After 1 game against a legit opponent after what I just watched from him, he isn't anywhere close to being in as good as shape as we thought. Not even close. He conserved energy on defense for offense.
Florida's bigs are good
Let's stop pretending they aren't. Their bigs just tore up Florida State. Their backup center just tore up Florida State who is a very nice looking 7 foot freshmen with talent. I said in the pregame, the goal is to keep Samuel away from the paint and force him to shoot the midrange and beyond. We only did that once or twice early in the game and it worked. Then, Fede was caught tracking Samuel all the way to the 3 point line in parts of this game. Why? There is no reason to, he can't shoot beyond 8 feet or so. Hinson is a big part of the blame too. Hinson kept putting our team in bad switch positions and in bad overall defensive positioning. If you have not figured it out yet, Hinson got an F in this game. And while Im speaking of Hinson, our power forward Blake Hinson played 37 minutes and Hinson had 3 rebounds total. That isn't going to cut it by a longshot. Samuel had 10 rebounds. Guillermo had 6 rebound off the bench in 17 minutes. Guillermo had problems with Condon, but Condon is good. I was really disappointed with Hinson and Fede's defense in this game and I said Fede's job is to protect the interior first and foremost and he failed by getting pulled out and being in bad position. At least twice in this game Guillermo was stuck covering 2 offensive players at the same time, while Hinson and Fede were in the wrong position. Samuel was the best player in this game. He had a box score BPM of 22.5, the highest for either team in the game. 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks. Clayton was quite good, Samuel killed us. with stats and multiple backbreaking plays on defense that led to transition scores on offense.
Zach Austin played well
Austin scored 10 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, and was +4 in this game in the plus minus box score. He was good in this game. Im still not happy with his 3 point shooting, but he played well against Florida. Id like to see him be just a bit more aggressive on offense with his dribble drive and not be so passive. Try to take the ball hard to the glass and make a play.
Zyon Pullin is a difference maker
He put up 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists against Florida State and had 10 points and 8 assists against Pitt. There is no way Virginia beats this team if he was eligible to play. I believe he played in the preseason when Florida handled Miami. If you include that game, Florida is 3-1 against the ACC and 3-0 against the ACC with Pullin playing.
Points off turnovers
Pitt gave up 19 points off turnovers. Florida gave up 7. That is a huge chunk difference of 12 point margin right there in the game and this was supposed to be an advantage to Pitt in the pregame. Florida's 8 turnovers against Pitt is by far their lowest of the season, which was one of my pregame keys to winning this game (get turnovers and score in transition). The Florida a&m Rattlers, who have been repeatedly blown out 4 games in a row to start the year, forced 12 turnovers against Florida.
Play smarter
I said this once already this year and now Im saying it again. This team is not close to old school UNLV basketball and needs to slow things down and play far smarter on offense with far better ball control and shot selection. My speculation is, Capel let these guys loose just to see what would happen against a big boy team in college basketball. It obviously backfired, but if this team wants to reach its potential, it needs to start taking far better shots on offense and simply put, be far more patient on offense. Capel has tape on a big time opponent, slow these guys down and don't let them play so loose. Speaking of playing smarter, there was far too much jump shooting and no where near enough dribble penetration. We should of attacked the interior far more.
Pitt turnovers
Obviously this goes hand in hand with the other points above, but Pitt had 14 turnovers last night and had poor ball control overall. Turnovers was my biggest worry in the offseason.
Mass Substitutions
Im not a fan of this style of basketball when the head coach wants to make a complete line change and put most or all of the bench in. Capel did this in the first half, and we got burnt because of it and our lead vanished. Dixon used to do this in his younger years, then he smartened up about it. I hope this is a learning mistake for Capel.
Its a loss but no where near the end of the season. Good teams regroup and move forward and learn from mistakes. Let's win the next one out.
Happy Thanksgiving to all the people here and reading this...
Biggest surprise of the game
Pitt got outscored 24-2 in fast break points. First and foremost, it doesn't matter how good you think you are, if you get manhandled in transition like this, you can turn out the lights against the majority of Power 6 teams. Florida did not turn the basketball over a lot which is a bit surprising but that is more of a reflection on Pitt's defense. Pitt had a lot of tipped passes but we just couldn't get the turnovers to get our transition offense running. But when Pitt turned the basketball over, man oh man did we pay the price. Because between the actual steals Florida had where they finished with ease in transition, or a wild circus shot that Hinson, Carrington, or a few of the others put up last night, we got burned badly for playing this reckless style of basketball with poor turnovers and poor shot selection. Not only is Blake Hinson one of the worst defenders easily on this basketball team, he is lazy in transition defense. All offseason it was said how much better shape he is in. After 1 game against a legit opponent after what I just watched from him, he isn't anywhere close to being in as good as shape as we thought. Not even close. He conserved energy on defense for offense.
Florida's bigs are good
Let's stop pretending they aren't. Their bigs just tore up Florida State. Their backup center just tore up Florida State who is a very nice looking 7 foot freshmen with talent. I said in the pregame, the goal is to keep Samuel away from the paint and force him to shoot the midrange and beyond. We only did that once or twice early in the game and it worked. Then, Fede was caught tracking Samuel all the way to the 3 point line in parts of this game. Why? There is no reason to, he can't shoot beyond 8 feet or so. Hinson is a big part of the blame too. Hinson kept putting our team in bad switch positions and in bad overall defensive positioning. If you have not figured it out yet, Hinson got an F in this game. And while Im speaking of Hinson, our power forward Blake Hinson played 37 minutes and Hinson had 3 rebounds total. That isn't going to cut it by a longshot. Samuel had 10 rebounds. Guillermo had 6 rebound off the bench in 17 minutes. Guillermo had problems with Condon, but Condon is good. I was really disappointed with Hinson and Fede's defense in this game and I said Fede's job is to protect the interior first and foremost and he failed by getting pulled out and being in bad position. At least twice in this game Guillermo was stuck covering 2 offensive players at the same time, while Hinson and Fede were in the wrong position. Samuel was the best player in this game. He had a box score BPM of 22.5, the highest for either team in the game. 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks. Clayton was quite good, Samuel killed us. with stats and multiple backbreaking plays on defense that led to transition scores on offense.
Zach Austin played well
Austin scored 10 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, and was +4 in this game in the plus minus box score. He was good in this game. Im still not happy with his 3 point shooting, but he played well against Florida. Id like to see him be just a bit more aggressive on offense with his dribble drive and not be so passive. Try to take the ball hard to the glass and make a play.
Zyon Pullin is a difference maker
He put up 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists against Florida State and had 10 points and 8 assists against Pitt. There is no way Virginia beats this team if he was eligible to play. I believe he played in the preseason when Florida handled Miami. If you include that game, Florida is 3-1 against the ACC and 3-0 against the ACC with Pullin playing.
Points off turnovers
Pitt gave up 19 points off turnovers. Florida gave up 7. That is a huge chunk difference of 12 point margin right there in the game and this was supposed to be an advantage to Pitt in the pregame. Florida's 8 turnovers against Pitt is by far their lowest of the season, which was one of my pregame keys to winning this game (get turnovers and score in transition). The Florida a&m Rattlers, who have been repeatedly blown out 4 games in a row to start the year, forced 12 turnovers against Florida.
Play smarter
I said this once already this year and now Im saying it again. This team is not close to old school UNLV basketball and needs to slow things down and play far smarter on offense with far better ball control and shot selection. My speculation is, Capel let these guys loose just to see what would happen against a big boy team in college basketball. It obviously backfired, but if this team wants to reach its potential, it needs to start taking far better shots on offense and simply put, be far more patient on offense. Capel has tape on a big time opponent, slow these guys down and don't let them play so loose. Speaking of playing smarter, there was far too much jump shooting and no where near enough dribble penetration. We should of attacked the interior far more.
Pitt turnovers
Obviously this goes hand in hand with the other points above, but Pitt had 14 turnovers last night and had poor ball control overall. Turnovers was my biggest worry in the offseason.
Mass Substitutions
Im not a fan of this style of basketball when the head coach wants to make a complete line change and put most or all of the bench in. Capel did this in the first half, and we got burnt because of it and our lead vanished. Dixon used to do this in his younger years, then he smartened up about it. I hope this is a learning mistake for Capel.
Its a loss but no where near the end of the season. Good teams regroup and move forward and learn from mistakes. Let's win the next one out.
Happy Thanksgiving to all the people here and reading this...
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