** Game on, ladies and gentlemen! GAME ON!!
** On January 16, along with many, if not all other Pitt Hoops faithful, I figured our NCAA Tournament prospects had ended. Even the NIT looked highly unlikely.
** Six wins and one loss later, and with an expected win against the Cardinals this coming Saturday, I now expect the Panthers to be found on ESPN’s John Gasway’s Bubble Watch.
** I’m sure we’ll be listed under the “Work to Do” category. But we’ll be there regardless. Yep, GAME ON!!
** I’ll go a step further with self-confessions. I also suggested recently that last year was beginning to look like a fluke for Coach Capel. But now, it’s looking more like he’s been able to turn around two basketball teams in two years and guide them on their way to becoming a much better team. Congratulations to Jeff and the whole Panther program for a tremendous turnaround.
** But let me go even a little further than that. What we watched today was simply the finest regular season performance of the entire Jeff Capel era. This tops the Duke game in my mind, as the Blue Devils were a bit injury challenged on that special night in Durham. Only our NCAA Tournament win against Iowa State last year can be considered more impressive.
** On this even more special night in Charlottesville, we took it to the Hoo’s very confidently. After going down three with five minutes gone in the 2nd half, we outscored UVA 34-20.
** This is a Virginia team that has won their last seven, including a win at Clemson. And they have looked really good doing it.
** What Coach Capel has done this season, much like last season, is believe in his players. And his players are really starting to pay him off!
** Today’s offensive game plan was to get the ball to the lane and kick it out. And starting with Zack Austin’s three, the first of 14 for our Panthers, which came from a drive a dish out from Bub, that offensive game plan seemed like something Tony Bennett’s crew was powerless to stop.
** And it wasn’t just that the Panthers made 14 threes. What was more impressive is that the Panthers were able to shoot 32 threes.
** As a comparison, in their loss to Virginia, Clemson was only able to shoot 20. Miami was only able to shoot 20 threes during their paltry 38 point outing.
** I’ve already mentioned Bub, but I’ll give him another ring. He found shooters on the perimeter much like he was early in the season, and was really the main catalyst for the Panther attack with his 6 assists. He was an attack dog on the defensive end too.
** Early on, I was a little worried about Jaland. He’s been pretty stellar as on late, but his early minutes consisted of three missed shots and a turnover and I feared he was due for a stinker.
** But then he got a three to fall and it was GAME ON for Mr. Lowe as well. He scored 12 points in the game’s final 26 minutes and never turned it over again.
** And let’s give a shout out to the third of our guard trio. Beyond his typical scoring and rebounding (another 8 tonight), Ish made what I saw as the biggest play of the game – the steal from Reece Beekman at the end of the first half followed by the flagrant foul and the Panther’s four point lead at the half.
** Somehow I feel this would have been a much different game had the Hoo’s tied it at the half.
** But we all know the Hoo’s did tie then lead our Panthers midway through the 2nd half. But from the 11:28 mark to the 2:06 mark, UVA made one basket. One.
** Without a doubt this was the Panther’s best defensive stretch of the year. Every Panther deserves credit, but I’ll give special mention to Guillermo who followed up his two huge first half threes with defense in the second half better from him than we’ve seen in quite some time. Maybe all year. This game changed when he entered the game in the second half.
** While I’m at it, let me also suggest that this was Blake Hinson’s best and most complete game as a Panther. While his three ball wasn't as deadly as we’ve seen it, from the opening tip Blake said GAME ON for sure.
** During his entire career in a Pitt uniform, we’ve never seen Blake play defense as well as he did today.
** In Blake’s 37 minutes, he never turned it over once. Blake even tossed two assists. This was a leadership performance of the highest magnitude.
** And of the aforementioned threes, it was the forth of his five for the game that gave the Panthers the lead at the 13:01 mark they would never lose.
** That 5th three was his 82nd for the season. Just 21 to go for the Panther season record.
** So GAME ON Panther fans! It’s time for us to show up in a big way on Saturday to cheer our Panthers onto the bubble.
** And if the Panthers do win on Saturday, allow me to suggest that it’s also time for @UPitt '89 to go GAME ON for the Bubble Watch!
** Congratulations again to the Panthers, this time for their first win at Virginia in 50 years to go with the first win in Cameron in 45.
** I can’t wait to see what else this season has in store for us.
** GAME ON!
** On January 16, along with many, if not all other Pitt Hoops faithful, I figured our NCAA Tournament prospects had ended. Even the NIT looked highly unlikely.
** Six wins and one loss later, and with an expected win against the Cardinals this coming Saturday, I now expect the Panthers to be found on ESPN’s John Gasway’s Bubble Watch.
** I’m sure we’ll be listed under the “Work to Do” category. But we’ll be there regardless. Yep, GAME ON!!
** I’ll go a step further with self-confessions. I also suggested recently that last year was beginning to look like a fluke for Coach Capel. But now, it’s looking more like he’s been able to turn around two basketball teams in two years and guide them on their way to becoming a much better team. Congratulations to Jeff and the whole Panther program for a tremendous turnaround.
** But let me go even a little further than that. What we watched today was simply the finest regular season performance of the entire Jeff Capel era. This tops the Duke game in my mind, as the Blue Devils were a bit injury challenged on that special night in Durham. Only our NCAA Tournament win against Iowa State last year can be considered more impressive.
** On this even more special night in Charlottesville, we took it to the Hoo’s very confidently. After going down three with five minutes gone in the 2nd half, we outscored UVA 34-20.
** This is a Virginia team that has won their last seven, including a win at Clemson. And they have looked really good doing it.
** What Coach Capel has done this season, much like last season, is believe in his players. And his players are really starting to pay him off!
** Today’s offensive game plan was to get the ball to the lane and kick it out. And starting with Zack Austin’s three, the first of 14 for our Panthers, which came from a drive a dish out from Bub, that offensive game plan seemed like something Tony Bennett’s crew was powerless to stop.
** And it wasn’t just that the Panthers made 14 threes. What was more impressive is that the Panthers were able to shoot 32 threes.
** As a comparison, in their loss to Virginia, Clemson was only able to shoot 20. Miami was only able to shoot 20 threes during their paltry 38 point outing.
** I’ve already mentioned Bub, but I’ll give him another ring. He found shooters on the perimeter much like he was early in the season, and was really the main catalyst for the Panther attack with his 6 assists. He was an attack dog on the defensive end too.
** Early on, I was a little worried about Jaland. He’s been pretty stellar as on late, but his early minutes consisted of three missed shots and a turnover and I feared he was due for a stinker.
** But then he got a three to fall and it was GAME ON for Mr. Lowe as well. He scored 12 points in the game’s final 26 minutes and never turned it over again.
** And let’s give a shout out to the third of our guard trio. Beyond his typical scoring and rebounding (another 8 tonight), Ish made what I saw as the biggest play of the game – the steal from Reece Beekman at the end of the first half followed by the flagrant foul and the Panther’s four point lead at the half.
** Somehow I feel this would have been a much different game had the Hoo’s tied it at the half.
** But we all know the Hoo’s did tie then lead our Panthers midway through the 2nd half. But from the 11:28 mark to the 2:06 mark, UVA made one basket. One.
** Without a doubt this was the Panther’s best defensive stretch of the year. Every Panther deserves credit, but I’ll give special mention to Guillermo who followed up his two huge first half threes with defense in the second half better from him than we’ve seen in quite some time. Maybe all year. This game changed when he entered the game in the second half.
** While I’m at it, let me also suggest that this was Blake Hinson’s best and most complete game as a Panther. While his three ball wasn't as deadly as we’ve seen it, from the opening tip Blake said GAME ON for sure.
** During his entire career in a Pitt uniform, we’ve never seen Blake play defense as well as he did today.
** In Blake’s 37 minutes, he never turned it over once. Blake even tossed two assists. This was a leadership performance of the highest magnitude.
** And of the aforementioned threes, it was the forth of his five for the game that gave the Panthers the lead at the 13:01 mark they would never lose.
** That 5th three was his 82nd for the season. Just 21 to go for the Panther season record.
** So GAME ON Panther fans! It’s time for us to show up in a big way on Saturday to cheer our Panthers onto the bubble.
** And if the Panthers do win on Saturday, allow me to suggest that it’s also time for @UPitt '89 to go GAME ON for the Bubble Watch!
** Congratulations again to the Panthers, this time for their first win at Virginia in 50 years to go with the first win in Cameron in 45.
** I can’t wait to see what else this season has in store for us.
** GAME ON!