Xavier....How much Better?

[Chescat]

How much? Well, IMO
they were better, but
they shouldn't have been
leading by 20 in the
second half. I saw a
faster, quicker team
that was on fire in the
first half. Some of that
was due to our poor D.
We had to get out of
our man D and go zone.
That spelled even more
trouble against a team
which moved the ball,
beat us to open spots,
and hit em when they
got em. Meanwhile we
couldn't put the ball in
the ocean.

Better than us? Well, they
did finish # 2 in the BE behind
a top 10 Marquette team. X
was ranked #13 or 14. and
were a 3 seed in the bracket.
I felt our D hurt us, but no
big surprise, it wasn''t a
team strength all season.
Our players deserve a LOT
of credit IMO. Same with
Capel. It's now time to add
to a decent, but not great
nucleus coming back. Can
Capel do it again with the
portal?

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

Well put. Better team somewhat, but our dreadful defense made them seem otherworldly in the first half. Sky-high confidence came from the easy layups and uncontested dunks, consequently letting them hit 3s due to having a big lead and minimal pressure. Whereas our guys felt massive pressure to hit their shots to try to catch up. And that led to hurries and poor form (and bricks).

As far as next year, who knows until the portal follies end.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Xavier is obviously better than we are. But not 20 points better, as they were in the first half. Our defense, or lack of it, helped them along. Once we woke up and started to play some defense and rebound, things started happening for us. Unfortunately, it was too late. We can do that against 'Cuse or GT or even UNC, but we can't do that against a top 10 - 15 team and expect to catch up.

 

[PittMan 72]

Xavier is obviously better than we are. But not 20 points better, as they were in the first half. Our defense, or lack of it, helped them along. Once we woke up and started to play some defense and rebound, things started happening for us. Unfortunately, it was too late. We can do that against 'Cuse or GT or even UNC, but we can't do that against a top 10 - 15 team and expect to catch up.

Biggest difference I saw was that X’s ball and player movement was exceptional, to their credit. Little dribbling. Quick passing. The ball moves faster than any defender. Then in addition to that all of Pitt’s misses allowed them to get into transition and push the ball to get opportunities before Pitt’s half court D got set up. And they MADE their shots. Couple other things about that 1H:

• No Fede really made it a lot tougher for Pitt to defend Nunge and he had a very big scoring half. With Fede, maybe Pitt could’ve alternated bigs and tag teamed him some.
• Kunkel was unconscious in the 1H. 5 for 5 from 3. He was 0-3 from 3 in the 2H. Sometimes an outside shooter just gets into a comfort zone like that. Even good shooters don’t always make them like that in warm-ups. Today unfortunately for us he did.

 

[Cap pitt]

The lack of defense and The officiating had a lot to do with the outcome of this game

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Biggest difference I saw was that X’s ball and player movement was exceptional, to their credit. Little dribbling. Quick passing. The ball moves faster than any defender. Then in addition to that all of Pitt’s misses allowed them to get into transition and push the ball to get opportunities before Pitt’s half court D got set up. And they MADE their shots. Couple other things about that 1H:

• No Fede really made it a lot tougher for Pitt to defend Nunge and he had a very big scoring half. With Fede, maybe Pitt could’ve alternated bigs and tag teamed him some.
• Kunkel was unconscious in the 1H. 5 for 5 from 3. He was 0-3 from 3 in the 2H. Sometimes an outside shooter just gets into a comfort zone like that. Even good shooters don’t always make them like that in warm-ups. Today unfortunately for us he did.

The excellent ball movement they had was a major factor. A defense, anybody's defense, has a difficult time stopping any offense based on quick passes and ball movement.

 

[FrogmoreZeke]

The lack of defense and The officiating had a lot to do with the outcome of this game

The officials called 18 fouls on us and 21 on X. Officiating had absolutely 0, zilch, zippo, nothing to do with the outcome of this game.

 

[PittMan 72]

The excellent ball movement they had was a major factor. A defense, anybody's defense, has a difficult time stopping any offense based on quick passes and ball movement.

You’re right. Xavier runs nice offense and they executed very well today. In particular, the first half was a clinic with how they execute it and shot the ball. They played to their strength, playing fast.

But regardless of X’s ball movement and player movement and getting open looks, a team has to be able finish and today Xavier did that better than Pitt. Pitt also contributed to much of that by not making enough shots. And a lot of Pitt’s misses were off of good, open looks.

 

[Cap pitt]

The officials called 18 fouls on us and 21 on X. Officiating had absolutely 0, zilch, zippo, nothing to do with the outcome of this game.

How about the no calls on X? they were more physical and about to be,calls that would have mattered, plus the lack of a defensive effort, 2 no calls for charging, and the offiating caused capels technical

 

[PittMan2003]

I think they would beat us 8 out of 10 times. We shouldn’t have let them build such a big lead though.

But we just couldn’t hit shots to get back in the game. It was frustrating. Our guys looked tired.

The play-in probably helped us Friday but hurt us today.

 

[NCanton Panther]

You’re right. Xavier runs nice offense and they executed very well today. In particular, the first half was a clinic with how they execute it and shot the ball. They played to their strength, playing fast.

But regardless of X’s ball movement and player movement and getting open looks, a team has to be able finish and today Xavier did that better than Pitt. Pitt also contributed to much of that by not making enough shots. And a lot of Pitt’s misses were off of good, open looks.

There are good open looks and then there are good open looks. Kunkle was 5-5 on 3-ptrs in the 1st half because on at least 3-4 of them he never had a defender anywhere around him when he received the ball, no pressure whatsoever to receive the ball with feet planted and get off an easy unhurried shot.

We may have had some good looks but nothing like what Xavier enjoyed in the 1st half.

And their big guy hardly had to ever back anyone down or work for his shots, unless you call receiving the ball for an easy 2-handed dunk working hard.

Xavier may be more talented but they won today primarily because of way better execution. Taking advantage of our deficient defense in the 1st half and doing enough on defense against our no ball movement 1-man isolation dribble drive offense in the 2nd half.

 

[Upg bobcat]

But we just couldn’t hit shots to get back in the game. It was frustrating. Our guys looked tired.

Totally agree that we looked tired. It seemed like it happened at least a half dozen times in the first half where someone on our team landed on the ground on the offensive end, and they had an odd man fast break and got a layup or other wide open basket out of it. Our guy on the ground looked to have no urgency to get up on his feet and hustle back -- don't know if that's because of lack of depth, or poor conditioning, or just playing the extra game making us more tired. It stands in contrast to our game Tuesday, where our guys seemed to have that extra hustle all over the court. I would have liked to have seen fresh-legged Santos get some minutes.

On the flip side, the few times we had the numbers on a fast break, we couldn't get to the hoop for an easy basket or if we did get to the hoop, we missed the shot.

 

[PittMan2003]

Totally agree that we looked tired. It seemed like it happened at least a half dozen times in the first half where someone on our team landed on the ground on the offensive end, and they had an odd man fast break and got a layup or other wide open basket out of it. Our guy on the ground looked to have no urgency to get up on his feet and hustle back -- don't know if that's because of lack of depth, or poor conditioning, or just playing the extra game making us more tired. It stands in contrast to our game Tuesday, where our guys seemed to have that extra hustle all over the court. I would have liked to have seen fresh-legged Santos get some minutes.

On the flip side, the few times we had the numbers on a fast break, we couldn't get to the hoop for an easy basket or if we did get to the hoop, we missed the shot.

Yeah and I thought on many shots our guys didn't have the legs or typical elevation.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Yeah and I thought on many shots our guys didn't have the legs or typical elevation.

I think Hinson was worn out all three games given how shallow his 3s looked. And it’s understandable given he doesn’t play for two years and then he plays a full season + ACCT + NCAAT. Same goes for Burton…he looked sluggish as well. I can’t really blame them because they seemed to give it all they had all year.

 

[BigZeke]

You’re right. Xavier runs nice offense and they executed very well today. In particular, the first half was a clinic with how they execute it and shot the ball. They played to their strength, playing fast.

But regardless of X’s ball movement and player movement and getting open looks, a team has to be able finish and today Xavier did that better than Pitt. Pitt also contributed to much of that by not making enough shots. And a lot of Pitt’s misses were off of good, open looks.

My sentiments exactly. Good post.

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

They got exposed playing help defense on Nunge. Simple as that. Difference was, neither ISU or MSU had the shooter to expose it. No Fede just killed any chance to do anything in the tournament.

 

[pittpsu]

Did anyone else stay for the KSU - KY game? The ball movement and pace vs Pitt was glaring.
KSU fan beside me, rooting for Pitt too, said early in 2nd half half of Pitt game “do you guys have a play other than center set a pick for guard and then iso?”