Post by elp525 on Feb 25, 2011 8:20:30 GMT -5
February 24, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
PITTSBURGH - Pitt managed to recover from a first half in which it trailed West Virginia 31-30 Thursday night by doing what the Panthers do best.
They went back to work on the basics inside and started making shots from everywhere.
It all added up to a 71-58 win for the No. 4 Panthers over West Virginia, a defeat that once again prevents the Mountaineers from climbing out of the quicksand that is the middle of the Big East standings.
"We just tried not to let them get near the post,'' Pitt's Nasir Robinson said. "We just pushed them outside with our chests.''
Indeed, in a game between the same teams 21/2 weeks ago, West Virginia got 19 points from center Deniz Kilicli. Thursday he took one shot and fouled out in 12 minutes.
Just as significantly, West Virginia managed 10 first-half points in the paint while taking leads of as many as seven points, but then was outscored 24-4 inside in the second half.
Also guard Truck Bryant, who broke out of a prolonged shooting slump and had 24 last weekend against Notre Dame, scored just eight for WVU.
"It was a goal of ours to defend the post better than we did the last time,'' Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "And Bryant had 24 against Notre Dame, broke that game open with four 3-pointers in the second half and made his foul shots. We wanted to try to make sure he didn't have those opportunities against us.''
***
There was a rather spirited debate Thursday on the Big East's weekly coaches' teleconference about who the league's player of the year might be.
The winner? Well, there was none.
And chances are when the award is announced between the end of the regular season and the start of the Big East tournament on March 8, the debate will continue. There are so many candidates and, while most are stepping up at the end of the season, no one is really separating himself from the pack.
"It definitely is a more wide open race than last year. Last year everyone had to choose between [Syracuse's Wes Johnson and Villanova's Scottie Reynolds],'' said Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose guard lost out to the Syracuse forward for the honor. "I really haven't thought about who I would vote for at this point. I think the strength of the Big East this year is that every team has a great leader, but they're not one man teams.''
Case in point is the Pitt team that played West Virginia late Thursday night. The Panthers have led the league from start to finish, but have done so with a fairly balanced attack and few stars. Guard Ashton Gibbs is the team's scoring leader, but backcourt mate Brad Wannamaker might be more important to the success of the team, which was 3-0 when Gibbs missed time with a knee injury. The Panthers then lost when he scored a career-high 26 points at St. John's last Saturday.
While several coaches mentioned both Gibbs and Wannamaker, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim did not.
"Usually coaches generally lean to a player from the winning team. I don't think it has to be. It's just player of the year, so I think it could be open to anybody,'' Boeheim said. "As far as I can see it's pretty wide open. I haven't decided yet. There's four of five guys that have played well. Certainly [Ben] Hansbrough, [Kemba] Walker and [Dwight] Hardy; [Marshon] Brooks, Rick Jackson has been pretty good all year, [Austin] Freeman. There's been a bunch of different guys that have been good all year. It will be a pretty close call I think."
Boeheim pretty much listed all the top candidates, although the list can probably be paired down even further. Syracuse's Jackson is averaging a double-double, but the Orange has faltered of late and the team is very balanced. Gibbs and Wannamaker probably aren't serious candidates, either, because it's not even clear who the best player is on Pitt's team.
As for the rest, Connecticut's Walker was the early favorite when he was leading the nation in scoring and the Huskies were climbing from unranked to No. 4, but he isn't even the league's scoring leader now and UConn is 3-5 in its last eight games after losing at home to Marquette Thursday night. Still, he built a pretty good case early and a lot of the coaches (they are the ones who vote on the award) might see him as the easiest pick.
Georgetown's Freeman was the preseason player of the year and has been good, but he wasn't clearly the choice then or now.
And the other three candidates are clearly intriguing. Notre Dame's Hansbrough has been the catalyst for the Irish's surprising 22-5 season and Top 10 ranking. St. John's Hardy was little more than an afterthought at the beginning of the season, but has been the league's player of the week two weeks running now and the Red Storm is shocking everyone with huge home wins and a Top 25 ranking.
And then there is Brooks. The Providence guard has led the league in scoring much of the season and on Wednesday exploded for a Big East record 52 points in a 94-93 loss to Notre Dame. It's hard to argue against a player who averages 25.4 points (27.4 since league play started) and will soon break the league record for points in a season, except that that the Friars are 14-14 overall and just 3-12 in the conference.
"I do [think a guy needs to be on a winning team]. But a guy like Marshon Brooks is having such a fabulous year that he might overcome that,'' Wright said. "All the other teams are so balanced and he is so extraordinary individually that he could overcome that issue."
***
BRIEFLY: The Mountaineers don't have much time to recover from Thursday's loss to Pitt. They jump right back into it with a noon game at Rutgers on Sunday. The regular-season home finales with UConn and Louisville are on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
| West Virginia actually shot well from 3-point range, making seven of 15 attempts. It was the easy shots that wouldn't fall. The Mountaineers were 10-for-36 on 2-point tries (28 percent).
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
PITTSBURGH - Pitt managed to recover from a first half in which it trailed West Virginia 31-30 Thursday night by doing what the Panthers do best.
They went back to work on the basics inside and started making shots from everywhere.
It all added up to a 71-58 win for the No. 4 Panthers over West Virginia, a defeat that once again prevents the Mountaineers from climbing out of the quicksand that is the middle of the Big East standings.
"We just tried not to let them get near the post,'' Pitt's Nasir Robinson said. "We just pushed them outside with our chests.''
Indeed, in a game between the same teams 21/2 weeks ago, West Virginia got 19 points from center Deniz Kilicli. Thursday he took one shot and fouled out in 12 minutes.
Just as significantly, West Virginia managed 10 first-half points in the paint while taking leads of as many as seven points, but then was outscored 24-4 inside in the second half.
Also guard Truck Bryant, who broke out of a prolonged shooting slump and had 24 last weekend against Notre Dame, scored just eight for WVU.
"It was a goal of ours to defend the post better than we did the last time,'' Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "And Bryant had 24 against Notre Dame, broke that game open with four 3-pointers in the second half and made his foul shots. We wanted to try to make sure he didn't have those opportunities against us.''
***
There was a rather spirited debate Thursday on the Big East's weekly coaches' teleconference about who the league's player of the year might be.
The winner? Well, there was none.
And chances are when the award is announced between the end of the regular season and the start of the Big East tournament on March 8, the debate will continue. There are so many candidates and, while most are stepping up at the end of the season, no one is really separating himself from the pack.
"It definitely is a more wide open race than last year. Last year everyone had to choose between [Syracuse's Wes Johnson and Villanova's Scottie Reynolds],'' said Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose guard lost out to the Syracuse forward for the honor. "I really haven't thought about who I would vote for at this point. I think the strength of the Big East this year is that every team has a great leader, but they're not one man teams.''
Case in point is the Pitt team that played West Virginia late Thursday night. The Panthers have led the league from start to finish, but have done so with a fairly balanced attack and few stars. Guard Ashton Gibbs is the team's scoring leader, but backcourt mate Brad Wannamaker might be more important to the success of the team, which was 3-0 when Gibbs missed time with a knee injury. The Panthers then lost when he scored a career-high 26 points at St. John's last Saturday.
While several coaches mentioned both Gibbs and Wannamaker, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim did not.
"Usually coaches generally lean to a player from the winning team. I don't think it has to be. It's just player of the year, so I think it could be open to anybody,'' Boeheim said. "As far as I can see it's pretty wide open. I haven't decided yet. There's four of five guys that have played well. Certainly [Ben] Hansbrough, [Kemba] Walker and [Dwight] Hardy; [Marshon] Brooks, Rick Jackson has been pretty good all year, [Austin] Freeman. There's been a bunch of different guys that have been good all year. It will be a pretty close call I think."
Boeheim pretty much listed all the top candidates, although the list can probably be paired down even further. Syracuse's Jackson is averaging a double-double, but the Orange has faltered of late and the team is very balanced. Gibbs and Wannamaker probably aren't serious candidates, either, because it's not even clear who the best player is on Pitt's team.
As for the rest, Connecticut's Walker was the early favorite when he was leading the nation in scoring and the Huskies were climbing from unranked to No. 4, but he isn't even the league's scoring leader now and UConn is 3-5 in its last eight games after losing at home to Marquette Thursday night. Still, he built a pretty good case early and a lot of the coaches (they are the ones who vote on the award) might see him as the easiest pick.
Georgetown's Freeman was the preseason player of the year and has been good, but he wasn't clearly the choice then or now.
And the other three candidates are clearly intriguing. Notre Dame's Hansbrough has been the catalyst for the Irish's surprising 22-5 season and Top 10 ranking. St. John's Hardy was little more than an afterthought at the beginning of the season, but has been the league's player of the week two weeks running now and the Red Storm is shocking everyone with huge home wins and a Top 25 ranking.
And then there is Brooks. The Providence guard has led the league in scoring much of the season and on Wednesday exploded for a Big East record 52 points in a 94-93 loss to Notre Dame. It's hard to argue against a player who averages 25.4 points (27.4 since league play started) and will soon break the league record for points in a season, except that that the Friars are 14-14 overall and just 3-12 in the conference.
"I do [think a guy needs to be on a winning team]. But a guy like Marshon Brooks is having such a fabulous year that he might overcome that,'' Wright said. "All the other teams are so balanced and he is so extraordinary individually that he could overcome that issue."
***
BRIEFLY: The Mountaineers don't have much time to recover from Thursday's loss to Pitt. They jump right back into it with a noon game at Rutgers on Sunday. The regular-season home finales with UConn and Louisville are on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
| West Virginia actually shot well from 3-point range, making seven of 15 attempts. It was the easy shots that wouldn't fall. The Mountaineers were 10-for-36 on 2-point tries (28 percent).
