Some of the early fallout from Pittsburgh 67, UConn 57:
– What was UConn’s biggest issue?
6-for-13 from the free throw line? Good guess.
26-13 on the boards in the second half? Another good try.
6 turnovers, including one really big one, and 4 missed free throws from your best player (Jerome Dyson)? Maybe.
But coach Jim Calhoun says the biggest problem was 35 and 40. The Huskies don’t play the full 35 seconds of a shot clock on each possession and they don’t play the full 40 minutes in a game.
“Some of the games against Harvard and some of those teams _ they’re very good teams, it’s nothing against those teams _ were early indications that we don’t play 35 and 40,” Calhoun said. “In the past those games were 15, 18 or 20 on a good Harvard team. But they weren’t. They were six points with two minutes to go and they had the ball.
“This has been a season-long problem.”
– The Huskies have had a few hiccups before this season, but Wednesday was the team’s first loss at home this season.
– Not only is Pitt 4-0 in league play, the Panthers have won the last three of those on the road (at Syracuse, at Cincinnati, at UConn).
So what makes the Panthers so good on the road?
“Good players is the first thing,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And the second thing is probably good players. And then the next thing is probably good players.”
– It was clear Pittsburgh won nearly all of the “hustle” stats in the second half.
“We seemed to get every loose ball in the second half,” Dixon said. “We got on the floor.”
Calhoun put it another way:
“They wanted to win,” he said of the Panthers. “And they didn’t talk about winning, they showed it. Talking about it is one thing, doing it is another.”
– UConn was ahead 18-14 on the boards after one half. Pitt turned that around and out-rebounded UConn 26-13 in the second half.
“I asked the guys where was (DeJuan) Blair?” Calhoun said.
– Stanley Robinson had 19 points and went over 1,000 in his career.
“Yeah, it’s nice to know that I finally got 1,000,” Robinson said.
– There was a small problem with the possession arrow at the start of the game Wednesday. After a jump ball early on, the lighted sign on top of the scorer’s table wasn’t turned on.
Referee Tim Higgins confirmed it by checking with a few reporters seated along press row.
“Can you see that arrow?” Higgins asked.
Told that we couldn’t see it, either, Higgins laughed.
“I thought it was the end of my career,” he said.
- Neill
I wish that was the end of Higgin’s career because that was a terrible display of officiating on his part. There’s a Pitt player sliding across the floor and he somehow grants the timeout and then what should have been an and-one for Dyson which could’ve put us within three is called ON THE FLOOR!
Comment by Pete — January 14th, 2010 @ 6:01 pm