Arena Adventures: Entry #7
Arena: Petersen Events Center
City: Pittsburgh, PA
Date: December 27, 2010
Teams: #6 Pittsburgh vs. #4 Connecticut
With the sizes of conferences continuing to balloon, it seems like conference play keeps starting earlier and earlier each year. This year was no exception as the Big East decided to open its conference play on Monday, December 27 and feature its coaches’ and writers’ preseason pick to win the conference in Pittsburgh against traditional power, and preseason 10th pick in the Big East, Connecticut. Turns out this game became a much more significant contest than the preseason prognosticators could have ever imagined based on Connecticut’s taking home the Maui Invitational Championship and Pitt having taken home the 2k Sports Classic title itself. As those tournaments featured a plethora of ranked teams, Connecticut shot up the rankings to #4 with 2 of the more impressive wins this season over Michigan State and Kentucky. Everyone in the preseason knew what they were getting with Pitt, a tough, physical team with a veteran
backcourt in Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, and Gilbert Brown, while no one had any idea what to expect from Connecticut with 6 freshmen and Kemba Walker being the only returning player who contributed significantly in the 2009-10 season. Consequently, Connecticut came into this game as the higher ranked team, and undefeated, while Pitt experienced its only blemish at the hands of a Jekyll & Hyde Tennessee Volunteer squad two weeks earlier.
Heading to the Pete as the Petersen Events Center is known as on campus, and being a huge Connecticut fan, I knew this game would be very difficult to win. It was the team’s first true road game of the season, Pitt is a veteran and physical team, and the Panthers are 141-11 all-time at the Pete. Additionally, in order to win the Big East it is pretty obvious that the good teams have to hold serve at home, and due to the enormity of the Big East, only 3 teams play home-and-home in a given season. As such, Connecticut got the short end of the straw and had to go to Pitt for its conference opener no less. A win here would justify that Connecticut is truly one of the elite teams in the country as their #4 ranking suggests, a close loss would prove they have the ability to contend nightly in the conference and compete for a conference title, and a blowout would show that most of these kids are still freshmen and sophomores and that it’s just damn hard to win on the road in the Big East.
From the opening tip, it looked like option three from above was going to be the result of the Huskies’ trip to Pittsburgh. Right out of the gate, Pitt took an 8-2 lead behind the inside play of Gary McGhee and the outside shooting of Gibbs, while Connecticut struggled to make anything. It was pretty obvious that the Huskies were a bit rattled at the beginning in front of 13,000 jacked-up fans in a “gold-out” at the Pete. Connecticut continued to get up shots, but those shots
just would not fall. As a result, Pitt was able to build a 10 point lead and pretty much maintain that lead throughout the first half. It seemed as though every time Connecticut attempted to string together a few baskets to try to come back, Pitt always had an answer from McGhee in the post or Wanamaker or Gibbs from the perimeter. Connecticut was able to get a few steals, but also gave up a lot of easy hoops overplaying the ball and the veteran Panthers took advantage of that continuously with backdoor cuts and layups. The officiating crew lead by Jim Burr didn’t do much to help the flow of the game either way as well, calling a multitude of fouls in the first half, including 2 of Connecticut’s only legitimate post presence in Alex Oriahki, forcing Coach Calhoun to sit Oriahki for much of the first half. Walker also picked up 2 fouls in the first half, but didn’t get called for his second until late in the half. The lack of depth for Connecticut compared to Pitt really showed when foul trouble hit both teams. Pitt was able to turn to Travon Woodall in the backcourt and Dante Taylor and Nassir Robinson in the frontcourt, while Connecticut’s bench of Niels Giffey, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Enosch Wolf struggled mightly. All of these factors contributed to a 37-28 halftime lead for the Panthers; a half in which Pitt shot 55% from the field and Connecticut 32%.
The second half brought a lot of the same for both teams, as Connecticut continued to struggle from the field and Pitt continued to brutalize Connecticut both from the perimeter and in the post. Connecticut had no answer for McGhee inside, especially without Oriahki, as Charles Okwandu was simply not a physical enough
presence in the paint to keep McGhee from the basket. Okwandu eventually fouled out of the game trying to defend McGhee and Oriahki didn’t have much different results against McGhee, Robinson, or Taylor. Oriahki simply looked out of sorts in the game, not sure if the first half foul trouble caused that or if he was just frustrated by the Pitt defense all night, but Oriahki was not able to play Robin to Kemba’s Batman in this game. By the end of the game, Walker single-handedly brought Connecticut back into the game, cutting the Pitt lead to 7 on a drive to the hoop under 5 minutes. After a solid defensive possession by the Huskies, Kemba got a wide-open 3-point look from the right corner and left it short. If Kemba is able to hit that, all the pressure in the game turns to the home team who should win this game. As it didn’t and Pitt was able to head down to the other end and knock home 2 free throws to extend the lead back to 9, the Panthers were headed to their first Big East win of the season. The final margin of victory ended up being 73-58. Walker finished with 31 points for Connecticut, but was the only Husky in double figures and Kemba needed 27 shots to score those 31 points. The Panthers’ balanced attack was lead by 16 from Gibbs, 14 from Wanamaker, and 11 from McGhee.
So what did we learn from this game to open the Big East conference season? In my opinion, we learned that Pitt is going to contend for the Big East title and a possible Final Four berth as they have an extremely balanced team and veterans in both the frontcourt and backcourt. The only question to me is can Pitt get over the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight hump finally? As for Connecticut, we learned what a lot of people thought, they were not the fourth best team in the country…right now. Could they be by April? Maybe, but they are going to need some consistent scoring from players other than Walker. When Kemba scores over 50% of the points in a game, the Huskies will probably not win very often.
Oriahki needs to become a double-double guy and freshman PG Shabazz Napier needs to bring his offensive consistency more in line with the tough defense he plays nightly. Napier is a great defender, but does not always take shots in the flow of the offense or keep the offense moving. While he’s only a freshman, if Connecticut wants to make some noise in the tournament, he’ll need to be a consistent scoring option, along with Jeremy Lamb. In the end, this was a good win for Pitt to hold home court to open the Big East season, while Connecticut learned that they still have a lot of things to work on if they want to contend for a Big East championship in 2010-11.
City: Pittsburgh, PA
Date: December 27, 2010
Teams: #6 Pittsburgh vs. #4 Connecticut
With the sizes of conferences continuing to balloon, it seems like conference play keeps starting earlier and earlier each year. This year was no exception as the Big East decided to open its conference play on Monday, December 27 and feature its coaches’ and writers’ preseason pick to win the conference in Pittsburgh against traditional power, and preseason 10th pick in the Big East, Connecticut. Turns out this game became a much more significant contest than the preseason prognosticators could have ever imagined based on Connecticut’s taking home the Maui Invitational Championship and Pitt having taken home the 2k Sports Classic title itself. As those tournaments featured a plethora of ranked teams, Connecticut shot up the rankings to #4 with 2 of the more impressive wins this season over Michigan State and Kentucky. Everyone in the preseason knew what they were getting with Pitt, a tough, physical team with a veteran
backcourt in Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, and Gilbert Brown, while no one had any idea what to expect from Connecticut with 6 freshmen and Kemba Walker being the only returning player who contributed significantly in the 2009-10 season. Consequently, Connecticut came into this game as the higher ranked team, and undefeated, while Pitt experienced its only blemish at the hands of a Jekyll & Hyde Tennessee Volunteer squad two weeks earlier.Heading to the Pete as the Petersen Events Center is known as on campus, and being a huge Connecticut fan, I knew this game would be very difficult to win. It was the team’s first true road game of the season, Pitt is a veteran and physical team, and the Panthers are 141-11 all-time at the Pete. Additionally, in order to win the Big East it is pretty obvious that the good teams have to hold serve at home, and due to the enormity of the Big East, only 3 teams play home-and-home in a given season. As such, Connecticut got the short end of the straw and had to go to Pitt for its conference opener no less. A win here would justify that Connecticut is truly one of the elite teams in the country as their #4 ranking suggests, a close loss would prove they have the ability to contend nightly in the conference and compete for a conference title, and a blowout would show that most of these kids are still freshmen and sophomores and that it’s just damn hard to win on the road in the Big East.
From the opening tip, it looked like option three from above was going to be the result of the Huskies’ trip to Pittsburgh. Right out of the gate, Pitt took an 8-2 lead behind the inside play of Gary McGhee and the outside shooting of Gibbs, while Connecticut struggled to make anything. It was pretty obvious that the Huskies were a bit rattled at the beginning in front of 13,000 jacked-up fans in a “gold-out” at the Pete. Connecticut continued to get up shots, but those shots
just would not fall. As a result, Pitt was able to build a 10 point lead and pretty much maintain that lead throughout the first half. It seemed as though every time Connecticut attempted to string together a few baskets to try to come back, Pitt always had an answer from McGhee in the post or Wanamaker or Gibbs from the perimeter. Connecticut was able to get a few steals, but also gave up a lot of easy hoops overplaying the ball and the veteran Panthers took advantage of that continuously with backdoor cuts and layups. The officiating crew lead by Jim Burr didn’t do much to help the flow of the game either way as well, calling a multitude of fouls in the first half, including 2 of Connecticut’s only legitimate post presence in Alex Oriahki, forcing Coach Calhoun to sit Oriahki for much of the first half. Walker also picked up 2 fouls in the first half, but didn’t get called for his second until late in the half. The lack of depth for Connecticut compared to Pitt really showed when foul trouble hit both teams. Pitt was able to turn to Travon Woodall in the backcourt and Dante Taylor and Nassir Robinson in the frontcourt, while Connecticut’s bench of Niels Giffey, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Enosch Wolf struggled mightly. All of these factors contributed to a 37-28 halftime lead for the Panthers; a half in which Pitt shot 55% from the field and Connecticut 32%.The second half brought a lot of the same for both teams, as Connecticut continued to struggle from the field and Pitt continued to brutalize Connecticut both from the perimeter and in the post. Connecticut had no answer for McGhee inside, especially without Oriahki, as Charles Okwandu was simply not a physical enough
presence in the paint to keep McGhee from the basket. Okwandu eventually fouled out of the game trying to defend McGhee and Oriahki didn’t have much different results against McGhee, Robinson, or Taylor. Oriahki simply looked out of sorts in the game, not sure if the first half foul trouble caused that or if he was just frustrated by the Pitt defense all night, but Oriahki was not able to play Robin to Kemba’s Batman in this game. By the end of the game, Walker single-handedly brought Connecticut back into the game, cutting the Pitt lead to 7 on a drive to the hoop under 5 minutes. After a solid defensive possession by the Huskies, Kemba got a wide-open 3-point look from the right corner and left it short. If Kemba is able to hit that, all the pressure in the game turns to the home team who should win this game. As it didn’t and Pitt was able to head down to the other end and knock home 2 free throws to extend the lead back to 9, the Panthers were headed to their first Big East win of the season. The final margin of victory ended up being 73-58. Walker finished with 31 points for Connecticut, but was the only Husky in double figures and Kemba needed 27 shots to score those 31 points. The Panthers’ balanced attack was lead by 16 from Gibbs, 14 from Wanamaker, and 11 from McGhee.So what did we learn from this game to open the Big East conference season? In my opinion, we learned that Pitt is going to contend for the Big East title and a possible Final Four berth as they have an extremely balanced team and veterans in both the frontcourt and backcourt. The only question to me is can Pitt get over the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight hump finally? As for Connecticut, we learned what a lot of people thought, they were not the fourth best team in the country…right now. Could they be by April? Maybe, but they are going to need some consistent scoring from players other than Walker. When Kemba scores over 50% of the points in a game, the Huskies will probably not win very often.
Oriahki needs to become a double-double guy and freshman PG Shabazz Napier needs to bring his offensive consistency more in line with the tough defense he plays nightly. Napier is a great defender, but does not always take shots in the flow of the offense or keep the offense moving. While he’s only a freshman, if Connecticut wants to make some noise in the tournament, he’ll need to be a consistent scoring option, along with Jeremy Lamb. In the end, this was a good win for Pitt to hold home court to open the Big East season, while Connecticut learned that they still have a lot of things to work on if they want to contend for a Big East championship in 2010-11.
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