Mountaineers to Battle Pitt
February 24, 2011 10:52 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The first time West Virginia played Pitt in Morgantown back on Feb. 7 the Panthers won the game because they owned the glass.
Pitt had a 40-28 advantage on the boards leading to many second-chance points. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins says that must change if the Mountaineers want to defeat the Panthers in Pittsburgh for just the second time in the last 13 years.
"We have to do a much better job of rebounding the ball," said Huggins. "They just destroyed us on the glass. We can't let them score the ball close to the basket like they did last time."
In that first game it wasn't the first shot that beat West Virginia - it was the second, third and fourth shots. Pitt had a 42-24 scoring edge in the paint with 16 of those coming on second-chance opportunities.
"We've got to do a better job of blocking them out," Huggins said. "We can't give up 18 offensive rebounds and allow them to score 42 points in the paint - we just can't do that."
Pitt had a well-balanced scoring attack against West Virginia in the first meeting, with Nassir Robinson leading four double-digit scorers with 15 points. Pitt's leading scorer Ashton Gibbs sat out the West Virginia game with a knee injury but has since returned to the lineup. Gibbs is averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game and is shooting 47% from 3.
"Gibbs gives them perimeter shooting," said Huggins. "They only attempted 6 3s against us and I think they took seven the game after that. I think their whole focus was to really put pressure on the rim."
That's easy to do when you've got a 6-foot-11, 250-pounder in the middle in senior center Gary McGhee. The Anderson, Ind. resident has worked hard on his game, boosting his scoring average for 1.2 points per game as a sophomore to his current 7.3 points-per-game average. McGee isn't a great offensive threat, reaching double figures in points just nine times this year, but he is extremely valuable around the basket.
Huggins believes McGhee is the best post defender in the Big East and when he's on the floor that enables Pitt's wing defenders to play more aggressively.
"They don't have to push the ball out as far as we do because they have much better size inside," Huggins explained. "They basically guard a step beyond the 3-point line, but we have to push people further because we've had a real bad lack of size in the post.
"I think McGhee has been underappreciated, not by Jamie Dixon and the people in their program, but from the people on the outside," Huggins said. "We get three post-ups that we normally score on and he blocks all three of them off the ball. We get those and we don't lost by (five)."
Pitt is coming off a somewhat controversial loss at St. John's last Saturday when it appeared Dwight Hardy stepped on the baseline before scoring his game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds left in a 60-59 Red Storm victory.
Hardy's basket came right after Travon Woodall's 3 put the Panthers ahead by one with 11.3 seconds left in the game.
Gibbs made his return to the lineup after a three-game absence and finished with a career-high 26 points.
It was just the third loss for the Panthers this season. Pitt's other two losses were close games against Tennessee and Notre Dame.
"They don't beat themselves," said Huggins. "I think they've got a bunch that when they need to make free throws, they make them. They're not a great perimeter shooting team but when they need a perimeter shot, they make it. They made a couple perimeter shots against us a year ago that they hadn't made all year and they've done that for a while - much like we did for a while."
Huggins is hopeful his team has rediscovered its shooting stroke. Guards Truck Bryant and Joe Mazzulla combined for 40 points to help the Mountaineers (17-9, 8-6) knock off then-eighth-rated Notre Dame, 72-58, last Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.
Bryant, mired in a miserable shooting slump for the last two months, was able to hit 5 of 11 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3 to score 24 points. Mazzulla finished the game hitting 6 of 10 from the floor for 16 points.
Those two players scored a combined 13 points on 3 of 11 shooting the first time West Virginia played Pitt in Morgantown earlier this month.
Forward Kevin Jones added 14 points and 10 rebounds against Notre Dame and shows averages of 12.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. But Jones has shot better than 50% from the floor just twice in his last 13 games and is shooting 43.6% overall for the season.
In the first meeting with Pitt, Jones scored 12 on 5 of 11 shooting. Most of West Virginia's offense came from sophomore center Deniz Kilicli, who scored a career-high 19 points coming off the bench.
John Flowers, West Virginia's best defender, sat most of the second half with foul trouble and finished the game with 5 points and five rebounds. Casey Mitchell, coming off a three-game disciplinary suspension, made just 2 of 10 shots and finished the game with 7 points.
Pitt (24-3, 12-2) has taken six of seven from West Virginia since opening the Petersen Events Center. The Mountaineers' lone victory came in 2005 when John Beilein was still the coach.
Tip off is set for 9 p.m. with ESPN televising the game nationally.
MSN's coverage (Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and Kyle Wiggs) begins with the Coliseum Countdown at 8:30 p.m.
Pitt had a 40-28 advantage on the boards leading to many second-chance points. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins says that must change if the Mountaineers want to defeat the Panthers in Pittsburgh for just the second time in the last 13 years.
"We have to do a much better job of rebounding the ball," said Huggins. "They just destroyed us on the glass. We can't let them score the ball close to the basket like they did last time."
In that first game it wasn't the first shot that beat West Virginia - it was the second, third and fourth shots. Pitt had a 42-24 scoring edge in the paint with 16 of those coming on second-chance opportunities.
"We've got to do a better job of blocking them out," Huggins said. "We can't give up 18 offensive rebounds and allow them to score 42 points in the paint - we just can't do that."
Pitt had a well-balanced scoring attack against West Virginia in the first meeting, with Nassir Robinson leading four double-digit scorers with 15 points. Pitt's leading scorer Ashton Gibbs sat out the West Virginia game with a knee injury but has since returned to the lineup. Gibbs is averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game and is shooting 47% from 3.
"Gibbs gives them perimeter shooting," said Huggins. "They only attempted 6 3s against us and I think they took seven the game after that. I think their whole focus was to really put pressure on the rim."
That's easy to do when you've got a 6-foot-11, 250-pounder in the middle in senior center Gary McGhee. The Anderson, Ind. resident has worked hard on his game, boosting his scoring average for 1.2 points per game as a sophomore to his current 7.3 points-per-game average. McGee isn't a great offensive threat, reaching double figures in points just nine times this year, but he is extremely valuable around the basket.
Huggins believes McGhee is the best post defender in the Big East and when he's on the floor that enables Pitt's wing defenders to play more aggressively.
"They don't have to push the ball out as far as we do because they have much better size inside," Huggins explained. "They basically guard a step beyond the 3-point line, but we have to push people further because we've had a real bad lack of size in the post.
"I think McGhee has been underappreciated, not by Jamie Dixon and the people in their program, but from the people on the outside," Huggins said. "We get three post-ups that we normally score on and he blocks all three of them off the ball. We get those and we don't lost by (five)."
Pitt is coming off a somewhat controversial loss at St. John's last Saturday when it appeared Dwight Hardy stepped on the baseline before scoring his game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds left in a 60-59 Red Storm victory.
Hardy's basket came right after Travon Woodall's 3 put the Panthers ahead by one with 11.3 seconds left in the game.
Gibbs made his return to the lineup after a three-game absence and finished with a career-high 26 points.
It was just the third loss for the Panthers this season. Pitt's other two losses were close games against Tennessee and Notre Dame.
"They don't beat themselves," said Huggins. "I think they've got a bunch that when they need to make free throws, they make them. They're not a great perimeter shooting team but when they need a perimeter shot, they make it. They made a couple perimeter shots against us a year ago that they hadn't made all year and they've done that for a while - much like we did for a while."
Huggins is hopeful his team has rediscovered its shooting stroke. Guards Truck Bryant and Joe Mazzulla combined for 40 points to help the Mountaineers (17-9, 8-6) knock off then-eighth-rated Notre Dame, 72-58, last Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.
Bryant, mired in a miserable shooting slump for the last two months, was able to hit 5 of 11 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3 to score 24 points. Mazzulla finished the game hitting 6 of 10 from the floor for 16 points.
Those two players scored a combined 13 points on 3 of 11 shooting the first time West Virginia played Pitt in Morgantown earlier this month.
Forward Kevin Jones added 14 points and 10 rebounds against Notre Dame and shows averages of 12.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. But Jones has shot better than 50% from the floor just twice in his last 13 games and is shooting 43.6% overall for the season.
In the first meeting with Pitt, Jones scored 12 on 5 of 11 shooting. Most of West Virginia's offense came from sophomore center Deniz Kilicli, who scored a career-high 19 points coming off the bench.
John Flowers, West Virginia's best defender, sat most of the second half with foul trouble and finished the game with 5 points and five rebounds. Casey Mitchell, coming off a three-game disciplinary suspension, made just 2 of 10 shots and finished the game with 7 points.
Pitt (24-3, 12-2) has taken six of seven from West Virginia since opening the Petersen Events Center. The Mountaineers' lone victory came in 2005 when John Beilein was still the coach.
Tip off is set for 9 p.m. with ESPN televising the game nationally.
MSN's coverage (Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and Kyle Wiggs) begins with the Coliseum Countdown at 8:30 p.m.
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