BasketJackets: Game 15 at Pitt, Wed. Jan. 6, 7pm (RSN)

[GTJT622]

The Regional Sports Networks carrying the game live include...

CSN Mid Atlantic PLUS
FOX Sports Detroit PLUS
FOX Sports Florida/Sun+
FOX Sports North PLUS
FOX Sports South
FOX Sports West
FOX Sports Wisconsin
MSG Plus 2
NESN
ROOT Sports Northwest
ROOT Sports Pittsburgh
ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain
SportsTime Ohio

Tech currently sits at #68 in the RPI. That's a 43 spot race up the charts over the past week. Pitt (12-1/1-0) is #43 in the RPI. When the lines are released late Tuesday afternoon, we can expect to see Pitt to open as near 9 pt favorites.

Tech leads the all-time series with the Panthers, 5-2. Tech is 1-1 at Pitt, including a loss last season by 5 in mid-January. Tech won at Pitt back in 1970. Tech is 0-2 vs Pitt with the Panthers as a member of the ACC. Tech will face Pitt again in the regular season finale at home, Mar. 5th Sat.

The Panthers were just outside the AP Top 25 looking in a week ago. It is possible when this week's rankings are released later today (Monday) that they may crack that poll. In Pitt's 13 games so far, they have played outside the city of Pittsburgh just twice. Their game against Gonzaga in Japan was suspended due to problems with the floor on the season opening weekend back in mid-November. They blew out Davidson in the Madison Square Garden back on Dec. 20th. Their only other game away from home was a cross-town mauling at Duquesne, 96-75, in early December.

This Pitt team is putting a lot of points on the board. In their 13 games so far, they have scored 80+ in 9 of them. Their lone loss on the season was at home to Purdue by 13 pts where they scored a season-low of 59 pts. Pitt is averaging scoring 85.0 ppg, which currently ranks 15th in the nation. They are grabbing 42.7 boards a game, which is also 15th in the nation. (note, Tech is 41st at 40.9 rpg)

Pitt is dishing out 20.4 assists per game (which is remarkable, btw) and ranks 4th in the nation in that category. (for comparison sake, Tech is tied for 95th in assists-per-game at 15.1) And to add onto all of that, Pitt leads the nation in free throw shooting percentage hitting at an eye-opening 78.6% clip. With distribution of the ball (see assists) and very high accuracy at the charity stripe, it is easy to see why they are ringing up 85 pts a game. Very efficient offensively. Tech has its work cut out for us indeed.

Pitt has 3 guys scoring in double figures per game. They include:

6'9" Jr. Fwd Michael Young - 16.4 ppg
6'7" Jr. Fwd Jamel Artis - 14.6 ppg
6'3" Sr. Gd James Robinson - 10.0 ppg

Recall last year Tech "battled" (and not in a good way) for dead last in 3-pt shooting percentage offensively. We finished about 3 or 4 spots from the bottom out of 351 teams. Well, this year, things have changed dramatically. The BasketJackets are currently tied for 84th at a respectable and much-improved 36.7% rate. FWIW, Pitt is tied for 98th in that statistical category at 36.3%.

If Tech brings the same game it showed at Chapel Hell Saturday, this will be a tight game heading into the final 5 minutes (just like Saturday). Classes begin for Pitt students on Wednesday, so they all should be back on campus, at the Petersen Center, and loud. The Zoo can be quite the home court advantage for Jamie Evans and his bunch.

Pitt made the NCAAT every year between 2002 and 2011 (10 straight years!) before missing in 2012 (though they won the CBI postseason tourney that year). They returned in 2013 & 2014 before missing last year. A season ago, they lost in the first round of the NIT. So, they are hungry to get back to the NCAAT where they feel they belong and history has proven that. A win here at the halfway point to (Tech's) regular season would get Pitt to 13-1/2-0 and looking very good in that quest. Tech OTOH wants to somehow scratch out a win in this very difficult start to the ACC schedule to avoid a potential 0-4 start.

I expect another high-scoring game that will be decided in the final minutes. Hopefully, the Jackets can withstand the runs by Pitt on their home floor and continue to execute offensively - this time, better during crunch time. Will update the thread with game previews, TV announcers, etc., via reply once available.

Go Jackets!!

 

[rschlee11]

Nice a game on fox Detroit! Won't have to go to the bar. Should be a tough physical game. Need to steal one of these road games. Pitt looks surprisingly good this year. If Chuck can stay out of foul trouble and the rest of the bigs do there job we should be ok. Hopefully we can carry over the effort from Saturday.

 

[BornAJacket]

If they play like they did at UNC early, I like their chances. They need to avoid the final 4 minutes. I would love to win this game. Road ACC games are difficult to win.

 

[stech81]

Nice a game on fox Detroit! Won't have to go to the bar. Should be a tough physical game. Need to steal one of these road games. Pitt looks surprisingly good this year. If Chuck can stay out of foul trouble and the rest of the bigs do there job we should be ok. Hopefully we can carry over the effort from Saturday.

If your not going to bar , you can still drink beer at home and watch the game.

 

[rschlee11]

If your not going to bar , you can still drink beer at home and watch the game.

That's a given. My drink of choice is Crown Royal.

 

[GTJT622]

Tom Werme will be the p-b-p guy and the G-Man will be the analyst for Wednesday's TV broadcast, FWIW. Game notes from rr.com... http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/geot/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2015-16/release/release.pdf

 

[GTJT622]

Yet another random nugget...

...Pitt's schedule is rated 298th by Sagarin. The only "easier" schedule per Sagarin to date among ACC teams is Louisville at 303.

 

[GTJT622]

BasketJackets open as 9-pt underdogs, FWIW

 

[BornAJacket]

Maybe they can steal 4-5 possessions and win a close game.

 

[GTJT622]

Early $ is on Tech as spread has moved to 8, FWIW

 

[GTJT622]

Solid position-by-position analysis from Cardiac Hill website regarding tonight's matchup... http://www.cardiachill.com/2016/1/6...a-tech-acc-basketball-jamel-artis-jamie-dixon

 

[GTJT622]

Side notes regarding our OOC opponents in no particular odor (although #2 below really smells)...

1. VCU got a big win at St. Joe's last night and is now sitting at 10-5/2-0. By season's end, our win over the Rams will look really good, IMO. They played some powers pretty tight like Duke and Wisconsin, but our win over them by double digits stands out as their worst defeat by far to date.

2. The Cesspoolians play 4 of their next 6 at home and 1 of the road games is at Mizzou (currently 7-6). So, we could see them go on a nice winning streak over the remainder of January (sad to say...to hell with them!).

3. Colgate is off to a nice start in Patriot League play sitting at 2-0 including a road win at American by 19 pts.

4. The Vols host Florida tonight, but I wouldn't expect much of them this season. It's going to be a tough year for Rick Barnes in his first go round in Knoxville I believe from what I've seen of them (have seen about 8 games so far). If the Vols can win the next 2 games (both at home), then they could get on track and I will gladly eat that projection. Go Vols!

5. Green Bay is also off to a nice start in the Horizon League sitting at 2-0 and is 9-5 overall. They have won 5 of their last 6 and the lone loss was a very respectable 5 pt loss at Wisconsin (after being down by 30 at one point in the 2nd half).

6. Tulane is off to a terrible start in the AAC sitting at 0-3 and 7-9 overall.

7. Cornell is 6-7 overall and faces Howard University on the road tonight before beginning Ivy League play this Saturday at Columbia.

8. Villanova is of course doing great and is pretty much a lock to make the NCAAT as well as be a high seed.

9. Arkansas is 7-7 overall and 1-1 in the SEC, coming off a home win over Vandy.

10. Southeastern Louisiana is 2-12 overall and 0-1 in the Southland Conference. Their RPI is #347. Quite a drain on our RPI.

11. Duquesne is 10-4 overall and opened A-10 play with an 8-pt loss at home to A-10 favorite, Dayton. The Dukes travel to Davidson tonight.

12. ETSU is 1-0 in SoCon play so far. They should move to 3-0 as they host UNCG (5-10) and VMI (5-8) in their next two games. Chattanooga, Mercer and Wofford will all battle ETSU for the conference tournament title and auto berth to the NCAAT.

13. Wofford is 5-9 overall but 2-0 in SoCon play.

 

[Texwood]

Our bigs need to show some patience offensively when they aren't doubling the post.

 

[GTJT622]

So much for getting off to a good start. Ugh. Maybe we reverse things and get the bad 5 minute stretch out of the way early and play well at the end. Just hope our hole we're digging isn't so deep we can't get out of it.

 

[Texwood]

If this team can figure out a way to play defense like we did the past couple of seasons, this could be a good year. How strange is it to see a Brian Gregory coached team look consistently inept on the defense end of the court?

 

[Texwood]

Five point loss @ Pitt will look good on the resume if we are fortunate enough to be among the interviewees.

 

[rschlee11]

Well I got us at +8 so a win in my wallet but a loss for the team. We can never seem to put an entire game together. Look great in spurts then completely disfunctional for 4-6 mins. And Nick Jacobs effort was f'ing pathetic.

 

[GTJT622]

I'm probably not alone when I say (with all seriousness) I'd be perfectly fine if Adam Smith took a shot on every possession. I'd like to him shoot the ball at least 45 times per game. My goodness. I think we should move him to PG so the ball is in his hands from the get-go on every possession.

 

[rschlee11]

I'm probably not alone when I say (with all seriousness) I'd be perfectly fine if Adam Smith took a shot on every possession. I'd like to him shoot the ball at least 45 times per game. My goodness. I think we should move him to PG so the ball is in his hands from the get-go on every possession.

I am 100% all for this. The ball needs to be in his hands every possession. He quick enough off the dribble to drive and dish and he's clearly able to get his own shot. I started thinking this after the Villanova game when our pgs were clearly out classed.

 

[GTJT622]

After thinking about it some more, I realize I made a really dumb statement in the earlier reply about wanting Adam Smith to shoot the ball at least 45 times a game. Probably the Bud Light talking. Sorry about that. What I should have said is I want Adam Smith to shoot the ball at least 75 times a game.

 

[Delpanther]

Guys, who, pray tell, is "Jamie Evans"? Gotta do your homework a little better than that.

 

[GTJT622]

Guys, who, pray tell, is "Jamie Evans"? Gotta do your homework a little better than that.

An old drinking buddy of mine. Woops. Sorry about that.

 

[GTJT622]

If this team can figure out a way to play defense like we did the past couple of seasons, this could be a good year. How strange is it to see a Brian Gregory coached team look consistently inept on the defense end of the court?

Assuming Mike Bobinski is alive (subject to confirmation), perhaps he needs to send a message to Brian Gregory...

...defense is more than just something to do between offensive possessions.

 

[GTJT622]

Chuck Mitchell deserves a huge attaboy...20 pts and 17 boards!! He's a double-double machine as we all know, but even that line is noteworthy.

Keep it up, Chuck!

I thought T-Jax reappeared and played a decent game. I still don't understand his fascination with shooting 3's, but I guess I never will. Lammers got 14 minutes. I would not mind seeing his minutes inch up closer to a 50-50 time share with Jacobs.

Observations...

1. Stephens is pretty much a ghost at this point. 3 minutes last night and nothing to show for of note. Not sure what's going on with him. I realize we want MGH (37 minutes last night) on the court as much as possible, but the fact QS isn't pushing to get more than 3 minutes is alarming. I was thinking QS would be a likely starter at the 3 next year. Doesn't look that way anymore with some talented newbies coming in who can play there.

2. Is the level of competition catching up with James White? Hard to call it a "concern" for me because White is a 1-year rental and his addition to the Tech roster this year was just gravy. He looks a step slow defensively, but that can be said about a lot of our guys at this point.

3. Defense is of course a bit of a concern, but UNC and Pitt are two of the best offensive teams in the nation so I'll hold off until I see us play some more games/teams.

4. Is the time right to hand over the PG reins to Jorgenson? We are getting next-to-nothing from Heath right now. I wouldn't mind TJ being the starter and getting 25 minutes and Heath get about 8 minutes and the other 7 minutes divided between T-Jax and Smith (particularly to Smith late in games when we want the ball in his hands when the game is close).

5. 4 guys took 58 of our 68 field goal attempts last night. Smith only took 2 shots in the first 10 minutes of the game. He's got to fully realize he has the greenest of green lights CBG has ever given one of his players. We had trouble just getting the ball to him for the first quarter of the game last night. And when he got it, he was reluctant to take the shot. He eventually must have received the message or took it upon himself to start taking some shots. The tougher looking the shot for him, the less I worry about it going in. He's amazing. We got behind early (like 21-9) and Smith was pretty much nonexistent during that stretch offensively. We need him to come out gunning against the French Saturday afternoon. He should know the French very well, btw.

 

[stech81]

How is our 7 year plan going?

 

[BornAJacket]

When they had it down to 1 point after that slow start I thought they might be able to get the road win. They Pitt stretched it back to 10. Not sure what happened during that stretch...

The team kept playing pretty good and drew it back close in the final minute. But those lapses on defense need to stop. I remember one play where the defense was really good and the clock was moving down, then all of a sudden a Pitt player broke open on a pretty easy lay up. I don't know if it was a bad switch, but those are the type of baskets that need to be limited.

 

[GTJT622]

How is our 7 year plan going?

Hard to tell because the leader of the plan is apparently dead. Even Norm Arey thinks he's dead.

It must be working really well because they've apparently increased it to a 12-year plan. You know, bigger is better and all.

 

[GTJT622]

FWIW, Tech's RPI moved up 11 spots with the loss at Pitt last night now up to #57. (note, the Cesspool's win over poor Mizzou at home lowered its RPI 7 spots to #64)

Pitt moved up 10 spots now to #33.