Pitt 84, St. Joe's (Indiana) 43: News and Notes

Pitt won 84-43 over St. Joe’s Indiana.

Notable Stats from the game:

• Mike Young led the Panthers with 16 points and 12 rebounds. He was dominant as you might imagine but it wasn’t exactly like St. Joe’s frontcourt was loaded with future NBAers…..or even NBDLers for that matter…..

• Sheldon Jeter also had ten points and ten rebounds and Cameron Johnson, who has a really nice shot, had 10 points as well.

• Pitt didn’t shoot it great, they were 6-of-23 from the 3-point line but that probably has as much to do with tired legs as anything else.

• All you need to know about how much physically better Pitt was than St. Joe’s come from these numbers: Pitt outrebounded St. Joe’s 56-35, had 18 offensive rebounds, outscored the Pumas 40-8 in the paint and 26-2 in second-chance points.

Obviously there isn’t much to learn from this game as St. Joe’s is a Division II team and not a very good one at that and the Panthers – who slept walked through the first half – dominated them without really even breaking a sweat.

However, we’ve now seen this team for three halves of regular season basketball and an exhibition game and I do think there are some things that you can see with this group.

For one, the depth is indeed better than it was and I think Jamie Dixon has many different options to make it work and match up with teams. I also think Sterling Smith is going to be a nice addition as is Alonzo Nelson-Ododa. It is still too early to tell what Rafael Maia will bring because he has been out of shape due to all the injuries but he looks like he is getting closer as he was a little quicker and lighter on his feet tonight than he had been.

It is, like Jamie Dixon said, a work in progress but I think it is a much better group and there is more to work with than last season at this time so that’s a good start.

Here are some of my other thoughts:

** The starting lineup tonight is the same as it has been: Mike Young, Jamel Artis, James Robinson, Sterling Smith and Alonzo Nelson-Ododa. The next two in the game were Chris Jones and Sheldon Jeter. It is pretty clear that Jamie Dixon wasn’t lying when he said he will mix and match the post players and use many combinations as there were stretches when neither “center” (Rafael Maia or Nelson-Ododa) was on the court. It will be interesting to see how that rotation works out as the Panthers move into the more varsity part of their schedule. But early on Dixon will have the luxury of experimenting with different combos as they will be bigger than most of the early opponents they play regardless of who is on the court.

** Pitt is playing around with a little bit of 1-2-2 pressure and some other full-court stuff where the goal is to slow the other teams down. This is one of those “the new shot clock will change the game” type things as some coaches believe there will be more zone presses so teams have to use 8 or 9 seconds to get up the court. I have to believe it won’t take long for coaches to see this isn’t going to make a big difference as teams can handle the ball well enough to get it up the court and get into their offense. I’m sure Dixon likes his length and they do have athletes so if they decide to start trapping and whatnot out of this defense it could become a real weapon. But as far slowing the other team down and making them hurry into their offense with five less seconds on the clock now – I’ve watched a ton of games already this past weekend and see a lot of teams tinkering with it and have yet to see it yield shot-clock violations.

** Damon Wilson made his debut tonight and played XX minutes and scored XX points . Wilson had been sidelined with a hamstring injury but he is healthy again. Wilson played the point mostly when he was in the game and that’s likely where he will settle in – as the point guard behind James Robinson (and heir apparent). I like Wilson, I think he is one of the best freshmen Pitt has had in a long time. He has length, size, athleticism and a pretty high basketball IQ.

** The thing about Wilson developing is it enables the Panthers to put a very athletic and long lineup on the court with Wilson at the point and Chris Jones, Sterling Smith or Cam Johnson at shooting guard. This gives them a lot of flexibility in matching up and also forcing matchups and also, if Dixon decides to press someone they have the players to make it very effective. The depth is easy to see of this team but also, as Dixon has said, the interchangeable parts and versatility mean they will be tough to match up with.

** I know it is fashionable to beat up Dixon over the way he schedules and who the Panthers play in the nonconference and there is plenty of evidence to suggest he could have done much better this year as the schedule is not very good or interesting for that matter. But this game, you have to give him a pass – it was clear the Panthers coming off a long trip were sluggish and he had the foresight to see that and make sure they could get their legs back against a team they had no danger of losing to. And the other part is this – because it is a non-Division I team they played, the game doesn’t count in the RPI one way or the other so on the off chance they lost it wouldn’t hurt their RPI. Again, I think Pitt’s schedule should be better than it is but I really have no issue with this game, well other than they could have played a PSAC team and kept the money from the guarantee in the state……

** One other thing from Friday -- I’ll be interested to see how Gonzaga progresses early in the season. I think the Bulldogs will be a very good team by the end of the year but it is clear there could be some growing pains with a brand new backcourt and the awkwardness of trying to fit three big men on the court at the same time. The one thing we saw against Pitt was it is hard to play that way – they had a hard time matching up with smaller, quicker forwards on defense and offensively there wasn’t as much space for any of them to operate. I actually thought they played better with only two of them on the court because there was more ball movement and also because they could match up with Pitt’s small forwards better. It won’t shock me if the Bulldogs lose a game or two in the preseason until Mark Few figures out his rotation.

** Finally, here is a quick gamer for you:

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon knew his players would be fatigued and jet lagged after they returned from Okinawa, Japan so he scheduled a team that wouldn’t require much heavy lifting to beat in their first game back home.

That is a good thing, too, because the Panthers were sloppy, at times uninspired and a little bit sluggish, especially in the first half, Tuesday in their home opener against St. Joseph’s of Indiana, a Division II team who had gotten blown out in its first two games.

And as planned, the Panthers didn’t need to be at their best, or anywhere close, to win the game as they used a strong second half to pull away and pummel the Pumas, 84-43, at the Petersen Events Center.

Mike Young had a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) as did Sheldon Jeter (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Cam Johnson scored 10 points as well.

The Panthers jet lag, tired legs, was probably best illustrated by their struggles shooting the ball as they made only 6-of-23 (26.1 percent) from beyond the 3-point line.

But their overwhelming advantage in both size and athleticism more than made up for their inability to hit shots as they outrebounded the Pumas 56-35, outscored them 40-8 in the paint and had 26 second-chance points to St. Joe’s 2.

Pitt also got some good news as freshman guard Damon Wilson, who had been sidelined with a hamstring injury, made his debut and scored seven points.

** Pitt’s next game is Friday at the Petersen Center against Detroit (1-0), which won its opener over Central State (Ohio).