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Hotas bow down to Pittsburgh
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DeJuan Blair simply pushed his way past the Hoyas. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
In a matchup of possibly the two best teams in the Big East, the #3 Pittsburgh Panthers outlasted the #8 Georgetown Hoyas, 70-54.
Junior forward Dajuan Summers did his best to keep his teammates in the game, using his quickness to get by the Pittsburgh bigs, and his size to shoot over the guards, en route to 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Summers’ biggest shot came on a three-pointer that knotted the game at 40 in the second half. But after feeling the pressure, Pittsburgh made a substantial statement by outscoring the Hoyas 30-14 over the game’s final 14 minutes.
But aside from the score, the story of this game was the toughness displayed by 6’7” sophomore forward DeJuan Blair, whose 265 pound frame was simply no match for anyone in the Hoya rotation. Blair finished with 20 points and a staggering 17 rebounds in 31 minutes of action against a nimble but hardly girthy Hoya frontline. To this date, the Hoyas rank 13th out of 16th in the Big East at patrolling the backboards.
In general, Pittsburgh uses a bigger lineup that showed an ability to confound the Georgetown defense. They grabbed every major rebound in the game, which kept the Hoyas’ defensive rotations on the backs of their heels by keeping them on that side of the floor for extended periods of time. Normally the process of counterattacking a bigger opponent involves emphasizing quickness and drawing fouls, but the Panthers were able to take away the three-point shot, limiting the Hoya’s three guards to a combined 2 for 12 from long distance. And without the threat of being able to stretch the court, the Panthers enjoyed the opportunity to play for the dribble drive, sealing off potential lanes before they could be traveled.
When Coach John Thompson III looks back on this game, he’s going to have to understand that the Hoyas lost this game because they got pushed around. Their guards didn’t shoot or get to the basket well enough, and their bigs couldn’t use their athleticism to get any easy put-backs. At some point they’re going to have to give some meaningful minutes to forward Julian Vaughn or center Henry Sims, because they can’t afford to look vulnerable to any other team that likes to trot out a sizeable lineup.
Fun Fact: Saturday’s 16 point loss to Pittsburgh was the largest home defeat suffered by Coach John Thompson III since his very first game. Considering that so much of college coaching relies on a player’s effort, this fact is a sign of solid, consistent coaching.
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