Full Breakdown of Panthers 75-70 Win Over Yale

On Tuesday night the Panthers battled the Yale Bulldogs and like most games close to Thanksgiving it was a tough win. Pitt trailed by as much as seven in the first half before taking a 32-30 lead into the halftime break.

The second half went better to start as the Panthers defense started to actually show some life pushing their advantage to 11 with eight minutes to go. However, some poor execution along with sloppy defense let Yale comeback to trail by only three with 48 seconds left. For some reason, I still have not figured it out, the Bulldogs intentionally fouled and Pitt was able to salt away the game at the free throw line.

 

Takeaways-

Offense is Out of Control

Pitt’s offense features more passing and is overall better than a year ago, but they still play too hectically at times. They will sprint the ball up the court then take some off balance contested shot, which doesn’t come close to going in. Getting good open shots should be the goal not just attempting the first possible shot.

Michael Young is the Offense

When they reach ACC play it is going to be extremely difficult for Young to keep this pace up. Last night he scored 24 points on 9-15 from the floor. It is only a matter of time before teams double him and force the ball into Jeter or Jones’ hands, both of whom have shown very little scoring ability

Jeter Please Stop Shooting Threes

To be fair he only attempted two in the game, but he is awful at shooting. He impacts the game positively a lot of different ways, but shooting is clearly not one of them.

Defense Still Lazy

The only reason Yale came back in that game was because Pitt got lazy closing out. The Bulldogs got in a groove from three late in the game because of that and almost pulled an Eastern Washington on Pitt. This Pitt team has way too many lazy defensive spirts.

Onto Morehead State

The good news from last night is that they won and even though Yale is without two of their best players they are still a solid team. And a loss would have really hurt the Tournament resume. So at least for now this team has hope of an NCAA Tournament appearance come March.