No. 18 Pitt pulls away for 79-66 win

Here's the game story from Thursday's Times ...

TAMPA – National ESPN2 audience? Check. A loud, season-high crowd of 6,027 in the Sun Dome? Check. Big game from senior center Kentrell Gransberry? Check.

What USF didn’t have against No. 18 Pittsburgh on Wednesday night was any kind of defense, and the Panthers used a 14-2 run in the second half and steady shooting to pull away to a 79-66 victory.

“Our defense just wasn’t there,” Bulls coach Stan Heath said. “Any time somebody comes into your house and is able to shoot over 50 percent, it’s not a good sign.”

Gransberry matched a career high with 26 points and added 11 rebounds, but the Bulls had little else to help him inside. The Bulls as a team could do little to slow down Pitt, which hit 53 percent of its shots and half their 3-point attempts.

“Don’t be surprised if there’s no baskets up tomorrow and we just spend the whole time defending,” Heath said of his next practice. “It’s not acceptable to give up those kinds of percentages.”

For 30 minutes, USF (10-6, 1-2 in Big East) gave the Panthers (13-2, 1-1) a scare, putting Pitt’s best players on the bench with fouls and keeping the score close. Leading just 59-54 with 10 minutes to play, Pitt’s 14-2 run came at the same time the Bulls lost point guard Chris Howard for the remainder of the game due to cramps.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, whose team had lost two of three games since losing point guard Levance Fields to injury, said he expected a tough challenge from USF.

“I think as the year goes on, people will see how good a win this was,” said Dixon, who got 22 points from forward Sam Young and 20 from guard Keith Benjamin. “This is a very good team, South Florida, much improved. They’re going to continue to get better.”

Guard Jesus Verdejo played well for USF, scoring 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting, and freshman Dominique Jones added 13. USF’s other perimeter threats weren’t there – backup guard Solomon Bozeman, who opened the season hitting 13 of his first 19 3-pointers, has since gone 2-for-33 beyond the arc, missing his last 10 attempts. Heath said his most pressing need is rebounding help to complement Gransberry inside, especially at forward, where Orane Chin and Amu Saaka were a combined 1-for-9 and consistently beaten for offensive rebounds.

“They got us on second shots, consistently, throughout the game,” he said. “We need some more guys, some help on the interior. We’ve got to find a way against these physical teams to neutralize the play inside on us.”

The crowd was easily USF’s largest this season, and the Bulls only had two larger crowds in the Sun Dome last season, against Notre Dame and Syracuse.

“I thought we had a much better turnout, and the kids, the fans were into it,” Heath said. “We didn’t quite do our part. We had a chance to maybe cut it to two or one, really get this place at a high-pitched level. We’re making progress there, and I think we’ll see more and more come out with some of the teams coming in here.”

USF has its next two Big East games on the road, going to Providence on Saturday and Seton Hall on Jan. 17. The two opponents are a combined 1-4 in conference play, giving USF a chance to get its first road win in three seasons in the league.

Comments

[Reality]

Ari, you see the lack of a chance at 9 wins now?

Blair got taken out of the game by the early foul trouble and USF still couldnt win. KG is a one man team, and he won't be back next year. I hope Mercer can stay out of trouble, because USF is going to need players next year. They will all be small, but at least some talent may be around.

A glimmer of hope has opened for your wins against SHU, their best player broke his wrist. He could be back for the USF game, but we will see. Without Gause, USF has a chance.

[FYI]

So why didn't he play the 6-9 and 6-11 players sitting on the bench if he needed rebounds? Game experience is part of player development. As the season progresses it is only going to get tougher.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Reality,

I might concede.... we aren't very good. It seemd like Pitt didn't miss a shot all night. The talent difference between the two teams was so stark it was shameful.

I'll give you this, we aren't very good. Are guard play is horrible. Boozeman is terribl and Howard is marginal at best.

I looked at Herman with 10 minutes to go and said "WOW, we are not very good."

This team has no true scorer. We don't have a single player that can create a basket off the dribble. I look at the #23 from Pitt and DREAM of having a player of his caliber. The guy is absurd.

I am depressed. We got totally blow out tonight and any analysis otherwise is laughable.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I just couldn't get over how that #23 didn't miss a single shot all night.

The guy was absurd. Just absurd.

It seemed like they drove into the lane and never missed

We stink

[Mike Huckabee]

"Our" guard play..

i'm not really that stupid.

sorry

[DELdaBULL]

We lack a lot of size inside. We seem to be years away from BEAST caliber size. BTW, the 6-11 and 6-9 kid were on the bench because they are REALY bad.

[DELdaBULL]

KG had to work TOO hard for his 26 points.

[FYI]

DELdaBULL
The options for the 6-9 and 6-11 players on the bench are really "bad" too. Chin and Amu are not 4's they are 3's at best with shaky handles. As I stated, in game play is part of player development. If you don't put them in the game for more than 7 minutes and those 7 minutes are at 2-3 minute intervals, how do you expect them to develop? If you need help in the post develop your big men...period.

[sv]

Jones needs to take over the game and stop being so un-selfish. He should be dominating. But he rarely drives it to the basket. Hes a great foul shooter. He relies to much on his outside shot. Him and KG should do some pick and rolls, take it to the rim and dish or let KG clean up the boards. Chin and Amu should never shoot from outside. I would rather see Holmes come in for howard rather than Bozeman. Bozeman was in at a critial part of the game with howard out and he took a horrible shot, and the next possesion turned the ball over and Pitt pulled away.

[DJ]

Everybody be patient. This is a building process. If we get some bigs that can at least rebound next year will be much better. Mercer can take anybody off the dribble and elevate for dunks or slash, pass and defend. You will see. With the guards we have now, Jones, Howard, Verdejo, Mercer, and the rest, we must press like Tennessee. ALL GAME!

[AGW]

Is there anyway to release Bozeman, Saaka, Williams and Ajayi from their scholarships? Just cut our ties with them, free up scholarships and allow Stan Heath do what he does best, RECRUIT. This would give CSH 5 scholarships for next year allowing us to go after players like Brumbaugh, Flowers and others. Not to mention allow 1 or 2 of those scholarships to carry over to the next season. Scholarships are one-year renewable. I would recommend Stan Heath not to renew their scholarships and start with a clean slate. Cut all ties, wish them well a la Zaron Cann. Think about it? We need BIG EAST PLAYERS!!!!

[DELdaBULL]

Bozeman is a really bad college basketball player so far. Supposedly he was a good high school baller. Does not always translate.

[AGW]

I agree, we should implement a four guard lineup and press all game like Tennessee and Clemson and dictate tempo. With Mercer, Holmes, Jones, Verdejo and Howard, not to mention any other guards we bring in we should have enough depth to do so.

[DJ]

This is not rocket science. If you don't have bigs. Press, press, press. Make it a full court game and use all those players on that bench. If they play as hard as they can, that will give them a better chance instead of watching other teams playing under the basket and killing us. Don't be scared coach.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I am the only guy in town that likes the Ajayi and Gransberry on the floor at the same time. I think it frees up Grans a little bit and also prevents them from driving to the basket so much. It was the first time all season that I saw heath put those guys on the floor at the same time. I thought it was our best line up.

You have Jones, Chin, Verdejo, Ajayi and Gransberry.

Thats our best five in my opin. I think Howard or Holmes could be rolled in and out with Chin, but that is our best lineup in my view.

You have to give Pitt some credit. I haven't seen a team shot the ball like that in a long long time. It seemed like they didn't miss. How on earth did Dayton beat that team by 20.. Good lord. And villanove beat them too.

Im worried.

[Reality]

You think 4 guards works out with a 6 ft 7 center and the next tallest guy being 6 ft 4, ask Seton Hall how that worked out last year, and they still blew USF out.

The only reason Nova was able to be productive with the 4 guards, is they had Curtis Sumpter and a few NBA players. USF will not have that level of talent.

Flowers' ship has sailed as far as him coming to USF, so keep hoping for the criminal Brumbaugh to go along with the criminal Mercer.

Stan, you can recruit kids that are not in trouble with the law. It is possible.

So don't go looking for Jon Kreft to help this team, as a matter of fact, steer clear of Chipola in general.

You guys make me laugh with your getting rid of certain kids. Heath's lack of commitment to Cann will come back to haunt him.

Don't think for a second that coaches don't tell mothers and fathers about what could happen to their son if he goes to USF and he gets injured. So much for that scholarship. Negative recruiting is hard enough, and to go and do the Cann disaster only gets you in trouble.

[Herman Momart]

We tried a couple of new things last night, which none of it worked due to the talent level of this team. We DID try a full court press a couple of times but we got burnt each time. They beat our press, took it up court with 3 on 2's, dish, dish, open shot, bucket. Like clock work only easier. We also tried playing Gransberry and Mr. All Hand Squad Ayaba (sp?). That didnt work either because Ayaba is not very good.

Chin or Saaka, not gonna cut it at the 4. Howard and Bozeman,not gonna cutit up top. Right now we have jones and Gransberry with KG leaving next year. If I were Heath i would let the assts. coach and start recrutiing now. I like AGW's idea of giving up schollies a la Zaron Cann, I just dont know if its possible. We need bigger players at every position. I think I can couunt 2 dunks I have seen all year and it was Chin off a missed shot vs Rutgers and Verdajo witha weak flush on a fast break last night. Not a very athletic team when we cant even get a few dunk opportunities.

We need Heath to bring in BEAST talent. I like a lot of guys on this team but this isnt a popularity contest and these MAC players belong in C-USA or C or W. Michigan (whereever he coached). Originally I thought it was a 1-2 year building process, im starting to think at leasast 3-4. I may never see my team play in the big dance.

Ari, you turned to me with ten mons left and said we a not very good. I have been telling you since out of conference play we are not very good. Every year you sip the koolaid in OOC play because we get wins. Those wins mean zero. Conference play is all that matters and we will be doormats, right above Rutgers. Its the USF way in football and basketball. Beat the doormats, split with mediocre teams and lose to the good and great teams. Unless we change both sports ways we will remain the same forever. ugh

[Reality]

Dayton is that good. Their PG is NBA level. It also did not help losing Levance so early in the game. Losing to Pitt without Fields and Cook is a sad reflection of where USF is. and next year is not going to be any better.

And to the guy who said Heath can recruit, where?

Chin is not a very good first pickup, and this year's class is not burning the house down.

he won with Gary Waters players at Kent state. At arkansas he recruited "lower caliber people, but good basketball players." Coach Mac didnt bring in the "type" of player that Heath will litter this program with. I guess having Leavitt bringing in the characters he is bringing in makes Heath not look as bad, but I miss Coach Mac doing the right thing.

Even with taking "good people" he still brought in some decent talent, Jones and Kg being the best examples.

[DJ]

Reality, Mercer has never committed a crime in his life. He is going to graduate ahead of schedule. All he did at Georgia was miss tutorial appointments and tell people he did not like playing basketball for Georgia. That's why he was called a disruption. All he did was say what everybody else in Georgia was already thinking. They have lost 13 players in 4 years. Scholarship players.

KG is going to get eaten alive if he goes to the NBA. Just imagine him guarding Dwight Howard. Its going to be UGLY. I think last night was the first time I've seen him dunk.

[Herman Momart]

You havent seen a team ball that that in a long time? i have it was Pitt eaarlier in the year when they still had their 2 best players, both out with injuries. Lavance Fields and Mike Cook. If they had them we would have lost by 30+.

Just wanted to thank Greg for this blog. Not many if any places we can talk usf basketball with real fans. hats off .

[Herman Momart]

anonymous...KG is NOT going NBA. So dont worry about that.

[DJ]

You can't try to just start pressing all of a sudden and expect it to work. You have to first convince your players that this is our best plan of attack. It takes a commitment from everyone to press and be successful. You don't have to have great players to do this, just a few good ones and players that a physically fit to run and defend. Defense is 80 percent effort. You have to have a scheme and purpose. This is Heath's first season. Give the man a break. He will figure this mess out. And yes, it is a mess that he has inherited.

[sv]

Any word on Howard's injury? It looked like cramps to me, But Greg was reporting it was his knee.

[DJ]

In the NBA KG would never have to guard Dwight Howard. HELLO! He will make a nice four man with the proper ball handling and foot work.

[DJ]

Catch a peak of what Mercer brings to the table. Go to youtube.com put in the search "mercer dunks on gonzaga" also look at Georgia upsets #22 LSU.

O ok DJ So your telling me he would be guarding Dirk, Tim Duncan, Rashard Lewis, Chris Bosh, Amare Staudamire, Carlos Boozer. HELLO! He would be a horrible fit a the 4. He cant shoot from the elbows, he cant pass, he cant dribble, and has very little athleticism. Hes good at the block with his back to the basket and rebounding. And Dwight Howard is a 4, But due to the Tony Battie injury he has to play center.

[DJ]

Hey you have a good point. HELLO! your probably right.

[FYI]

Get real people no McDonalds All-Stars are coming to USF and as far as Big East caliber players go if they were interested they would be here. CSH has had an opportunity to recruit so called big east players and came up with Chin and Ajaye. To get top recruits you need a network. USF is not going to get any more different type of player than what it currently has. How about some accountability on the coaches to prepare and develop the players they have.

[DELdaBULL]

Heath had like a week to find Chin and Ajayi. Ever heard of best available? Chin would make a decent Big East 3. At 4 he is over matched. If my comments are the same 3 years from today (which I realy doubt since Stan is one of the top recruiters in the nation) I will personally call for Stan's job. In my opinion he will end up with his name on the court: "Stan Heath Court at the USF SunDome!"

[DJ]

All CSH needs is two bigs that can play. They don't have to be McDonald's AA. He already has the guards. They will get some people, watch.

[sv]

I agree with DJ. A few solid big guys with the guards we have will bring more wins. And we all know from football, Winning changes EVERYTHING. I hope jones knows that he is going to be huge in the growth of this program. His name could be in the rafters when its all said and done.

[AGW]

Go after Rashanti Harris, Macus Goode, James Tyler or Aziz N'Diaye to play the 5 at USF for next year. Harris will have to go to prep school or JUCO first, but he is an NBA talent. They are big, fairly talented and have BIG EAST bodies. Then at the 3 go hard after Travis Leslie, Jeff Taylor, Martez Walker or Varez Ward. All of these players are still available for 2008 and have the athleticism to play in the BEAST. Go get them, now!

[Ari Hinkelberger]

We lost to Pitt and Syracuse..

What the hell did everyone expect??

We aren't going to be beat Pitt or Syracuse.. COME ON!

We still got Providence, Depaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Cincinatti... a sub par Louisville team and 4 or 5 other home games.

I have regained my confidence. We werent suppose to beat Pitt AND we certianly aren't going to beat a Pitt team that freakin shoots 50+% from teh floor. That damn team just didn't miss last night.

[G.A.]

Heath said after the game that Howard's injury was just cramps. I'll update the original injury post -- he was grabbing his right knee as he came off the court. Thanks.

[AGW]

Go after Mike Jones (the Syracuse defect in JUCO) or Casaan Breeden, the former 4 at FSU that has decided to transfer. Both of them would be welcome additions to our club as well for 2008. Big East ready.

[Windbane]

Reality, the year Villanova went to the elite 8 I believe it was, they did not have Curtus Sumpter and truly played a 4-guard lineup. That was 2 years ago I believe.

[Windbane]

To clarify: Sumpter was injured that year.

[AGW]

Pg- Mercer/Howard
Sg- Jones/Holmes
SF- Verdejo/Leslie,Taylor orWalker/Chin
PF- Brumbaugh/Flowers,Jones or Breesen/Espinosa
C- Tyler/Goode

This is a young team that is talented, athletic and will win some games for CSH in the future. This is what we need, a complete overhaul.

Also, leave 1 scholarship for Harris in 2009 if he goes to Prep school and hold another scholarship over until 2009. Leaving us with 4 total (Mercer and Verdejo are seniors).

[DJ]

Hey AGW, Mercer will be a fifth year senior. He sat out this year. will start playing next December and if he stays he will have one more season to after that.

[DJ]

youtube.com type in "mercer dunks on gonzaga"

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Reality starts to make some good points until he blows all of his insight with "mac should" have stayed.

Why do you hate on Orin Chin so much? The guy is a true freshmen... what do you expect him to do? Put up 20 pts 13 rebs and 6 assists. If he was capable of that he obviously wouldn't be playing for USF.

Give it some time. The guy has some ability

[Ken]

I still think we'll win some more games. Greg, not only was he holding his right knee when he came out, but the trainers sure looked like they were icing afterwards, before he left, on the sidelines--not the treatment for cramps, as far as I know.

KG has his limitations, to be sure, but NBA teams need backup big guys, and he's one, and I predict he'll make a team.

kg

[DELdaBULL]

Chin can play. He would be a decent maybe even good 3 right now, but he is playing 4 :(

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Reality...

How long should have Mac's extension been?

[Reality]

Mac should have been supported with extensions 2 years ago. That would have helped with recruiting. He did a hell of a job with recruiting considering he was hanging on for dear life and there was the almost coup for Huggins. That doesn't help with parents who would have to be concerned with some coach coming in and not renewing their son's scholly.

I love these guys you are "recruiting"

[Reality]

2 of the recruits cant read, and the other two can't stop eating. Besides that, none of the 4 even know USF exists. But don't let that get in the way of improving the team.

Also were those Mercer highlights pre -knee injury?

[DJ]

yes those were highlights pre injury, but you should see him now. Still quick explosive and can jump out of the gym. He has had lots of time to rehab. and by the way, he was snubbed for the McDonald AA team. ranked 22 in nation they said they did not want to take ywo guys from same team, the teamed fetured Louis Williams. and Mike Mercer.

[DJ]

sorry for the type errors.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Reality,
The reason there was a coup for Huggins was because Mac went 1-15 in CUSA, 1-15 in the Big East and 3-13 in the Big East.

He was something like 9-58 in conference play over a four year span.

Find me a coach with a worse record. Anyone who defends that guy has no credibility in my eyes. He made his own bed when he came in after Greenberg and sacked all the current players. The guy was a pompous wack job. Solomon Boozeman was a big recruit in his eyes.

We use to have chris capko running the point. What a joke.

[DELdaBULL]

"If I knew they would be heading into the Big East, I would not have taken the job." Coach Mac

Is that really the guy you want running your program?