Friday, December 21st, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Pitt victorious over Duke at MSG
This was the game we had all been waiting for. It was billed as a slobberknocker between two of the preeminent programs in college basketball and it completely lived up to its billing, but not before one player’s career probably ended, one freshmen exploded, one team remained undefeated, and some gritty basketball was played.
One of the main storylines coming out of Thursday’s classic game is going to be what seems to be the end of Mike Cook’s career, as the senior transfer from East Carolina’s knee buckled about a minute into overtime and he lay on the court screaming in pain for several minutes before being carried off, carefully avoiding putting weight on the injured limb. Cook will see his minutes replaced by freshman Gilbert Brown, who will play the up-tempo style that Pitt seems to prefer this season better than any other replacement. The injury was an extremely unfortunate occurrence and DeJuan Blair went as far as to say that “it was all for Mike,” while Jamie Dixon said that Cook’s situation did not look very positive after the game. We wish Cook the best of luck.
The other major storyline will inevitably be the emergence of Blair, who Pittsburghers knew was a star in the making but who the nation did not know about, a freshman making his first appearance at Madison Square Garden. Until tonight, when Blair’s infectious smile, grit, and skill came together for one of the best individual performances by a Pitt player in recent memory. Blair’s smile never left his face, even as he was called for idiotic fouls and was not getting the shots that he wanted. This type of positive energy and show of emotion is something that fans have not seen out of Pitt in recent years, but having a player like Blair immediately gives Pitt the star power that it has lacked in the past. Blair also showed grit, pulling Kyle Singler down with a horse collar for a flagrant foul and effectively changing the game from a finesse style of play to the quick, physical style that Pitt favors. The foul was actually a huge, positive force on the game, demonstrating that Pitt was willing and able to enforce its superior toughness in a way that it had been unwilling to in the first half. The final element of Blair’s game that was huge was his 20 rebounds and 15 points, numbers that had the word long spilling out of Jay Bilas’ mouth even faster than usual. Blair kept beating Duke’s frontcourt out for the rebounds, reaching high above their heads and coming down with the ball, ending up with 20, as stated above, to Duke’s team number of 32. Blair was the force that won Pitt this game, undoubtedly, constantly coming up with the rebound, the screen, or the drawn foul that was necessary to swing momentum back in favor of Pitt.
Levance Fields also stepped his game up, ending up with 21 points including the three in overtime to win the game. He is undoubtedly the leader of this team and further displayed why he deserves that title with his display tonight, where he came up with the necessary play just as much, if not more than Blair did. His skill at the point guard position and gutsy play will be invaluable to this team in the spring.
The game was not all positives, however, as Duke outplayed Pitt in the first half, leading by as much as 16 points at one time and stifling Pitt’s offense. Duke essentially out-Pitted Pitt, not allowing the Panthers to have any open looks and causing hurried, panicky shots instead of allowing play to develop. On the offensive end, the Blue Devils were patient, taking advantage of Pitt’s overaggressiveness to hit the open shot. Also, it was disturbing to see Gerald Henderson essentially walk through the Pitt defense for two crucial baskets in the fourth quarter. Pitt was, however, able to overcome these issues to defeat Duke, a feat that sleazebag salesman/head coach Coach K (I don’t want to spell his name) blamed on his own team, saying, “I thought they played tougher than we did. We just didn’t have the energy that we have displayed most of the season. I think some of it is because Pitt is good.”
Sir, Pitt is better than your team and clearly displayed that tonight, beating your supposed elite club on a night where Pitt was clearly not at its best. Get used to seeing them in the top five of the rankings, because, after tonight, they are undoubtedly one of the top teams in the nation and are going to be there for a little while.
As far as tonight goes, however, Hail to Pitt!
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