Pitt Goes Inside to Dominate Georgetown

The final score of 70-54 made it look like a blowout. With 14:15 left in the game, though, it was a 40-40 tie and Pitt had never led by six. Then Pitt went on a 17-4 run over the next seven minutes to turn it into a laugher, snapping Georgetown's 29-game home winning streak (15 in the Big East) with the win in the Verizon Center. It was also Pitt's first win on the road against a top-25 team in eight tries.

Maybe it was the fact that he only played eight minutes in the prior game. Maybe he just was excited for a big game. Maybe he just was annoyed with reading nothing but hype for Georgetown's stud freshman center, Greg Monroe, the last couple days. Whatever the reason, Pitt's DeJuan Blair absolutely dominated the inside paint and made Monroe look silly. Blair had 20 points and 17 rebounds to lead Pitt to the win.

Georgetown was following the standard defensive gameplan against Pitt. Try to pack it inside to keep Pitt from feeding it inside. Make Pitt have to shoot from the perimeter.

To the extent that Pitt only shot 3-for-19 on threes, the approach worked. The problem was that Georgetown had no rebounding presence and Pitt was able to get put-backs and second chances. Pitt outrebounded Georgetown 42-18 with Pitt having an 18-4 edge on the offensive glass. It became worse when Georgetown shifted to a zone for a while in the second half. Not only was Pitt getting the rebounds, but with Georgetown out of position to get rebounds, Pitt had easy opportunities to put it back or pass to another open player. Pitt shot 29-for-49 (59.2 percent) from inside the perimeter.

Georgetown never found any offense. Only DaJuan Summers kept the Hoyas in the game in the first half, when he scored 16 of Georgetown's 30 first half points. He couldn't keep it up in the second half, and while Monroe scored 11 in the second half no one else for Georgetown could score. Summers was 4-for-5 on threes, but the rest of the team was only 2-for-16. Pitt's defense, especially in the second half, completely stopped Georgetown's backcourt cuts from working. Georgetown's guards only contributed 17 points in the game.

The real shame of the 16-team Big East, even with an 18-game schedule, is that the two teams won't meet again in the conference schedule. Of course they have faced each other in the past two Big East Tournament Championship games, so there might still be a rematch this year.