Pitt heads down to tobacco country to take on the Demon Deacons.  Lets go Pitt!

Michaelangelo holds a degree in Travel Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a former staff writer for InPittsburgh Newsweekly, and currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a Pitt fan since 1997 after he witnessed Pitt upset #22 Miami on Thursday night at Pitt Stadium.

81 thoughts on “Pitt Basketball: Pitt at Wake Forest Open Game Thread”

  1. Critical game for Pitt. They need to take their heads out of their asses, stop feeling sorry for themselves, man up and find a way to win this game. Pitt favored by 3

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    1. more concerning is that there are only three 5.7 rated stars. last year, Pitt had ten of these.

      Thats the line between a high 3 and low 4 star.

      AD was a 5.7 rated 3-star based on Rivals

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  4. Erie, (from previous article)
    I also shot 86…very wet. Every drive and approach plugged. Felt great to be out swinging.
    Kids playing well so far this first half.

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  6. I said it last week and I’ll say it again…. Xavier Johnson would make one hell of a wide receiver. He’s tough, strong and fast as hell…..

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  7. at halftime … Pitt has attempted 1 FT; Wake at 9. Much of it were because of Wake’s offensive rebounds

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  11. In all my life from Rec ball to AAU to HS ball, I’ve never seen a team like Pitt that just panics every time they see a zone. It’s getting ridiculous! And it’s agonizing to watch. Run a set play, move your damn feet … do some damn thing! Enough!!!

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    1. Maybe our coaches don’t know how to break the zone. Seemed to be ZERO halftime adjustments. Their bigs are dominating our big (who has 3 fouls) with 15 minutes to play.

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  13. Frame just made the worst play of the year. Gets picked top of key then fouls on the layup. No Basketball IQ!

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  14. We’re tied but playing horribly. Committing rec ball mistakes. And enough with passing the ball around the outside of the zone.

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  15. Another game where the foul calls are remarkably uneven. Hacks underneath not called. That affects young players also.

    H2P!!!

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  17. I really thought Capel would be better at coaching at this point. There might have been a reason he was an assistant coach at Duke for so long. I’m longing for Dixon since he knows how to break the zone.

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    1. He needs a center who can post up and take a pass underneath the basket and either score or pass it out to an open man. We have no one like that.

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  23. Our big with a missed bunny and their big converts a bunny at the other end on a fast break. Four point swing.

    Why is #2 even playing…

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  24. Every time I think it’s not possible to play worse basketball, Pitt proves it can. This team has lost any semblance of confidence !!

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  26. Bad coaching? Bad basketball? Bad decisions?

    I agree that Capel is an upgrade from Stallings, but this is still bad basketball.

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  29. W_F is really bad and if they lose this now, they may be the worst team in the ACC, which right now Pitt holds that crown.

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  32. Trey is a liability in this game – sorry to call out the young man, but bad basketball is bad basketball.

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  42. W_F bigs with 26 points and 23 rebounds – Pitt’s big with zero points and 2 rebounds.

    Sick…

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  44. X is Exhausted. Great effort by Pitt to come back. Still can’t overcome horrible basketball IQ and lack of a big man. Foul those Deacons out and make your FTs

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  52. That was terrible – those players were confused at the end, losing to a really bad W_F.

    Embarrassing, once again.

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    1. Nothing worse than pathetic players. Chuck and Ellison are liabilities. The two couldn’t even make a simple fundamental move and OT leads to a loss.

      No recruits yet has me the most frustrated. This staff better get back to the basics after how regulation ended.

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  56. Worst of all was Pitt’s perimeter defense. WF looked like world beaters tonight hitting 3s plus their strong inside game. Great guards cannot compensate for such a weak front court inside.

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  57. W_F bigs with 29 points and 32 rebounds – Pitt’s big with zero points and 2 rebounds.

    Recruiting? Who needs recruiting? Grad transfers? Who needs grad transfers? Not a Jeff Capel.

    Pitt loses to the worst team in the ACC tonight to take over that title as THE WORST TEAM in the ACC.

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  65. Ok, Ok. Let’s step off the ledge for a second. We are a few players short. We have known this all year. We start three freshmen. Freshmen wear down late in the year. This is a known fact. We have ZERO bigs. We only have one shooter. We don’t really have anyone proficient at making a short range jumper. As Dan pointed out, we got an A+ effort tonight. That’s way more than we got most of the last two years. I’d much rather watch these guys grow, but play with heart, than watch more talented guys (see Jamel Artis) waste their talent and lose by 20. Is it at times frustrating? Sure it is. But better times are ahead. We have a good coach. Let him get a more balanced roster, and we’ll improve. It takes time. By the way, one thing you can’t coach is fire 🔥 in the belly. The X-man definitely has it. Not sure about McGowens. He got lazy on a couple plays late in the game.

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    1. The shame of it was that if that last shot by WF in regulation hits the rim, instead of being an air-ball pass, Pitt wins.

      Course there are so many plays in a close BB game that determine the winner.

      Love the fight in these guys.

      Go Pitt.

      Liked by 2 people

  66. Let us also not forget that the other teams Pitt plays are practicing hard and getting better as well. A better measure should be that 3 Pitt starters were playing high school ball last year at this time.

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  67. No inside game and a terrible shooting percentage from the foul line. UGLY and with the possibility that we have seen our last sellout at the Pete for some time to come.

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  68. Can’t wait to switch the conversation to FB recruiting today…

    Regarding BB – Sir Patrick Gallagher and his sidekick Barnes gave us the horrible product we saw the last two seasons. Seemed to be the worst in my lifetime.

    Heather was able to convince Gallagher to hire a slightly tainted Jeff Capel to replace Sleepy Stallings. There was no doubt last night that the past two seasons have leaked into this current one. I don’t buy the excuses offered up by Pitt fans – bad basketball is bad basketball. HS girls basketball on average produce better than 55% free throw shooting and you will occasionally see a HS girl “box out” for a rebound, whereas Pitt’s big last night had 2 rebounds, was 0 for 5 shooting with zero free throw attempts. HS girls BB coaches prepare their teams for the different defensive sets they will face – Pitt coaches don’t know how to break a zone, let alone teach that to the players.

    Enough, I promise I won’t mention Pitt BB again as it is supposed to be a form of competitive entertainment. When it is not entertaining, we should walk away Lyke I did the past two years. Obviously, I came back too early.

    Back to FB – Devonshire or bust today?

    Sorry…

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  69. I missed a lot of the sloppy play last night due to listening primarily to the radio and occasionally watching on tv.
    That being said I’m with missingwlat above…

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    1. Fran,
      Looking like rain this afternoon. Will you guys still tailgate in the Gold Lot or is there a plan B for rain? I should be leaving Connellsville around 3:30. Thanks 🏈🍺

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  71. I must be watching a different game than you guys. I again saw an undermanned Pitt team come within one foul shot of a win last night in a very hard fought close game.
    Johnson, although missing that winning foul shot still continues to amaze long after McGowens has hit that freshman wall. N’Dir played an excellent game. Wilson Frame made some three point shots and the rest of the guys did what they could. The one thing that confused me was Capel playing Chukwuku over Brown for most of the second half.
    Pretty obvious that Wake dominated the boards and the inside game and came through with some very hot shooting down the stretch.
    Again the unreasonable expectations amaze me considering that we were pretty much blown out in every game last year and we are so much better this year with half the same guys and the freshmen.

    Keep the Faith guys, better days are coming.

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