Blue-Gold scrimmage live game blog

Game over

Blue 56 Gold 53

Chase Adams led all scorers with 21 points. Brad Wanamaker had 19, Ashton Gibbs 17, Travon Woodall 11, Nasir Robinson 11 and Lamar Patterson 10.

 

Halftime update

 

It's 29-29 at halftime. Chase Adams leads with 13 points. This guy appears to be the real deal. I reported on media day that one program insider thought he might be a better shooter than Ashton Gibbs. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but he has a nice stroke.

Brad Wanamaker had a nice half as well. He has nine points. Gibbs is doing a nice job of running the point for his team.

The freshmen haven't had many opportunities to shine. Dante Taylor has had some trouble finishing around the basket. He has two points. Zanna has two points. Lamar patterson made a 3-pointer. JJ Richardson is scoreless.

 

First media timeout

 

Talib Zanna just dunked to give the Blue team 12-7. The first three baskets were 3-point field goals by Chase Adams, Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall. A litte more than five minutes in, Gibbs and Adams each have five points apiece. Zanna is the only freshman to score. Dante Taylor is 0 for 1 from the field.

 

Still in a boot

 

Jermaine Dixon, who is rehabilitating from September foot surgery, is still in a walking boot. He's out with his teammates taking warm-ups shooting around. In fact, he just made a shot from half-court before the team went back to the locker room. It appears his shot is in form. Now the only thing is getting that fifth matatarsal to heal.

Some pre game notes

 

This is a dress rehearsal for the team, and sports information director Greg Hotchkiss is treating it the same way. He produced some gameday notes. Everyone knows how much productivity the Panthers lost from last season with the graduation of three senior starters and the early departure of DeJuan Blair to the NBA, but Hotchkiss broke it down by the numbers:

 

Category                                            Percent returning

Last year's starters                            20 percent

Last year's total starts                        21 percent

Team's top 10 in minutes played        60 percent

Total minutes played                          42 percent

Points scored                                     34 percent

Field goals made                                32 percent

Field goal attempts                             35 percent

3-point field goals made                      47 percent

3-point field goal attempts                   48 percent

Offenisve rebounds                             22 percent

Defensive rebounds                            39 percent

Total rebounds                                    33 percent

Personal fouls                                      52 percent

Assists                                                 40 percent

Turnovers                                            45 percent

Blocked shots                                       40 percent

Steals                                                   47 percent

 

OK, folks, first post of the night. For those hoping to see the new and improved Dwight Miller you'll be disappointed. He is sick and will not play in the scrimmage. Also walk-on Tim Frye has an injury and is not expected to play. And of course, Jermaine Dixon (foot injury) will not dress.

 

There will be two 16-minute halves with a five-minute intermission, and players will switch teams throughout the game, so don't be concerned with a final score. This is more to see how every player plays with and against each other. It's what the coaches see every day in practice. We get to see it with the lights on tonight. Here is how they're breaking up the teams to start: Blue: Travon Woodall, Chase Adams, Lamar Patterson, Talib Zanna and Gary GcGhee. Gold: Ashton Gibbs, Nick Rivers (new walk-on), Brad Wanamaker, Nasir Robinson, Dante Taylor and JJ Richardson. More later.

 

I'll be blogging live from the Blue-Gold scrimmage tonight, the first chance for Pitt's young freshmen to show what they have. I'll let you know what's going on and how everyone looks. The opening tip is 7 p.m. from the Petersen Events Center. 

Posted Oct 27 2009, 08:48 AM by Ray Fittipaldo
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Comments

Biglar wrote re: Blue-Gold scrimmage live game blog
on Wed, Oct 28 2009 10:27 AM

Ray,

I was disappointed that Miller did not play last night. I caught him in the summer league games and was looking forward to seeing him again.  I'm glad that it was illness and not an injury.

It look like the team has the portitial to be very dangerous from the 3 point line.  Gibbs is already proven there and Adams has a beautiful stroke. I was very impressed with his game last night and not just the shooting. He looks ike he can be a solid contributor this year.  He is a senior and he looks like one.

Lamar Patterson also has a very nice shot - he hit two threes and looks like he has great range on his shot.

Brad Wanamaker continues to improve - I think he is going to have two terrific years.  His confidence is the biggest difference, I think.

Gary McGhee looks like a completely different player.  He is cut and looks like he has dropped 25 pounds since his first year.  He is much quicker and showed that  when flashing for  double teams beyond the arc.  His hands - always his biggest weakness - looked better too.

Taylor didn't show much but I wonder how much of that is playing in the post instead of at power forward.  He didn't look too comfortable there.

Another plus this year might be freethrow shooting. Almost every player has a nice touch at the line.  However, I think there were 3 front-ends of one-on-one's missed in the last minute - didn't care for that.

Best part of the night was the impressive showing of Adams.

I thought the turn out was disappointing - probably only a thousand there.  If it had been in Kentucky it would have been SRO.  This still is not a big basketball town even though the Petersen is a full sell-out. It's a basketball-event town.  There are many games for which a large number of seats are empty.  The building never gets filled until the conference games start.  I have always wondered why people don't get their tickets to someone to use if they aren't going.

sarcastic sword wrote re: Blue-Gold scrimmage live game blog
on Thu, Oct 29 2009 8:11 AM

I am willing to give Donta Taylor time to get acclimated to new teammates - a new system - but he showed little raw talent that I was at least expecting to see.....You would think there would have been at least a few moments of flash....Nothing.