SB Nation Pittsburgh - St. Francis Vs. Pitt: Panthers Dominate Red Flash For 24-Point Home Winhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48827/pitt-fv.png2011-12-20T23:35:20-05:00http://pittsburgh.sbnation.com/rss/stream/24149542011-12-20T23:35:20-05:002011-12-20T23:35:20-05:00St. Francis Vs. Pitt: News And Notes From The Game
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<p>As expected, Pitt had little trouble with St. Francis on Tuesday night. Here are some observations from the game:</p>
<p>Pitt’s rebounding continues to get better. The team didn’t get on the glass nearly enough early in the season and that was part of the reason for their struggles. In their only loss to Long Beach State, they lost the rebounding battle. And in games against Tennessee and Robert Morris, Pitt barely won that statistical category. The Panthers have to improve in that area since the Big East is an entirely different animal and with tonight’s effort, it looks like they could be on their way.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, Ashton Gibbs continues to miss shots. He’s shooting under 40% on the year from the field, which is not only bad for him, but a bad number for any player. Teams can survive shooting slumps from their best player, but the problem is that Gibbs is really Pitt’s only go to scorer. WIthout him, the team is forced to rely on a by-committee approach. That’s fine in games like tonight where the score isn’t close, but Pitt is going to need Gibbs to be able to hit buckets down the stretch in close games. Otherwise, they’re going to find it difficult to continue to win once the Big East season comes along.</p>
<p>On the flipside, the reason Pitt has been able to continually win games lately is because of their defense. The lack of strong competition helps, obviously, but the Panthers have held opponents under 40% shooting in their past five games. Pitt hasn’t always put up a boatload of points, but as long as they force opponents to take tough shots, they should be in games throughout the season.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cardiachill.com" target="new">For more on the game and Pitt basketball, check out SB Nation’s Pitt blog, Cardiac Hill</a>.</p>
https://pittsburgh.sbnation.com/2011/12/20/2651220/pitt-basketball-khem-birch-pittsburgh-panthers-pitt-vs-st-francis-ashton-gibbs-talib-zannaAnson Whaley2011-12-20T21:29:09-05:002011-12-20T21:29:09-05:00St. Francis Vs. Pitt: Panthers Dominate Red Flash For 24-Point Home Win
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<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></p>
<div style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: bottom; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; display: block; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" class="commentable-body">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: bottom; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In their first outing since the departure of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/145934/khem-birch">Khem Birch</a>, the Pitt Panthers rolled over St. Francis in a non-conference tune up. Pitt raced out to an 18-point halftime lead, built by suffocating the Red Flash on the defensive end. St. Francis had just four points over the first twelve plus minutes of the game, as Pitt jumped out to a 27-4 lead. The Panthers would have a poor shooting night from outside, but it was academic after those first 12 minutes.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: bottom; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/124156/j-j-moore">J.J. Moore</a> came off the bench for the Panthers to lead the team with 15 points. Moore was crucial in maintaining Pitt's comfortable lead at the end of the first half. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/100021/dante-taylor">Dante Taylor</a> chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds. St. Francis was simply overmatched down low, with Pittsburgh enjoying a 21 rebound advantage on the glass. Pitt improved to 10-1 with the continued dominance in the rebounding margin, and stout defense which forced 35 percent shooting from the field for St. Francis. The Panthers are now 29-0 all time against the Red Flash.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: bottom; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Pitt will come back on Thursday night for another non-conference game against Wagner. It will be the last tune up before Big East play starts after Christmas.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: bottom; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><i style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">For more on the game and Pitt basketball, check out <a style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" href="http://cardiachill.com/">Cardiac Hill</a></i>.</p>
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https://pittsburgh.sbnation.com/2011/12/20/2650917/st-francis-vs-pitt-panthers-recapBrendan Porath2011-12-20T13:02:18-05:002011-12-20T13:02:18-05:00St. Francis Vs. Pitt: Panthers Face Red Flash At Home
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<p>Nasir Robinson and Pitt's frontcourt should dominate the rebounding battle.</p> <p>Pitt takes on St. Francis (PA) on Tuesday night at the Pete. The Red Flash should be another easy opponent for the Panthers, as St. Francis sits at 3-7 in the NEC.</p>
<p>The team started off 0-6, but has won three of its past four games, defeating American, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Monmouth.</p>
<p>St. Francis ranks near the bottom in several major categories including scoring and rebounding, but one area where it excels is field goal percentage, making more than 48 percent of its shots. If they can take care of the ball well enough and limit opposing teams to one shot (some things that have been problems), they can compete.</p>
<p>The Red Flash is in a bit of disarray right now. Junior guard <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/100818/umar-shannon">Umar Shannon</a>, probably the team's best player at the time, scored 26 points in the team's opener but injured his knee and is out of action. The team<a target="_blank" href="http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/556172/Impressive-finish-for-Friday-s-Flash.html?nav=751"> later kicked off guard Chris Johnson</a>, the team's leading assist man with nearly six per game, for disciplinary reasons.</p>
<p>With the losses of Shannon and Johnson, Pitt's attention should be turned to sophomore forward <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/124372/scott-eatherton">Scott Eatherton</a>. Eatherton leads the team in scoring with 14 points and rebounding with 5.3 per game. Unfortunately for him, the Red Flash will likely be overmatched in the frontcourt, as St. Francis only has one other player at least 6-foot-8 logging significant minutes - forward <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/100820/tony-peters">Tony Peters</a>. Pitt should have little trouble winning the rebounding battle in this one.</p>
<p>Pitt fans should watch for the continual development of backup center <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/145935/malcolm-gilbert">Malcolm Gilbert</a>. With the loss of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/145934/khem-birch">Khem Birch</a>, Gilbert will be logging more minutes and along with <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/100024/talib-zanna">Talib Zanna</a>, is now one of the team's two primary backup frontcourt players.</p>
<p><i>For more on the game and Pitt basketball, check out <a href="http://cardiachill.com">Cardiac Hill</a></i>.</p>
https://pittsburgh.sbnation.com/pittsburgh-panthers/2011/12/20/2645944/pitt-basketball-panthers-st-francis-saint-francis-khem-birch-pittsburgh-panthersAnson Whaley