2008 Woodie Awards
Final Stats
Pittsburgh: Points Rebounds Assists Mins FG FT
Sam Young, F, Sr.: 16 6 0 36 6-12 3-8
DeJuan Blair, F, FR.: 10 10 0 21 3-8 4-8
Keith Benjamin, G, Sr.: 4 6 4 26 2-7 0-0
Levance Fields, G, Jr.: 10 5 6 36 2-10 5-13
Ronald Ramon, G, Sr.: 17 5 1 37 4-7 7-10
Georgetown:
DaJuan Summers, F, So.: 9 6 2 23 4-7 1-2
Roy Hibbert, C, Sr.: 17 6 1 28 8-14 1-1
Jonathan Wallace, G, Sr.: 12 2 5 35 4-9 2-2
Austin Freeman, G, FR.: 9 0 2 25 3-7 0-0
Jessie Sapp, G, Jr.: 9 2 1 23 3-8 0-0
Post-game Quotes:
Georgetown:
John Thompson III:
Q: It appeared that our team really failed to match their intensity. You look at the offensive numbers particularly, that seems to be the difference in the game. What jumps out at you about that?
A: “They hurt us on the boards. It was evident right from the beginning. You know, who, what, when, where, why, I don’t know. I thought our guys fought and scrapped. But he rebounding was key.”
Q: At the end of the first half, they were outrebounding you. Those are hustle plays. How did you address that at the beginning of the second half?
A: “It just happens. It’s one of those days. I agree, it did happen. And you’ve got to give them all the credit in the world. That’s a team that’s gone through a lot of adversity this year with the injuries that they’ve had.
“Obviously, Jamie [Dixon] is a terrific coach. They’ve done a terrific job of sticking together and staying focused as a unit. So you’ve got to give just all the credit to them for what they accomplished.”
Q: What will you take away from these three games heading into the NCAAs?
“I got to digest it before I can answer that question, I guess. The second part of the year has just ended. The third part of the year is getting ready to start. So as we try to do all the time, you know, you can’t have too many high highs, you can’t have too many low lows. That’s hard to say that right now because it doesn’t fell too good right now.”
Roy Hibbert:
Q: How do you guys turn this loss and still be able to keep your chins up for the tournament?
A: No matter what, we just have to bounce back. Figure things out. Look at the stuff from this past game and just move on to the next segment of the year.
Jessie Sapp:
Q: Did that team play like a eam that had played four games in four days?
A: They just played like they wanted to win. They did a lot of hustle plays. And you wouldn’t have known that they played in four days. They just played hard, and congratulations to those guys.
Most Outstanding Player
Sam Young, Pitt
All-Tournament Team
Joe Alexander, West Virginia
Jerel McNeal, Marquette
LeVance Fields, Pittsburgh
Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
Jessie Sapp, Georgetown
Pittsburgh 74, Georgetown 65
Pittsburgh had been to the Big East tournament finals two times previous to Saturday and left Madison Square Garden empty-handed.
But this time, things were going to be different. Ronald Ramon was going to make sure of it.
Scoring a game-high 17, Ramon led the seventh-seeded Panthers to their second Big East tournament title with a 74-65 victory over No. 1 seed and regualr season champs Georgetown Saturday night.
Post-game interviews are starting. More to come after.
Halftime
Wireless on the court is on the frits again, but I’m here with your first-half update — and it’s a bit of a shocker: Pitt up 31-28
Six points on three consecutive posessions gave Georgetown a quick, 6-0 lead, but the Panthers came storming back to cut the lead to one with five straight points. With the help of DaJuan Summers’ five points in the first six minutes, the Hoyas held the lead until the 12:26 mark.
The advantage would then flip-flop the entire half, with a total of six changes occuring.
But with Roy Hibbert logging just 13 minutes after picking up two quick fouls, Pittsburgh went on a 5-2 run to break a 26-26 tie to lead going into the break.
First Half Leaders:
Points: Gilbert Brown, Pitt, 8; Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman, G-town, 6 (all off of 3s).
Rebounds: DeJuan Blair and Keith Benjamin, Pitt, 4; DaJuan Summers, G-town, 3
Mins: Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon, Pitt, 18; Jonathan Wallace, G-town, 17
9:17 p.m.
After failing to covert on their first three posessions and falling behind by six, the Panthers have scored on two consecutive posessions to cut the lead to one, as the Hoyas lead 6-5 with 15:44 left to go.
Pre-game
Here live from Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament finals between No. 1 and regular season champs, Georgetown, and No. 7 seed Pittsburgh. Tip-off will be at 9 p.m.
Just want to throw out a quick apology to anyone who has been following the blog for the absence of a post during yesterday’s second game. Wireless went down on the court and I couldn’t get anything in without complications. If you’d like, check out the roundup I wrote for yesterday’s two games on the Web site.
And onto tonight’s match-up.
The Hoyas (27-4) proved why they were the winners of the regualr season title last night, as they held the hot-shooting Joe Alexander to 12 points and a 31 percent from the field in the 72-55 victory.
As one handsome writer predicted, Roy Hibbert had his way with the undersized West Vriginia defense, thrashing inside and even hitting his third 3-pointer of the season — I think all UConn fans remember the first. The big man finished with 25 points — a season high and one point shy of his career mark — and 13 rebounds.
The Mountaineers, well, mounted a comeback in the second half, but the Hoyas controlled tempo almost the entire game and eventually shut the door with a 16-0 run toward the end of the game.
As for the Panthers, their margin of victory may not have been as large, but their performance was equally as impressive. Pittsburgh’s Sam Young, who finished with 22 points, gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead on the game’s first posession and the team never trailed the rest of the way, as they pulled out a 68-61 win in the nightcap.
This will be Pitt’s seventh Big East Championship finals appearance in eight years and third straight appearance for head coach Jamie Dixon. However, in the last five games, the Panthers have claimed just one title.
Tonight’s game should be a close one, albeit a boring one, as both teams like to establish themselves in the post and grind out wins. Neither team should socre more than 65, but there’s a lot of history between these teams. The two squads locked up in last year’s championship game, with the Hoays coming out on top, and the Panthers took the regualr season meeting at home, 69-60.
Both Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon hail from NY for Pitt, and Jessie Sapp orginates from the Big Apple for the Hoyas, so all three should be looking to have big games in front of family and friends.
Prediction: Georgetown 62, Pitt 56
Player of the Game: Jessie Sapp, 17 points, nine rebounds
Back a the first timeout.
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