Normally you should take a dim view of anyone who dares to channel the so-called basketball gods, but Notre Dame has got Mike Brey and his 417 coaching victories at one end of its bench and a priest at the other, so the possibility of credible spiritual knowledge clearly exists.
Thus when Pitt’s James Robinson nailed a difficult jumper in traffic to put the Panthers ahead with 12 seconds left Saturday, and Notre Dame’s reliable Steve Vasturia missed on an open 3-pointer at the other end, theological interpretations were apparently in play.
“We just couldn’t dig in and get a stop on Robinson, so when you don’t get that one, and even though Vasturia had a good look,” Brey said, “it’s almost like the basketball gods said, ‘Naw, naw, naw, you can’t have this one. No.’ ”
For a stricter interpretation, I believe, according to the latest rankings, it’s the 7th Commandment that just about covers it: Thou Shalt Not Steal.
And that’s essentially what Jamie Dixon’s team accomplished from one end of a fabulous ACC shootout at Petersen Events Center to the other — refused to allow the No. 8-ranked team to walk in and abscond with what belonged rightfully to the Panthers.
Why else would Brey declare that the Irish probably deserved to get ripped by 15 points instead of absorbing the 76-72 loss that went into the books as only their third this season and first in six games?
And that wasn’t Brey’s only declaration.
“I think they’re an NCAA tournament team,” he said.
Yes, he meant Pitt.
“They’re gonna be an NCAA tournament team from our league,” he said. “I know they’ve had a couple of tough ones, but I think they’re gonna be in the NCAA tournament when it’s all said and done.”
Now you’re talking graduate level theology.
Pitt came into this one 13-8 overall, and 3-5 in a conference in which it reliably shoots an anemic 41 percent. Outside the conference, Pitt had scored 65 against Manhattan and 58 against Holy Cross. That these Panthers for 40 minutes on one glorious Saturday shot like Notre Dame, the ACC’s highest scoring team, doesn’t mean they have a future beyond the conference tournament.
Unless it’s, you know, spiritually.
“This was the season,” said Pitt sophomore Jamel Artis, whose 19 points led all scorers and whose free throws after Vasturia’s miss helped seal the winning margin.
That, too, would be something of a leap of faith, as there are 10 games remaining, including appointments with Louisville, North Carolina and two with Syracuse. So I guess Pitt could end up 24-8 and 13-5 in the conference; all it has to do is shoot 59 percent every game.
You think the basketball gods will go for that?
“I think we’re a good team,” was about all Dixon would say when told of the tournament berth Brey had just conferred on him. “We’ve had to make some adjustments. We’ve lost some tough games. We’ve played some good people. We’re a different team than we were earlier in the year. We don’t have as many perimeter guys we’d like, but we can’t do anything about what’s in the past. We have to move forward.”
Pitt moved forward in critical and even refreshing ways in this game — pushing the ball on offense and shooting earlier in the clock — but most of all, by reacquainting itself with the joys of actually putting the ball in the basket.
The Panthers scored on five of their first six possessions, matching one of the most gifted offensive teams in Division I bucket for bucket throughout a first half that found them down by only one at the horn. At the start of the second, neither team showed any drop in temperature. The Irish scored eight points on their first three possessions, the Panthers nine on their first four.
The most critical bucket to that point still might have been Cam Wright’s transition jam, a left-handed tomahawk that hung there like a brazen statement for a long time.
“Just trying to provide a spark for my teammates,” said Wright, the only Pitt senior on the floor for all but six minutes. “This was just a total team effort and I don’t want to single anyone out. Don’t want to single myself out. I was just happy with the way my teammates performed.”
For all they had done, however, they still watched almost helplessly as Notre Dame’s magnificent Jerian Grant scored nine consecutive points to flip the entirety of a 71-63 Pitt lead with 31 seconds left.
“Nothing much you really can do but keep playing,” said Robinson, who had played such an admirable defensive game against him to that point. “Try to stay solid. Keep the mindset that you can get the next stop or you can make a play on the offensive end.”
Robinson did both. Got the winning bucket with 12 seconds left. Got a steal on the inbounds pass 11 seconds after that.
Must the gods be crazy?
Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com.
First Published: February 1, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
