Pittsburgh—Duquesne and Pitt, two schools that are separated by no more than two miles, faced off Wednesday night at the Consol Energy Center in the 81st City Game. This was the 3rd time that these two schools met at Consol—Pitt has won each time.
“It’s important to them and it’s important to us,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of the rivalry. It is not very often that Wednesday night basketball draws a large crowd in December. This year’s City Game drew over 13,000 people.
A glance at the roster can prove to a casual observer that Duquesne would probably have to shoot well from the outside to win this game. The Dukes simply don’t have the size to match up with Pitt’s Talib Zanna (6-9), Dante Taylor (6-9), and Steven Adams (7-0) in the paint. Aside from Martins Abele (7-1) for Duquesne, their next tallest starter is 6-7 Kadeem Pantophlet.
As expected, the Panthers controlled the glass the entire game. Much of this was thanks to Steven Adams, who pulled in 14 rebounds. His teammates are hoping for this to be a confidence booster for the highly touted freshman center.
Duquesne has lived by the 3-pointer at times this season. Wednesday night, they died by it. They pulled the trigger twenty-one times from beyond the arc, but only managed to make five. One of these threes came 24 seconds into the game from the hand of Sean Johnson. This gave Duquesne a wave of momentum early on, but it was a wave they failed to ride. Pitt began to wear down their hard-fought effort midway through the opening half. The Dukes would go on to shoot 2 of 12 from 3-point range in the 1st half (17%), as the Panthers slowly took control of the game.
“I thought we played hard, we didn’t play well,” a disappointed Ferry said after the game.
Unfortunately, simply playing hard isn’t going to win you a basketball game against the University of Pittsburgh. Especially when Tray Woodall drops a game high 24 points. Woodall, whose transition from the point guard position has gone quite smoothly this season, was the hot hand from early on for the Panthers. He finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field.
“I thought it was the best game he’s played here (at Pitt)” Coach Dixon said of Woodall’s stand-out performance.
Wednesday night was the first City Game for Coach Ferry (an Elmont, New York native) and many players on Duquesne’s young team. Ferry, however, didn’t think nerves played any part in the 21 point loss. When asked about how his freshmen handled the game, he spoke more about Pitt’s stellar defense than about his young players.
“It wasn’t really the atmosphere that got to us, I just think there were a couple bounces that didn’t go our way,” agreed Jerry Jones, a junior guard.
The Dukes (4-4) went into the locker room down by twelve, but were never able to get within striking distance in the 2nd half. They changed to a 2-3 zone, but it was completely picked apart by Tray Woodall and the Panthers (8-1).
An off-night for Duquesne’s shooters came against the wrong team. “We just shot poorly, (but) I still think we can beat this team,” Sean Johnson said after the rivalry game was over.
Whether they were truly outmatched by Pitt or things just didn’t go their way, Ferry and his staff cannot dwell on Wednesday night’s loss for long. They host New Orleans at the Palumbo Center this Saturday before they go back to Consol Energy Center next Tuesday night to play a talented West Virginia team.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
