It’s incredible how important a 70-62 home win on Nov. 15 could be for a power conference program whose consistently been in the NCAA tournament. But for head coach Kevin Stallings and his coaching future, this was a huge victory.
After losing at home Monday night to the Montana Grizzlies in overtime, Pittsburgh basketball (1-2) was staring an 0-3 start right before their eyes. At the half, it was Pitt 32, and the team that won just six games last year UC-Santa Barbara (1-1), 38.
At this point, I was ready to call for Stalling’s job. After losing to an average team from the Big Sky, the Panthers came out as flat as the smallest ever crowd the Petersen Events Center ever seen. If the team can’t be motivated to play and get their first win after losing already to two mid-majors, then what’s the point of having him.
However, to my surprise, the team came out and fought back to get the lead for the first time a few minutes into the second half. The rest of the game was a back and forth affair until Jared Wilson-Frame hit a huge three under a minute to go to double the lead to six. Pitt hit their free throws at the end to win the game.
The first two games only had a couple of Panthers contributing, but this time there were five to account for. Ryan Luther has another great performance with 13 points and ten rebounds. Wilson-Frame has another 14 point game to go along with six boards. The two newest contributors to come along were Parker Stewart, who had 12, and Jonatan Milligan with a career-high 14 points.
While Pitt came away with the win, it was the Gauchos who largely were the better team. They had the lead for over 30 minutes and out-rebounded Pitt 43-35. Leland King had a game-high 22 points for UC-Santa Barbara. The reason they ultimately didn’t win was the 32% field goal shooting. If they shot better, they would’ve won.
The reason why I believed that Stallings job was on the line this early in the season has been his lackluster coaching ability, which was an issue last year and at his previous stop. Last season the headlines were dominated by the discontent between the new staff and the veteran players. Both sides can take the blame for that.
This season’s roster was shredded by transfers and de-commitments. While that does fall back on the head coach since recruiting and managing rosters are a college coach’s responsibility, the other argument of giving him time to rebuild the team is fair if you truly want to give him a chance.
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So let’s go with that theory and come to the realization that the team wouldn’t be good. So, therefore, these losses are somewhat expected. Fine, but here’s the problem with that in terms of these three games. All of them were winnable.
All three games had Pittsburgh in it at the end, and, while the law of averages sometimes comes into effect, that wasn’t the case with this team. The second half drought against Navy that sunk the team had no changes or adjustments, it was just watching guys who shoot under 30% from deep hoist up a bunch of shots and hoping they go in.
Against Montana, Michael Oguine went off for nearly 30 without any productive defensive changes. It’s not like the Grizzlies had a plethora of players to beat you with. Then UC-Santa Barbara basically outplayed Pitt, with their inability to shoot their downfall — not because of anything the staff did.
When you take into account Stallings’ tenure at Vanderbilt, he constantly underachieved with NBA level talent. That’s why his announced hire was met with, at best, mixed views. The excuse of a lack of talent works against power conference teams, not mid-majors. These losses were from a lack of proper coaching, not star power.
Outside of Luther, who played admirably, there’s no one to blame or be thrown under the bus. He was a couple of rolls on the rim away from an 0-3 start. It’s not like keeping him has any benefits; dumping him now gives Pitt the first option at an up and coming coach or assistant. Unfortunately, this simple win against a Big West program has thwarted those immediate thoughts — even though the future of the program is still heading downward.
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Stallings has one simple task: Don’t embarrass the program and the fans any more than what has already been done. Upcoming games against Penn State and West Virginia are likely losses, and that’s okay. However, games against Lehigh, High Point, and other small schools are non-negotiable. Especially if they’re close, because close losses are usually due to the coach, and, regardless of talent, he’s been sub-par at best. That’s never acceptable for this once Big East basketball heavyweight.