Recordpub.com - Kent State-Pitt Notebook

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — COOLING OFF — Tyree Evans scored 11 points and helped KSU stay close to Pittsburgh during Saturday’s first half with a run of three early 3-pointers.

The senior was responsible for all three of KSU’s 3-pointers in the game. But after going 3-for-6 from the arc in the first half, he missed all five of his shots in the second half. All were 3s.

Fellow senior Mike McKee struggled in his homecoming. The Pittsburgh native was 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point range in 13 scoreless minutes.

Junior point guard Rod Sherman also struggled through one of his worst games of the season, shooting 2-for-11 from the field while scoring six points — all in the first half.

“The only way you can shoot your way out of a slump is by shooting your way out of a slump in the gym practicing,” said KSU head coach Geno Ford. “You can’t practice it when we are practicing and expect to get better. You have to be in the gym getting extra shots. Tyree and Mike have lived in the gym the last week and a half. It didn’t show up tonight.

“Hopefully it will show up on the 20th (when KSU hosts Texas A&M Corpus Christi. They have eight days to get it going. They just have to keep shooting.”

•••

THE LONG ROAD BACK — Chris Singletary had a big game against Pittsburgh despite still being well below 100 percent — both mentally and physically.

The senior is still just three weeks removed from surgery to repair a meniscus tear.

“If I was putting a percentage on it, physically he looks to me like he is 60-to-65 percent,” said Ford. “Mentally, up until (Friday) I would have had him in the 20s. I thought (Friday’s) practice, he was finally aggressive. I wasn’t going to play him. It was going to be based on that practice. He was energetic, flying around and physical. That’s his game. He has to play with a recklessness to him. That’s when he is effective.”

•••

IN THE MIX — Sophomore junior-college transfer Ian Pinckney has worked his way into the rotation with a few encouraging weeks of practice.

After failing to even see the floor in KSU’s two previous games, Pinckney saw nine minutes of action at point guard as Sherman’s backup.

“I thought he played pretty well,” said Ford. “He is playing exclusively at the point now. He is not playing any wing. The two days of practice prior to this game, he’s played really well.”

Pinckney plays on KSU’s second-team in practice, which has found a boost in recent workouts with Singletary playing on the second unit.

“The second team has annihilated the first team in the last few practices,” said Ford. “ A lot of that is Chris being over there, but a lot of that has been Ian playing really well and being able to compete with Rod (Sherman).

“Ian gives us another option. He gives us a big, strong point guard. We kind of like those kind of guys. He needs to continue to grow at it until we get Randal (Holt) back.”

Holt still has between two and four weeks of rehab remaining before he is ready to return following knee surgery Dec. 4.

KSU is also thinner at point guard since sophomore walk-on Cameron Joyce decided to leave the team last week. Joyce appeared in four games during his Kent State career, scoring one point.