At first, Gary McGhee saw no reason to be intimidated by Kemba Walker.
This wasn’t the first time Pittsburgh’s 7-foot, 260-pound center had to keep a dynamic guard in front of him late in a tight game.
Because Pittsburgh’s defensive strategy during the 2010-11 college basketball season was to switch every screen, opponents often countered by pitting their best playmaker against McGhee and attacking that matchup. That’s exactly what UConn tried that year with the score tied and time running out in a tense Big East quarterfinal at Madison Square Garden.