Pitt is It
February 09, 2006 11:49 PM | General
February 9, 2006
PITTSBURGH – In a battle of strength versus precision, strength won out in the end Thursday night in Pittsburgh. The No. 14-rated Panthers knocked off No. 9 West Virginia 57-53 in a battle of top-ranked Big East teams.
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| West Virginia's Mike Gansey tries to grab a loose ball in the first half of a Big East basketball game against Pitt in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic |
“Pittsburgh guarded us very well,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “They have quick players and they really played good defense and that was the secret to the game.”
West Virginia’s star player Kevin Pittsnogle had a difficult night, missing all 12 of his field goal attempts and fouling out without scoring. Pittsnogle, who came into the game averaging a shade below 20 points per game, last failed to score in a game at Villanova on Jan. 5, 2005.
“Kevin just didn’t have a good game; he didn’t shoot the ball well and we’ve got to be very careful that it doesn’t affect his next shot – it’s history,” said Beilein. “People are guarding him differently: it’s not the old days when he was surprising people. He’s got to keep working over and over again on the type of shots he takes and I thought he had some good looks inside and they didn’t go.”
Pitt’s Aaron Gray not only bothered Pittsnogle on the defensive end, but he also wound up scoring 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds. The 7-foot junior made 6 of 9 from the field and also hit 4 of 8 from the free throw line.
Ronald Ramon also scored 16 for the Panthers, now 18-3, 7-3. A Ramon 3 gave Pitt its biggest lead of the game at 10, 40-30.
With Pittsnogle watching the remaining 6:42 from the bench and Pitt leading by eight, 44-36, Beilein opted to go with a smaller lineup with 6-6 guard Joe Herber playing Pittsnogle’s spot in the post. Herber was able to hit a couple of tough shots to pull West Virginia to within five, 49-44, with 2:22 remaining and the Mountaineers cut Pitt’s lead to three, 51-48, and a driving lay up by Frank Young.
But a key runner off the glass by Carl Krauser put Pitt back up by five, and Krauser was also able to make three of four from the free throw line.
Pitt’s defense held West Virginia to just 18 of 53 from the field for 33.9 percent. The Mountaineers were 6 of 27 from 3-point range for 22.2 percent. In the first half West Virginia managed to make just 6 of 26 field goal attempts and both Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnogle were a combined 0 for 10.
Gansey finished the game with 12 points to lead West Virginia. Patrick Beilein added 11, while Herber and J.D. Collins contributed 9 points each.
“We didn’t have a high percentage from 3 from anybody,” Beilein said. “J.D. had a couple of great looks; Frank had great looks. I didn’t think Mike (Gansey) had many great looks tonight.
“What those two (Pittsnogle and Gansey) are learning right now is that they’re marked men. The best defenders are on them and they’re not helping off them,” Beilein said. “There’s all these type of things teams are doing and they’ve got to say, ‘Okay, we’ve just got to work a little bit harder.’”
Pittsburgh finished 19 of 41 from the field for 46.3 percent and was 14 of 22 from the free throw line for 63.6 percent.
“In games like this there are little three or four minute spans when you’ve got to be mentally tough enough when that other team is really challenging you,” Beilein said. “They’re distracting your game and you can’t give in and I thought we gave in a couple of times and it will be a great thing for us to learn from.”
The score was 22-all at halftime. A sell-out crowd of 12,508 was announced for the game.
West Virginia (17-5, 8-1) will face Pitt again in Morgantown later this month on Monday, Feb. 27.
“There’s a lot to take from this game and there’s a reason they’re 14-0 in this building,” Beilein said. “You’ve got to have a stellar performance to beat them in here and we were less than stellar and still had a chance.”
In the meantime, the road doesn’t get any smoother for West Virginia, which must travel to No. 15 Georgetown to face the Hoyas Sunday night. Georgetown knocked off St. John’s 64-41 earlier tonight to improve to 17-4.
