West Virginia Falls to Pitt
February 07, 2011 10:16 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Nasir Robinson scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead fourth-ranked Pitt to a 71-66 victory over No. 25 West Virginia Monday night in Morgantown.
Pitt, playing without leading scorer Ashton Gibbs (16.3 ppg.) who was injured during Saturday’s win over Cincinnati, also got 13 points and six rebounds from center Gary McGhee, 12 from Travon Woodall and 11 from Brad Wanamaker.
“Ashton wasn’t playing and I think we really got the message across to our guys in the last 24 hours since we found out he wasn’t playing,” said coach Jamie Dixon, now 210-56 in his eighth season at Pitt. “Everybody else was asking who was going to step up – we didn’t have to have anyone step up.”
Pitt won the game because of its ability to rebound the basketball. The Panthers, ranked No. 2 in the country in rebounding this week at plus-12.5, hit their margin tonight by out-boarding the Mountaineers 40-28 - 18 of those coming on the offensive glass in the second half when West Virginia was trying to get defensive stops.
“They out-manned us is what happened,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “They beat us to death on the offensive glass and drove it where they wanted to drive it. They just out-manned us.”
After Dalton Pepper’s 3 from the corner gave West Virginia a 46-45 lead with 8:41 remaining Pitt answered with a Woodall jumper, and then tacked on two more with Wannamaker’s stick-back basket.
A Woodall 3 made it 54-48, Pitt, with 6:28 to go, but West Virginia eventually fought back to make it a one-point game with 4:03 remaining when Deniz Kilicli was able to convert a traditional three-point play. Then, Gilbert Brown slipped free on the baseline for a bucket and Wanamaker added two more when Robinson was able to keep the ball alive on the glass.
“They drive it more; Wannamaker and Brown drive it,” said Huggins. “Robinson drives it. They just attack the rim.”
Free throws by Brown and Woodall extended Pitt’s lead to seven, 67-60, with 50 seconds remaining. Pitt’s biggest margin was nine, 71-62, with 19 seconds left. The Panthers, now 22-2, 10-1, outscored West Virginia 42-24 in the paint for the game.
After trailing 25-23 in the first half, Pitt shot 60.7% in the second half (17 of 28) – most of those coming around the rim when forward John Flowers went to the bench after collecting his fourth foul with 11:17 remaining in the game. At the time he left the floor West Virginia was only trailing by three, 39-36.
“We can’t lose John Flowers,” said Huggins. “If we lose John Flowers, we lose a guy who is a factor around the rim. We’re not very athletic as it is and our athleticism really takes a dive when John is out.”
Flowers finished the game scoring 5 points and grabbing five rebounds in 27 minutes of action. Deniz Kilicli came off the bench to lead West Virginia, now 15-8, 6-5, with 19 points on 9 of 13 shooting – many of those coming on a variety of hook shots near the basket.
“We finally threw him the ball,” said Huggins. “We should have thrown him the ball during the Villanova game but we didn’t. That was an emphasis yesterday – to make sure we throw him the ball when he’s working to get it.”
Kevin Jones contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
West Virginia shot 44.2% overall for the game, but was just 4 of 17 (23.5%) from behind the 3-pont line.
“We wanted to cut down their offensive rebounds – they average 15 in conference – and we really cut it in half,” said Dixon. “That was a great sign. We did really well with our rebounding and defense, and that’s what we set out to do.”
An announced crowd of 14,175 attended tonight’s game.
With the loss the Mountaineers drop down to ninth in the Big East standings ½-game behind Connecticut at 6-4 (the Huskies play Thursday night at St. John’s). Pitt remains in sole possession of first place with a 10-1 mark. Pitt has now won three out of its last five played in Morgantown under Dixon.
WVU has a return date with the Panthers in Pittsburgh on Feb. 24.
Up next for West Virginia is DePaul this Saturday at the Coliseum for a 4 p.m. tip that will be televised on the Big East network. West Virginia survived a 67-65 decision at DePaul back on Jan. 4.
Pitt, playing without leading scorer Ashton Gibbs (16.3 ppg.) who was injured during Saturday’s win over Cincinnati, also got 13 points and six rebounds from center Gary McGhee, 12 from Travon Woodall and 11 from Brad Wanamaker.
“Ashton wasn’t playing and I think we really got the message across to our guys in the last 24 hours since we found out he wasn’t playing,” said coach Jamie Dixon, now 210-56 in his eighth season at Pitt. “Everybody else was asking who was going to step up – we didn’t have to have anyone step up.”
Pitt won the game because of its ability to rebound the basketball. The Panthers, ranked No. 2 in the country in rebounding this week at plus-12.5, hit their margin tonight by out-boarding the Mountaineers 40-28 - 18 of those coming on the offensive glass in the second half when West Virginia was trying to get defensive stops.
“They out-manned us is what happened,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “They beat us to death on the offensive glass and drove it where they wanted to drive it. They just out-manned us.”
After Dalton Pepper’s 3 from the corner gave West Virginia a 46-45 lead with 8:41 remaining Pitt answered with a Woodall jumper, and then tacked on two more with Wannamaker’s stick-back basket.
A Woodall 3 made it 54-48, Pitt, with 6:28 to go, but West Virginia eventually fought back to make it a one-point game with 4:03 remaining when Deniz Kilicli was able to convert a traditional three-point play. Then, Gilbert Brown slipped free on the baseline for a bucket and Wanamaker added two more when Robinson was able to keep the ball alive on the glass.
“They drive it more; Wannamaker and Brown drive it,” said Huggins. “Robinson drives it. They just attack the rim.”
Free throws by Brown and Woodall extended Pitt’s lead to seven, 67-60, with 50 seconds remaining. Pitt’s biggest margin was nine, 71-62, with 19 seconds left. The Panthers, now 22-2, 10-1, outscored West Virginia 42-24 in the paint for the game.
After trailing 25-23 in the first half, Pitt shot 60.7% in the second half (17 of 28) – most of those coming around the rim when forward John Flowers went to the bench after collecting his fourth foul with 11:17 remaining in the game. At the time he left the floor West Virginia was only trailing by three, 39-36.
“We can’t lose John Flowers,” said Huggins. “If we lose John Flowers, we lose a guy who is a factor around the rim. We’re not very athletic as it is and our athleticism really takes a dive when John is out.”
Flowers finished the game scoring 5 points and grabbing five rebounds in 27 minutes of action. Deniz Kilicli came off the bench to lead West Virginia, now 15-8, 6-5, with 19 points on 9 of 13 shooting – many of those coming on a variety of hook shots near the basket.
“We finally threw him the ball,” said Huggins. “We should have thrown him the ball during the Villanova game but we didn’t. That was an emphasis yesterday – to make sure we throw him the ball when he’s working to get it.”
Kevin Jones contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
West Virginia shot 44.2% overall for the game, but was just 4 of 17 (23.5%) from behind the 3-pont line.
“We wanted to cut down their offensive rebounds – they average 15 in conference – and we really cut it in half,” said Dixon. “That was a great sign. We did really well with our rebounding and defense, and that’s what we set out to do.”
An announced crowd of 14,175 attended tonight’s game.
With the loss the Mountaineers drop down to ninth in the Big East standings ½-game behind Connecticut at 6-4 (the Huskies play Thursday night at St. John’s). Pitt remains in sole possession of first place with a 10-1 mark. Pitt has now won three out of its last five played in Morgantown under Dixon.
WVU has a return date with the Panthers in Pittsburgh on Feb. 24.
Up next for West Virginia is DePaul this Saturday at the Coliseum for a 4 p.m. tip that will be televised on the Big East network. West Virginia survived a 67-65 decision at DePaul back on Jan. 4.
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