The No. 21 Pittsburgh Panthers continued their home dominance with a 70-65 upset of the No. 3 Villanova Wildcats.
Ashton Gibbs led the Panthers with 21 points while Gilbert Brown added 16 coming off of the bench.
The Panthers took a six-point lead into halftime of what was a very low scoring game at halftime.
The scoring picked up considerably in the second half, but the Panthers were able to match the Wildcats basket for basket.
What was most surprising was that the Panthers only had three more rebounds than the Wildcats but still managed to pull out the victory.
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 6:55 pm by steve
The Oakland Zoo was too much for the Villanova Wildcats.
With a school record 12,920 fans going crazy in Pittsburgh, the Panthers managed to upset the third-ranked Wildcats on Sunday, 70-65, which pulled them into a tie with West Virginia for third place in the rough-and-rugged Big East.
Pitt wanted revenge for last year’s Elite 8 game with the Wildcats, in which then-junior Scottie Reynolds drove through the lane in the waning seconds for an easy lay-up, securing the Wildcats’ spot in the Final Four.
“I wanted to win that game for the players that left last year,” said Pitt guard Jermaine Dixon, one of only two seniors this year for Pitt. “I felt bad for losing that game and I felt responsible and I definitely wanted to win that game for them.”
Despite a rough 3-of-15 night shooting the ball, Dixon turned in a stat-stuffing performance, Ashton Gibbs scored 21 points, and Brad Wanamaker scored 16 for the Panthers.
“We stepped closer to winning the Big East regular season,” Jermaine Dixon said. “Last year, we put it past us now that this game is over, and that’s just a step to us getting the Big East regular season.”
Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, who was saddled by foul trouble for most of the first half, finished the game with 20 points.
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 8:36 pm by bryan
The No. 23 Pittsburgh Panthers got back on the winning track with a 77-53 pasting of the local rival Robert Morris Colonials.
The Panthers led by just six at halftime, which is hardly surprising given that many Robert Morris players go overlooked by the Panthers in the recruiting process.
Eventually, the Panthers talent simply won out and was just too much for the Colonials to deal with in the second half. The Panthers had a 39-26 rebounding edge on the Colonials, just one area where they dominated play.
Ashton Gibbs led the Panthers with 20 points while Jermaine Dixon added 18.
For the Panthers, the break from the rigorous conference schedule will hopefully re-energize them for a push down the stretch and toward the NCAA tournament.
Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 4:54 pm by steve
West Virginia is suddenly becoming one of the most hostile environments in college basketball.
The fans took it to a whole new level on Wednesday night, throwing objects on the court in the middle of the second half as Pitt was cutting a double-digit deficit to two points. But once WVU’s coach Bob Huggins got the crowd back under control, his team blasted out to a 15-4 run to ice the Panthers away, beating them 70-51 on Wednesday night.
“We knew they had a rowdy crowd,” Pittsburgh’s Jermaine Dixon said. “But the best part is that we get to play them up at our place in a couple days.”
Dixon led the Panthers with 13 points in his return from an injury, while Ashton Gibbs chipped in 11 for Pitt. The Panthers’ second-leading scorer, Brad Wanamaker, was held scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.
WVU ran out to an early-double digit lead, before Pitt started charging back right before halftime. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they couldn’t keep the momentum going in the second half, as they made just six field goals over the final 20 minutes and shot an abysmal 30 percent from the field.
“They deserved to win,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. “It was 43-41 and we didn’t get a rebound after that and that’s where we got beat.”
After starting 5-0 in the Big East, Pitt has lost four of its past five conference games.
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 7:33 pm by bryan
