CINCINNATI STILL SEARCHING FOR SIGNATURE WIN, FALLS AT PITT

February 15, 2009

The Pittsburgh Panthers took care of business on Saturday afternoon, beating the Cincinnati Bearcats 85-69 at the Peterson Events Center. In doing so, Pitt matched a school record by shooting 67.4% from the field and guarantees that their meeting with UConn on Big Monday will be a battle of top 5 teams.

Pitt had five players in double figures, led by Sam Young's 18 points. DeJuan Blair added 17, Jermaine Dixon 14, Gilbert Brown 12 and Levance Fields added 11 points while orchestrating another flawless floor game, handing out 13 assists without turning the ball over. As a team, Pitt was credited with 21 assist on their 31 made field goals and had just six team turnovers.

While the Pitt defense allowed UC to shoot 52% themselves, Pitt did an excellent job on the two Bearcat stars, Deonta Vaughn and Yancy Gates. Vaughn was hounded by the JUCO transfer Dixon and sophomore guard Brad Wanamaker the entire game and finished with just nine points in 37 minutes. Gates was just 2-8 from the field, scoring 4 points in 28 minutes.

Pitt's 6'7 Blair, the nation's leading offensive rebounder, was quiet on the boards today as Cincinnati did a good job limiting second chance opportunities, of course, when a team missed just 15 shots the ENTIRE game, there aren't many rebounds available, so next time, Mick Cronin would probably prefer his players to make Pitt miss AND prevent the offensive rebounds.

UC had won seven of their last nine, but they have been desperately searching to a signature win that will impress the NCAA Tournament committee. Two wins over Georgetown and a win over Notre Dame do not have the same weight now as it did earlier this season. Home games with Louisville and West Virginia are up next and then a road trip to Syracuse, so they have a couple more opportunities to impress the selection committee.

Mike Williams scored 17 to lead UC and Larry Davis added 13.