The Pitt Men’s Basketball team opened the 2012-13 season Friday night and did it in a big way.
Many people questioned how well the Pitt offense would perform, but if Friday night is any indication, it will be just fine.
The Panthers jumped out to a 42-27 first half lead, thanks to an impressive performance shooting the basketball. Pitt shared the basketball well and knocked down 71 percent (34-of-48) of their shots on the night, en route to an 80-48 victory over Mount St. Mary’s.
The .708 Pitt shot from the floor was the best shooting day in program history, breaking the former record of .698 set in 1980 against George Washington.
“We moved the ball well and got a lot of looks inside,” said Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon. “We didn’t settle for many three’s and took advantage of our size to get nice looks.”
A lot of that early on was the performance of Talib Zanna.
Zanna, who came into the season averaging 5.3 points per game for his career, scored a career high 20 points, making 10-of-12 shots from the floor.
“We passed the ball great as a team,” said Zanna. “I was able to get a couple of easy looks early on and got into a good rhythm.”
Things stayed close for about the first 10 minutes and the Mountaineers actually led 18-17 thanks to draining six three-point shots, but after a Jamie Dixon timeout, the Panthers took over, outscoring Mount St. Mary’s 62-31 the rest of the way.
As good as the Pitt offense was, it was the Panthers’ defense got them started.
Coming out of the timeout, J.J. Moore had a steal that led to a fast-break layup. On the next possession Cameron Wright did the same. Then on the very next trip down the floor, highly touted freshman Steven Adams got his hand on a ball that ultimately led to a Pitt layup going the other way.
“They scored in different ways early and we made a few mistakes,” said Dixon. “We called a timeout and settled down and I thought we really pressured their ball handler’s ell after that point.”
That defense turned into easy offense as the Panthers outscored Mount St. Mary’s 20-0 on fast-break points.
Much of that was made possible by the pressure the Panthers put on the Mount St. Mary’s guards, forcing 16 turnovers, converting many of those into easy baskets.
“I thought we played the way we wanted to play this season,” said senior point guard Tray Woodall, who finished with 14 points and six assists. “Offensively we kept the ball moving and didn’t settle for bad shots and defensively we pressured their guards well and forced turnovers which allowed us to run more.”
This was the first game for heralded freshmen Steven Adams and James Robinson, who became the first two freshmen to start a season opener under Dixon. It was also the Pitt debut for Central Michigan transfer Trey Zeigler.
All three fared pretty well.
Adams scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots in 26 minutes, Robinson played both guard positions and scored six points in 29 minutes and Zeigler came off the bench to score 11 points in 20 minutes.
“They all played well for the first time out, “added Dixon. “Steven has never played a game that fast paced. Believe me, I played in New Zealand and I thought he adjusted to the pace. James was good at both ends of the floor and gave us another ball handler against their press and Trey came off the bench to do some god things.”
The Panthers host Fordham Monday night at 6 p.m. and will be entering that game on a high note as there wasn’t much that they did wrong Friday night.
If anything, they left Mount St. Mary’s head coach Jamion Christian impressed.
“I was pleased with the way our guys played, but a ton of respect goes out to Pitt,” said Christian. “You guys here at Pitt get to see a guy like Jamie Dixon every day. He does it the right way. His gets play hard for him and they play together for him. It is a great opportunity for a coach trying to rebuild a program to get a look at how it should be done.”
Notes: Pitt had a 42-10 advantage scoring in the paint… The Pitt bench outscored Mount St. Mary’s 32-3…Mount St. Mary’s shot only 36.2 percent from the floor…Pitt only took six shots from behind the arc, making only one (Woodall)…The Panthers outrebounded the Mountaineers 27-19… Pitt had 10 steals and only eight turnovers on the night…Dixon used nine players and everyone scored except for Lamar Patterson…Wright played despite the passing of his father earlier in the day.
