Article by Mike Decker
The Pittsburgh University men’s basketball team defeated Bethune-Cookman University by the final lopsided score of 89 to 40 on Saturday, Dec. 15 at The Petersen Event Center. The Panthers set the tempo very early in the competition when junior forward Talib Zanna nailed two big baskets to start the game. The second of which was a thunderous alley-oop set up by senior guard Tray Woodall. Woodall finished the game registering just two points, but tacked on ten dimes in the process.
“Obviously I’m happy with the way we played, especially the unselfishness,” said Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon. “People talk about the scoring: Who scored this, who scored that, but a guy who really stands out in my mind is Tray, he takes one shot and he doesn’t worry about his stats even though he is our leading scorer. It really shows the mentality and unselfishness of our team.”
Three major team statistics that stand out in the matchup were second chances, team assists and scoring coming off of the bench.
Pitt had 22 second chances compared to only five by the Wildcats. One reason for this is that he Panthers out rebounded the Wildcats 40 to 11, 15 of which were offensive boards to BCU’s six.
“I don’t know if it was more, but it is first and foremost what we want to do offensively. Obviously the rebounding numbers indicated that,” said Dixon when asked about the inside emphasis due to the size difference in the competition. “We want to play inside, out. We’ve got good passers from our bigs and we have good decision makers. We don’t want to settle, we want to get touches and penetration. That’s the way we play and that could be something that we do really well this year.”
The Panthers, who are currently No. 1 ranked in assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation, had 28 assists on 37 field goals.
“The unselfish play is rare and has become expected here, even though it shouldn’t. I think it says a lot about the kids on our team,” said Dixon.
Pitt’s bench outscored BCU’s bench 18 to eight in the first half and 21 to four in the second. Junior forward J.J. Moore led the Panthers with a game-high, 18 points, all of which came off the bench.
“We didn’t get any effort tonight,” said BCU’s Head Coach Gravelle Craig. “That was our worse game of the year for us, effort wise, can’t coach that. That’s what I was disappointed in, it wasn’t necessarily execution; it was the effort. We didn’t show up to fight.”
The Panthers took a 44 to 24 lead going into halftime which was capped off by a 16 to one run over the last five minutes of the half. That run continued nearly four minutes into the second half extending Pitts lead to 50-24 with 16:19 left in the game. Pitt was then able to close out the game allowing only one field goal in the final 10 minutes.
Pitts freshman center Steven Adams finished with a double-double recording 16 points and 10 rebounds. Zanna and forward Lamar Patterson chipped in 11 points apiece as well.
“Steve played well and is continuing to improve,” said Dixon. “It’s great to see him unselfish and working hard to get better every day.”
The victory extended Pitts record to 10-1 on the season and it was a second consecutive home game with a 40-plus point margin. The Panther will be home for two more non-conference games before they look to enter conference play in just over two weeks when they play host to Big East rival and No. 11 ranked Cincinnati University on Monday, Dec. 31.
“Our confidence is high, real high. We look to go into conference play playing the same way we are right now,” said Moore. “I think our team, altogether, is looking really good.”
Photo Credits: Keith Srakocic / AP
