Men’s Basketball: Pitt travels to Butler for CBI semifinals

Last season, Butler brought the Pitt men’s basketball team’s season to a bitter end.

The… Last season, Butler brought the Pitt men’s basketball team’s season to a bitter end.

The No. 1 seeded Panthers took on the No. 8 seeded Bulldogs in a third-round NCAA Tournament matchup with a bizarre result that abruptly ended the Panthers’ national title hopes. Now Pitt will travel to Indianapolis to face Butler in the postseason again, this time in the College Basketball Invitational at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Despite last season’s heartbreaking loss, Pitt point guard Travon Woodall said the Panthers aren’t looking for revenge.

“We remember what happened last time we played them,” Woodall said after Pitt’s CBI quarterfinal win over Princeton on Monday. “We’re not looking for redemption. We just want to go out there and play against them like we played against everybody else. It’s not a rivalry or anything like that. We just want to go out there and win.”

In the final seconds of last season’s contest, Butler appeared to win the game on a layup, but then star guard Shelvin Mack fouled Pitt’s Gilbert Brown. Brown made one free throw to tie the game but missed the second. Nasir Robinson then fouled Matt Howard 90 feet from the basket, and the Bulldog forward made the game-winning free throw.

Several key players from both teams have since moved on, including Brad Wanamaker, Brown and Gary McGhee for Pitt, and Mack and Howard for Butler. That loss of experience and production is one of the reasons both teams are playing in the CBI instead of the NCAA Tournament this season.

“Obviously it’s not where we want to be right now. We want to be in the NCAA Tournament — and 10 years of doing that, very few teams have done that,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said after the Panthers’ win over Princeton. “Our season was not what we wanted it to be, but these guys want to keep playing.”

The Bulldogs are now led by junior center Andrew Smith, the only Butler player to average double figures with 10.7 points per game. He also grabs 5.6 rebounds a game. Sophomore forward Khyle Marshall and sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins also average more than nine points a contest with 9.5 and 9.1 points, respectively.

Smith started in the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament win over Pitt last season. He played 21 minutes, scored seven points and grabbed two rebounds. Marshall played 17 minutes off the bench, finishing with six points and six rebounds.

Pitt defeated Wofford and Princeton at the Petersen Events Center to reach the CBI semifinals, while Buter defeated Delaware and Penn in Indianapolis and Philadelphia, respectively.

The winner of the game will advance to the CBI championship series to play the winner of Washington State vs. Oregon State. The CBI championship is a best-of-three series that begins on Monday, March 26. Game 2 is scheduled for March 28 and, if necessary, Game 3 will be played on March 30.