Men’s Basketball: Despite slow first half, Panthers win season opener

Brad Wanamaker’s 13 second-half points helped pull the Panthers back from a 13-point deficit… Brad Wanamaker’s 13 second-half points helped pull the Panthers back from a 13-point deficit as Pitt opened the regular season with a 63-60 victory over the Wofford Terriers tonight.

Sloppy play and missed shots put Pitt down 31-24 at the half before Wanamaker, Gary McGhee and Dante Taylor spurred the Panthers back.

“They got at us early in the first half,” Wanamaker said. “In the second half, we just came out, got focused — the jitters were gone — and got the job done.”

Pitt trailed for most of the game until McGhee’s three-point play to make the score 59-58 with 2:27 left put Pitt ahead for good. McGhee grabbed the rebound off a Wanamaker missed free throw and was fouled while making a lay-up.

“I knew we needed the rebound, so I just grabbed it, stepped through and got the and-one,” McGhee said. “I knew we needed the free throw so I just knocked it down… That’s probably one of the biggest free throws of my career.”

Wofford had a late chance to tie the game, but Junior Salters’ 3-point attempt as time expired clanked off the iron.

The Terriers, led by Noah Dahlman’s 20 points, controlled the first half. They made four of their first seven 3-pointers, and they wore down the Panthers to open up a lead that reached double-digits.

Wanamaker, who totaled 15 points on the night, attributed the bad start to nerves.

“We’re a new team,” Wanamaker said. “Everybody gets nervous before a big game. It’s our first start. It’s some of the freshmen’s first games. Nervousness is going to come.”

A pregame ceremony raised last season’s Elite Eight banner and included a video message from departed Panthers Tyrell Biggs, Levance Fields, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair. Wanamaker said that the ceremony threw off the current Panthers.

“Thinking about those guys, not having them here this year…early in the game, we were still emotional,” Wanamaker said. “As we got going and got our swagger on, we settled down.”

The 24 first-half points against Wofford marks Pitt’s worst since it had 24 points in the first half a loss to Marquette on Feb. 15, 2008.

“We’ve got to execute better offensively, and we will,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I cannot count the number of layups that we missed in the first half, balls we fumbled out.”

Dixon singled out Ashton Gibbs, who went 3-for-12 from the floor for eight points, as one player who will improve.

“Ashton led the Big East in 3-point shooting [last year],” Dixon said. “He had some open looks and didn’t knock them down. He’s going to knock them down the next game.”

Wofford expanded its lead to 41-28 with 15:49 to go, but Pitt closed the gap with a 10-0 run that brought the fans in attendance back into the game.

“I thought the crowd was tremendous,” Dixon said. “I don’t think too many people are having their first game of the year having a crowd like that and an atmosphere like that.”

Switching up the defense changed the game, Wanamaker said.

“They were executing all their plays,” Wanamaker said. “They were getting easy baskets. They were making a lot of lay-ups. Coach told us we had to pick it up on defense.”

Five-star recruit Dante Taylor had 13 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench in his regular season debut for Pitt.

“Boy is he going to be a good player,” Wofford coach Mike Young said. “Holy cow, he’s as big as a house.”

“This being my first game,” Taylor said, “I had to come out with a lot of energy and just play really hard and do whatever I had to do to stay on the court.”

Dixon likes the duo of Taylor and McGhee splitting time underneath the rim.

“[Taylor’s] been playing well, and so has Gary,” Dixon said. “Between the two of them, we’ve got good production. In 40 minutes, we’ve got 20 points and 13 rebounds.”

McGhee finished the night with seven points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 21 minutes on the court. He began the game with a two-handed dunk that opened the scoring.

“I was just trying to let them know I’m here, and that’s it’s not going to be easy to guard me,” McGhee said. “I let them know that it’s a big man down here.”