Guard play helps Panthers dump DePaul

The way DeJuan Blair and Sam Young have dominated their competition for the last few games, many… The way DeJuan Blair and Sam Young have dominated their competition for the last few games, many basketball analysts argue that Pitt’s ultimate fate is in its own hands. But in the immediate aftermath of the Panthers’ 80-61 dismantling of DePaul on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon wanted everyone to know who he felt wasn’t capturing enough of the limelight. ‘I thought Levance [Fields] did an unbelievable job preparing our team going into the game,’ said Dixon. ‘In a game where we were up, he wasn’t looking for himself and he didn’t care about stats. He just continued to look for other guys and getting other guys involved and he’s been doing that all year. I think it’s getting underappreciated, but not by me. He’s done a great job as a point guard, but more so as a leader and as a coach on the floor.’ Fields finished with just five points against DePaul, but dished out six assists compared to no turnovers. He continually set up Blair, Young and Tyrell Biggs for open looks at the basket. Blair recorded his second huge performance of the week, following a 22-point, 23-rebound effort against Connecticut with 20 points and 18 rebounds in only 23 minutes against the Blue Demons. Blair had 16 points and 16 rebounds by halftime. Young accumulated 16 points and six rebounds, and Biggs put up his best numbers in more than a month with 13 points and five rebounds for the No. 4 Panthers (25-2, 12-2 Big East). While Pitt’s frontcourt piled on the points, Fields and the rest of the guards maintained their passing prowess. Sophomore guard Brad Wanamaker tallied five assists, and junior Jermaine Dixon added three to give the Panthers 17 total for the contest. In contrast, Pitt committed nine turnovers, with only one coming from the backcourt. DePaul (8-19, 0-14 Big East) switched to a zone defense for much of the game, but the Panthers effectively moved the ball around the perimeter until finding Blair, Young or Biggs open in the paint for a layup or easy jump shot. ‘Passing, I think, is our biggest strength,’ said Jamie Dixon. ‘It gets underappreciated as well, but I think passing leads to all the other things. Passing leads to our high shooting percentage, passing leads to our offensive rebounding numbers. We recruit passers. We recruit guys that see the floor and who are unselfish. It’s a gift. You have to have a feel for it. It’s hard to teach, passing and unselfishness spreads.’ Heading into Saturday’s contest, the Panthers ranked fourth in the country in assists at 18.4 per game. Fields paces the squad in the statistic, as he is third in the nation in both total assists (202) and assists per game (7.5). ‘Levance Fields, in this league, is the consummate field general,’ said DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright. ‘He is a wonderful point guard. He’s got a great personality and really understands how to play. I’ve seen a lot of good guards here, starting with Carl Krauser and Ronald Ramon, and he’s learned from it.’ Wanamaker is second on the Panthers with 2.3 assists per game, and Dixon contributes 2.0 assists a contest. Biggs stressed the importance of having multiple teammates willing to pass the basketball and create better shots. ‘Levance is a great passer,’ said Biggs. ‘We’ve got Jermaine, who’s out there hitting shots. We know they can do that, but when they’re distributing the ball like that it’s definitely so hard to stop us. We’ve got a lot of unselfish players on this team, and today we definitely showed it.’