With win over Hoyas, Pitt the team to beat in the nation

WASHINGTON ‘- Nearly every Pitt player talking to the media after the Panthers’ 70-54 win… WASHINGTON ‘- Nearly every Pitt player talking to the media after the Panthers’ 70-54 win against Georgetown on Saturday mentioned making a statement. Pitt center DeJuan Blair made his statement with his ninth double-double of the season ‘- dominating Georgetown’s Greg Monroe and showing that even though he might not be the tallest center in the league, he could very well be one of the best. Forwards Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs made their statements by scoring 14 points and playing lock-down defense. But the most important statement came from the team as a whole. A 3-point underdog on the road, Pitt handed the Hoyas their worst loss at home since 2004 and plowed through their 29-game home winning streak like it was nothing. It showed that when there’s a complete team effort, there might not be too many teams that can compare. That’s exactly what Blair was thinking. ‘We showed everybody that we can play in a tough game with anybody,’ said Blair after the game. ‘I think we can play with anybody in the nation.’ Pitt will likely jump into the nation’s No. 1 slot after No. 1-ranked North Carolina was upset at home last night by Boston College. But Pitt couldn’t worry about that on Saturday ‘mdash; it had to take care of Georgetown. Blair’s 20-point, 17-rebound performance came only five days after Georgetown took down the No. 2-ranked Connecticut Huskies on the road. In that game, the 6-feett-11-inch Monroe limited Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet ‘- a 7-feett-3-inch junior ‘- to only four points and seven rebounds. Saturday’s game showed that Blair, who is four inches shorter than Monroe, doesn’t care about height. He cares about results. ‘DeJuan played his butt off today,’ said Young. ‘When there’s another big guy who is supposed to be ranked really high, [Blair] comes to play.’ Blair might have impressed the most, but the team followed. As a whole, the Panthers outrebounded the Hoyas 46-21. They scored 26 more points in the paint and never lost energy. Every time Georgetown tied the game or made it look close, Pitt pulled away and made the crowd a non-factor. ‘We figured we could come in and outrebound them by a lot,’ said Young, who had eight rebounds. ‘But we didn’t think it would be by that much.’ Young said he was also impressed with the way that the team continued to apply defensive pressure throughout the game. ‘Even when we were playing our worst basketball, we always seemed to hold them down until we could be playing our best,’ said Young. ‘If we can continue to play defense like that until our offensive game kicks in, we can be great.’ This game doesn’t make the season for Pitt. But it’s definitely a great way to get Big East play started. There will be some tough games in the Big East. There might be some injuries and some losses along the way. But Pitt now has a win it can base its season off of. And there won’t be another team along the way it’ll be scared of. As far as the Big East is concerned, Blair and the rest of Pitt were right. The Panthers made a statement to the Big East that they are the team to beat. And after North Carolina’s loss, Pitt is the team to beat in the nation. But don’t expect it to take it easy this week and enjoy the win ‘mdash; or the ranking ‘mdash; too much. ‘We know how good of a team [Georgetown] is,’ said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. ‘We beat a very good team.’ But he’s thinking the statement made on Saturday is a little bit different. ‘We’re getting better,’ said Dixon. ‘That should be our statement.’