Fields ready to play, shows it in season opener

It wasn’t publicly announced that Levance Fields would start Pitt’s opener against Fairleigh… It wasn’t publicly announced that Levance Fields would start Pitt’s opener against Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday until announcer Bill Hillgrove introduced him in the starting lineup minutes before tipoff. But Fields knew long before that, apparently. Fields, who hadn’t played in either of Pitt’s two exhibition games this season, said he knew as early as three or four weeks ago that he would start the opener. ‘I could have played in the exhibitions, but there was no need to rush,’ said Fields. ‘I just got to keep getting in shape. I’m fine.’ And so was his performance on Friday. Fields scored 15 points in 25 minutes and shot 4-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-4 from 3-point range. He made all five of his free throw attempts, distributed a game-high eight assists and didn’t turn the ball over once. ‘Being out for 11 months and not being able to do what I really wanted, it’s been a long time,’ said Fields. ‘The more I played, the better I feel. I don’t have any soreness. I can pretty much play like I did before I was hurt, so that’s a good thing.’ Fields was first injured when he fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot last December in a game against Dayton. He missed the majority of the rest of the season but returned to lead Pitt to a Big East title and NCAA Tournament berth. He fractured the same bone in August and underwent surgery in September to mend it. He only returned to practice, albeit limited, two weeks ago and watched from the bench while freshman Ashton Gibbs started both exhibition games at the point. Even Pitt coach Jamie Dixon didn’t know until a day before the opener that Fields would likely start. ‘I had a pretty good idea [Thursday] that he was going to be able to start,’ said Dixon. ‘He’s had no to limited activity for 11 months, which when you really think about it is a staggering amount of time. I have to keep in mind how impressive it is that Levance can play at this level considering how long he’s been off. I thought it was obvious tonight though what a difference there is in this offense when he’s out there.’ Brown still out While Fields appears to be all the way back from his foot injury, sophomore Gilbert Brown is still rehabbing his. Brown was injured several weeks ago, having been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot. Dixon originally projected that Brown could possibly be back by now but didn’t know on Friday if Brown would play against Miami, Ohio, tonight. ‘His foot is coming along slowly,’ said Dixon. ‘He was slowed in the summer by injury, too, which is too bad because we really need him to step it up and play if we’re going to be the team we want to be. I thought he was one of our best players if not our best player in the exhibition game against Seton Hill, so we know he can be very special.’ Another sellout Friday’s game marked Pitt’s 29th consecutive sellout for men’s basketball games at the Petersen Events Center, and the 10,043 fans in attendance saw a pregame ceremony during which Pitt raised its 2007-08 Big East Championship banner. ‘The crowd was unbelievable tonight,’ said Dixon. ‘I think the University is doing all that it can to make it easier for students to get into games, and I thought their enthusiasm really showed tonight. But it’s not just the student section. We’re lucky to play in front of a sellout crowd every night, which is something that might be easy to take for granted after a while. We don’t do that, though. You can’t beat crowds like this.’ Green impressed Pitt held Fairleigh Dickinson to 49 shots and forced 20 turnovers on Friday, enough to keep Knights coach Tom Green’s vote nearly at the top of the USA Today/Coaches’ poll. Pitt is currently ranked No. 6 there and No. 5 in the Associated Press poll. ‘I’ve been coaching here for 25 years. We play three or four big-time teams every year, I’ve been to three NCAA Tournaments, and I’ve never seen a man-to-man defense like this. Jamie [Dixon] runs a tough system. They played the ball, they blitzed ‘mdash; it was incredible. We couldn’t execute anything. We even tried new plays, stuff they’ve never seen, and we still couldn’t execute. ‘I have a vote in the coaches’ poll and I voted Pitt to be No. 2 behind North Carolina. From what I’ve seen, I will keep voting them No. 2 until I see somebody better.’