Panthers maul ORU, dance another day

DENVER – There’s something about Pittsburgh and guarantees. But this time, there weren’t any… DENVER – There’s something about Pittsburgh and guarantees. But this time, there weren’t any Pittsburghers eating their words.

Fourth-seeded Pitt didn’t take the words of Oral Roberts forward Yemi Ogunoye and guard Moses Ehambe very well, and the Panthers played like it. Pitt (27-9) steamrolled No. 13 seed Oral Roberts, 82-63, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Pepsi Center.

The Panthers fell behind early, 13-10, but roared into the driver’s seat with a 29-5 stretch over most of the first half.

Once the halftime buzzer sounded, Pitt led, 47-24, and Oral Roberts never came closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

“They were talking before the game,” Pitt center DeJuan Blair said. “They guaranteed it, man. They guaranteed a win.”

Ogunoye said Wednesday that beating Pitt would be a “huge stepping stone for [the Oral Roberts] program.” Ehambe suggested the world should “expect a miracle.”

When asked if the team used the guarantees as poster-board material, Blair said, rather emphatically, “Yeah.”

Star Pitt forward Sam Young agreed. After Oral Roberts took leads of 8-4 and 13-10, Young said the Golden Eagles thought they had the upset all but locked up.

“I think they underestimated us to be honest, based on the comments before the game and after the first couple shots they made,” Young said.

“At the beginning of the game, they got really confident, but as soon as we started playing like ourselves, we blew the game open.”

Young wasn’t lying, either.

Pitt outrebounded Oral Roberts, 50-33, and held the Golden Eagles to 35-percent shooting from the field.

Oral Roberts star Robert Jarvis needed 17 shots to reach his season average of 16 points.

Oral Roberts made nine of its 22 3-pointers, but the Panthers outscored the Golden Eagles, 34-22, in the paint and 16-4 in second-chance points.

“It’s a 40-minute game,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “You have to continue getting good looks and playing hard. We were controlling the rebounding, and that made a big difference.”

But it wasn’t just the Panthers’ size that made all that difference – their little court general, 5-foot-10 point guard Levance Fields, helped.

Fields had 23 points, seven assists and four rebounds in his third career Tournament appearance.

The Brooklyn native scored 16 first-half points, thanks to three 3-pointers and a heap of confidence.

“He just brings a lot of energy and toughness to the table,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He runs the show.”

Three other Panthers scored in double figures. Young had a quiet 14 points and six rebounds.

The Big East tournament’s most outstanding player didn’t need to have a big game. His perimeter-oriented teammates took care of business.

Guard Keith Benjamin had 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Ronald Ramon added 10 points and three rebounds.

And redshirt freshman wing Gilbert Brown scored 12 points off the bench, showing no signs of inexperience or nervousness.

“Ever since the first day of the Big East, my confidence has gone up,” Brown said. “Now that we are in the Tournament, I’m just trying to keep it going.”

Brown and company soundly bludgeoned Oral Roberts in the halfcourt game. Oral Roberts’ starting frontcourt of 6-8 Marcus Lewis, the 6-9 Ogunoye and 6-10 center Shawn King scored a combined 14 points. The trio was 5 of 12 from the field and only grabbed six rebounds.

Oral Roberts’ second- and third-leading scorers, Ehambe and guard Adam Liberty, didn’t have as much of an impact on the game as they thought they would.

Ehambe was 4 of 10 from the field, with all four of his made field goals coming from behind the 3-point line. Liberty was 1 of 8. He had just two points.

The all-around defensive effort pleased Dixon.

“We were really worried about their shooting,” Dixon said. “We did a good job of preventing them from easy baskets. Our defense was about as efficient as it could be execution wise.”

Pitt’s first-round win moves them into the second round. The Panthers will play fifth-seeded Michigan State on Saturday at a time to be determined. The contest could tip off at 4:40 or 7:10 Mountain time.

Michigan State (26-8) plays a similar halfcourt style of basketball that matches up well with the Panthers. Dixon already seemed wary of Pitt’s second-round opponent.

“We know how good they are,” Dixon said. “It’s going to be a game a lot of people will be interested in watching on Saturday.”