Coach says Pitt needs Fields back

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, needless to say, knows a little… HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, needless to say, knows a little basketball. And after his team’s 60-53 win over Pitt at the XL Center on Saturday, he just might have summed why Connecticut, in a very similar personnel situation as Pitt, looks like it is improving, while the Panthers seems stuck in a basketball purgatory.

“When people believe in people,” he said, “good things happen.”

Not that the Panthers don’t believe in each other. No doubt they do. Just as their Big East season reaches its midway point, and Pitt continues to assimilate new starters and contributors to the conference, the old record plays on. Without Levance Fields, Pitt looks a little lost.

“That little point guard,” Calhoun said, referring to 5-foot-10 Fields, who remains sidelined with a foot injury, “was the heart and soul of their team. They still have the soul, they still have the heart, but they may not quite have the leadership when they need it.”

UConn, meanwhile, was and will be without their starting shooting guard, Jerome Dyson, who is suspended after failing a drug test stemming from an incident with Hartford police two weeks ago. Dyson accounted for 14.3 points per game for the Huskies and is a sizable loss. The difference is that UConn is finding a way to win games – two in a row against ranked teams, in fact. The Huskies beat then-No. 7 Indiana last week and took down No. 21 Pitt on Saturday. Pitt, meanwhile, continues to fumble for answers.

“After you play a couple of Big East games, the new guys, it’s something you’re not used to,” Sam Young, who scored 18 points on Saturday despite missing all five of his 3-point attempts, said. “We’re missing pieces to the puzzle right now.”

They didn’t this time. The Huskies and Panthers slapped skin, chased loose balls, tangled limbs and thumped the floor in a rough-and-tumble, less-than-gracious poster display of Big East basketball. The first half featured 11 Connecticut turnovers but five Huskies blocks. Pitt had five steals but missed six of its seven 3-point attempts and 21 of its 29 from the field. Pitt wasn’t turning the ball over but couldn’t penalize Connecticut for doing so.

“Me and Sam said, ‘We got to score,'” DeJuan Blair said, referring to Pitt’s halftime tie, despite all the first-half UConn mistakes. The Huskies came out in the second half, playing the way they did in the first but minus the giveaways. Connecticut’s aggressive front-court, headlined by 7-foot-3, shot-swatting center Hasheem Thabeet, challenged Pitt’s ability to turn low-post possessions into baskets. The Huskies blocked 10 of Pitt’s shots and forced the Panthers out from underneath the bucket.

“He’s a big dude,” Blair said, who finished with 13 points of 5-of-13 shooting.

So, the Huskies had the size. Figure, too, that they had the touch. Connecticut made 18 of 21 free throws, while Pitt made just 13 of 20.

“The foul shooting continues, in every game, to be a major, major factor,” Calhoun said.

The Huskies also had the star, point guard A.J. Price – UConn’s very own heart and soul. Price made 8 of 9 free throws and finished with a game-high 21 points.

And, the Huskies, finally, had the dagger. With 2:03 left in the game and the scored tied at 51, UConn’s Craig Austrie hit a back-breaking 3-pointer, from which Pitt never recovered.

“That kind of took the wind out of us,” Young said.

So goes the team. The Panthers, after first appearing unfazed by Fields’ and Mike Cook’s injuries, are now gasping for their Big East breath.