Gray leads in victory

One minute into Pitt’s Big East meeting with Connecticut Tuesday at the Petersen Events… One minute into Pitt’s Big East meeting with Connecticut Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center, the Panthers received a break.

Connecticut’s 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet, the No. 1 shot blocker in the Big East, exited the game after Pitt junior wing Mike Cook unintentionally caught his face with an errant hand in a scrum underneath the basket. Thabeet wobbled off the court and down the concourse, missing the deciding 12 minutes of the first half.

As a result, the Huskies (13-4, 2-3 in the Big East) shifted to several variations of zone defense – something head coach Jim Calhoun swears against each season – in the wake of Thabeet’s absence, packing their post players in the lane while lingering their guards on the perimeter.

Pitt (17-2, 5-0) responded with a 6-0 run against the 2-3 zone, exposing Connecticut’s inability to match Pitt’s 7-foot center Aaron Gray. The Preseason Big East Player of the Year hauled in 11 rebounds by halftime, finishing the night with 22 points and 19 rebounds as the Panthers outlasted Connecticut, 63-54.

“It was a great win for us against a great program,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “Gray did a very good job on the boards. He did a better job defensively tonight and he started finishing better in the second half.”

Connecticut refused to go away, matching basket with basket – including an emphatic slam dunk by the Huskies’ 6-7 forward Jeff Adrien after which he nodded at the raucous Pitt student section – deep into the second half. But the Huskies’ 36 percent shooting woes and an eight-minute scoring drought in the middle of the second frame suffocated their chances.

“A lot of losing teams find something to be happy about in a loss,” Calhoun said. “But I haven’t seen a g–damn reason why I should be happy. We just couldn’t convert in those big situations.”

In a physical contest riddled with fouls, turnovers and shaky shooting, Pitt left it to Gray to push the Panthers ahead on a layin, 34-33.

It was an advantage Pitt never relinquished.

“We weren’t happy with how we were playing,” Pitt forward Levon Kendall said. “We got it together at that point – we starting getting stops and getting easy looks on offense and that made the difference.”

Typical of a Big East conference matchup, the game featured brutal competition underneath the basket as Pitt forwards Levon Kendall and Tyrell Biggs fouled out and the teams totaled 47 free-throw attempts. Despite their absence, Pitt tied Connecticut in team rebounding and the teams combined for nine blocked shots.

“[Pitt] physically just manhandled us,” Calhoun said. “They’re the best team in the Big East and they did nothing to disprove that tonight.”

But for the first time since the Panthers beat Auburn on Dec. 3, Pitt’s turnovers outweighed its assists, losing the ball 18 times while assisting just 13 field goals. The Panthers entered Tuesday’s showdown with the Big East’s top assist-to-turnover ratio.

Pitt shot 44 percent from the field – 33 percent in the first frame – but used 66-percent shooting in the second half and a 16-2 run over a six-minute period to stave off the Huskies.

The Panthers maintained their stronghold of the Big East’s top team 3-point shooting percentage, hitting six of their 11 attempts. It was something Calhoun stressed as one of his team defense’s keys to the game prior to the matchup.

“We ran a lot of 2-3 zone against their 3-point shooters,” Calhoun said. “But we had guys stuck underneath, they didn’t get out on them and we paid for it.”

Pitt guard Ronald Ramon, who leads the team in 3-pointers made with 41, sank all four his attempts from long range. The 6-1 junior tallied 17 points in 22 minutes off the bench.

“I came back this year with confidence,” Ramon said. “My teammates are looking for me and are counting on me to hit my shots from out there.”

Adrien led Connecticut with 13 points on five-of-10 shooting, ripping down seven rebounds in 37 minutes. As one of two Connecticut players who participated in the Huskies’ 80-76 defeat of the Panthers last season, Adrien showed little by way of fear in one of the Big East’s biggest rivalries.

“I thought we did a great job on Adrien defensively,” Dixon said. “Kendall really worked hard against him and defended well very well.”

Pitt returns to action Sunday at 3 p.m., battling Marquette at the Petersen Events Center, the first of two contests slated for this season. CBS will broadcast the meeting.

The game will end Pitt’s current three-game homestand which featured last night’s game with the Huskies and Saturday’s matchup with Georgetown.