Panthers have no answers for Green in road loss

WASHINGTON – For the second time this week, one player’s star performance proved to be too… WASHINGTON – For the second time this week, one player’s star performance proved to be too much for the Panthers to handle.

Ignited by sophomore Jeff Green’s career-high tying 22 points, No. 22 Georgetown rallied from a 15-point deficit to topple No. 9 Pitt, 61-58. Green’s performance came only five days after Connecticut’s Rudy Gay scored 20 to drop the Panthers.

“He’s a very good player, I’ve said all along,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said of last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year. “We saw him in high school, and we saw him last year, and we thought he was the best freshman there was.”

After a slow start, Green put the Hoyas on his back in the second half, scoring from nearly every spot on the court to help turn a 45-38 deficit into a 59-49 lead, one that Pitt nearly erased before a Ronald Ramon desperation shot missed as the buzzer sounded. Like Gay earlier this week, Green did it in every possible way as he hit long-range 3-pointers, driving lay-ups and tough shots inside to keep the Panther defense guessing.

“He’s a great player,” Pitt senior Carl Krauser said. “He went to work. He can make 3s. He’s a different type of 4 man out there.”

His long-distance 3 with 15:54 remaining pulled Georgetown (16-5 overall, 7-2 Big East) within six at 40-34.

“He played outstanding, I mean we knew he could shoot the 3 ball but obviously we didn’t know he could shoot it that well,” Pitt center Aaron Gray said of Green, who finished with four 3s.

Two quick baskets pulled the Hoyas within two, but Pitt extended the lead to seven a few possessions later when Krauser was fouled on a 3-point attempt. The senior sank all three of his freebies for a 45-38 Panther lead.

Then, Green went to work.

He took a pass at the top of the key, faked to his right just enough to get Gray off-balance, and then drove hard to his left, blowing right past the 7-foot Gray. Green softly laid the ball off the glass for two as the whistled shrilled, indicating the third foul on Krauser. Although he missed the free throw, the sophomore wasn’t even close to being finished.

He drove by Gray again a few minutes later for another easy score, this one resulting in a 50-47 Hoya lead. Gray, who had gotten the better of all of Georgetown’s frontcourt in the first half, scoring 15 points in the first frame, went the final 30 minutes without scoring, his defensive assignment becoming all the more difficult with the elusive Green picking up his play.

“Then we were pushing outside and they were driving around us,” Gray said. “Great job on [Green]’s part. He’s a great player.”

With Pitt struggling to score any points in the second half – the Panthers managed only 14 points in the first 19 minutes of the period – Georgetown seemingly took complete control in the next few possessions. The Hoyas hit a 3 and a mid-range jump shot to take a 55-49 lead with little more than two minutes left.

Green, however, still wasn’t done.

He again forced the bigger Gray away from the basket, reducing him to play on the perimeter. The quicker Green then knifed through a double-team and found nothing but daylight in front of him. He controlled his body as he made a move to his left, collected himself and went up for an easy layup, giving Georgetown a 57-49 lead, sending the MCI Center into a frenzy.

“That’s why he was Freshman of the Year last year,” Gray said afterward.