Pitt declaws Tigers, 78-41

There are scoring droughts in college basketball. Then there is what Auburn went through… There are scoring droughts in college basketball. Then there is what Auburn went through Sunday night.

Pitt held the visiting Tigers without a single point for nearly 11 minutes in the first half, breaking the game open with a 22-0 run along the way to spark a 78-41 victory in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

“I thought Pitt played awfully well, it’s the best I think they’ve played all year,” Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said after the game. “With a young team out there, we got physically dominated in every spot. They’re a very good basketball team, they guard as well as anybody.”

“I was just happy with how we came out and defended from early on,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said of his team’s stifling defense.

Auburn never threatened to become only the second opponent outside the Big East conference to win in the Petersen Events Center. The Tigers opened the second half shooting much like they did in the opening period, letting the Panthers open up a lead that swelled to 48 points at one time.

The Panthers’ physical play visibly frustrated the Tigers, and prevented them from mounting any consistent offensive attack, as shots were constantly contested, passes sailed out of bounds and countless shots bounced off the rim and fell into the arms of Panther defenders.

“We knew it was going to be a physical game,” Auburn senior Ronny LeMelle said. “I don’t think we came out ready to play. In the first half, they were playing real aggressive out there.”

Early on, Auburn’s Korvotney Barber skied over the Pitt defense to pull down a rare offensive rebound and then laid it off the glass to tie the score at four. That basket, with 17:48 left in the opening half, however, was the Tigers’ last score until the 6:49 mark. Along the way, Jeff Lebo’s team missed six free throws and was out-rebounded 18-7.

“You’re looking down [the bench] for answers and you’re answers are more freshmen,” Lebo said of trying to end the team’s scoring woes with a young team in a hostile environment.

The Panther attack, meanwhile, had no problems getting started, being led by two players who reversed roles for the start of the game. Starting for the first time this year, sophomore shooting guard Ronald Ramon scored six points and dished out four first-half assists, while freshman Levance Fields, who Ramon started in place of, scored five points by hitting both of his field-goal attempts.

“Both are very good players. They’ll play together and they’ll continue to improve, and their both sophomores,” Dixon said.

Pitt started out the game going inside, before Fields and Ramon got hot from the outside as the Panthers hit seven of 14 first-half 3-point attempts to open up an insurmountable 39-15 halftime lead. Pitt’s swarming defense also shackled LeMelle, the Tigers’ leading scorer, holding the senior to two points on only two field-goal attempts. LeMelle finished with 18 points, most coming the weaning moments when the Tigers trimmed the lead.

Dixon called the decision to start Ramon “inconsequential,” pointing to the plethora of guards on his roster that can play various positions.

“We have a lot of guards that can play different positions,” Ramon said. “I think that it’s not really a question of who can play what position, we are just guards that can go out there and play.”

While the guards ultimately lit up the scoreboard – the Panthers hit 12 of their 21 3-point attempts – Pitt’s size advantage was too overwhelming not to take advantage. Junior center Aaron Gray (7 feet) notched 10 points and four rebounds in only 18 minutes of action while classmate Levon Kendall (6-foot-9) came a point shy of a double-double, scoring nine points and snatching 10 rebounds in only 15 minutes. Both of Auburn’s starting post players stand 6-foot-7.

Once the Panthers had the inside game established, the outside game simply took off. Seven different Panthers hit 3-point shots, four of them hitting multiple shots from behind the arc, as Pitt hit five of its seven second-half 3-pointers to not only keep the Tigers at bay, but turn the game into the first true blowout of the season.

“I thought it was a great team effort all the way through,” Dixon said. “I think it was just one of those nights for [Auburn], I think we had something to do with it, but they’ll be very good, they have big-time players that are young.”

Dixon’s squad will now prepare for its first “road” game of the season, which will come on Wednesday when the Panthers will travel down the road for an 8 p.m. tip-off with Duquesne. Although Pitt coasted to an 87-57 win in the Pete last season, Dixon was quick to point out the last time his team ventured into the AJ Palumbo Center, a hard-fought, come-from-behind 59-45 win two years ago.

“They look forward to this game,” he said of the Duquesne players, many of whom play in similar summer leagues as his players. “Familiarity always brings something more to it.”