Panthers crush The Rock

If you hadn’t heard that Carl Krauser was coming back for a final season this year, you knew… If you hadn’t heard that Carl Krauser was coming back for a final season this year, you knew after the first three minutes Saturday night.

Before the crowd could say, “Slippery Rock? Aren’t they Division II?” Krauser had dropped 11 points in under three minutes to pace Pitt’s 100-42 romp over the Rock.

“I was just thinking about coming out there and playing hard,” Krauser said. The redshirt senior also had two steals in his stellar opening few minutes.

“Carl really set the tone,” head coach Jamie Dixon said.

Though Slippery Rock plays a division below Pitt, the game was still a good start for the Panthers. The blowout marked the first time the Panthers hit 100 points since Dec. 1, 1999 against Norfolk State.

“It’s only the first game,” center Aaron Gray said. “But we definitely started out right.”

Dixon agreed, and was full of praise for not just Krauser, but the whole team after the lopsided victory.

“I thought it was a good exhibition for us,” he said. The team’s defense impressed him most.

“As the game went on, the defense got better,” he pointed out. “The ability to adopt and adjust, that’s a big part of the game.”

The Pitt defense struggled early, which – coupled with poor early shooting – allowed Slippery Rock to stay with the Panthers as late as 8:45 remaining in the first half, when Justin Mullen’s three-pointer closed the gap to 21-15. But the Rock could get no closer.

Pitt forced 27 turnovers on the day, led by Krauser’s five steals. Newcomer Sam Young added three steals of his own. But Young’s defense wasn’t the part of his performance that people will remember.

The freshman electrified the crowd all night on the offensive side of the ball. From his soaring layups to his late “oop” off Keith Benjamin’s “alley” to his breakaway dunk that brought the crowd of 6,813 to its feet, the freshman kept the crowd buzzing.

Everyone wanted to talk about the new class after the game.

“The young guys really do a good job taking things from practice and carrying them over to the games,” Krauser said.

“They work really hard,” Gray added. “They’re there [in the gym] every day, sometimes some of the first players there.”

Dixon acknowledged the hard-work aspect, but also explained that the freshmen are usually in the gym because there’s no place they’d rather be.

“They like to play, and they like to be in the gym,” he said.

Levance Fields, a freshman guard, made a big impact in his first game, tallying nine assists and snatching eight rebounds. He led all Pitt players with 23 minutes on the floor.

After Mullen’s trey made it 21-15, Pitt went on a 21-1 run over the final 12:15 to close the first half. In the second half, the Panthers picked up right where they left off, scoring the first 12 points.

The final 20 minutes of the game didn’t offer fans too much in the way of excitement, as Pitt wore down the smaller Rock team. The crowd came back to life, though, when Pitt scored its 94th point on a Doyle Hudson layup with 2:05 to play.

With each ensuing basket, the Oakland Zoo got louder until Hudson hit another layup to make the score 98-40 with 64 seconds left in the game. At that point, the crowd roared, and although Jamar Scales scored to make it 98-42, the din never fell.

Pitt didn’t disappoint and the crowd exploded when Tyrell Biggs tipped in a rebound with 26 seconds to play. Biggs and Hudson each had eight points on the night.

Five Panthers scored in double-figures, led by Gray’s 18. The center shot 8-of-12 from the floor to lead Pitt’s attack in the paint. The Panthers outscored the Rock 52-14 inside, 36-8 in the second half.

Pitt returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 13. The Panthers host the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indians at the Petersen Events Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.