Taft re-emerges, Pitt goes out in style

NOTRE DAME – Chris Taft is back, and he picked a great time to show up.

Taft scored a… NOTRE DAME – Chris Taft is back, and he picked a great time to show up.

Taft scored a career-high 26 points in Pitt’s 85-77 win at Notre Dame on Saturday, also pulling down 11 rebounds in what was arguably his best game of the season. He also blocked four shots, all in the second half.

“I’d rather it come now than never come at all,” Taft said. “And this is a perfect time for it to come because it’s March. I’ll take it.”

And Taft was eager to make up for the lackluster showing he brought against the Irish earlier in the season, when he scored only one point in the Panthers’ 68-66 win on Feb. 12.

“The whole world knows I’m better than that,” Taft said.

His teammates noticed the difference.

“That’s the real Chris Taft,” freshman guard Ronald Ramon said after the game.

Defensively, Taft was a major presence in the paint along with his counterpart Chevon Troutman, who posted 22 points in the win.

As a team, Pitt (20-7 overall, 10-6 Big East) outscored Notre Dame (17-10, 9-7) 56-24 in the paint, including outstanding guard play from Carl Krauser and Antonio Graves, who scored 15 and 11 points, respectively.

“We did a great job attacking and getting to the basket,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “The decision-making was good throughout.”

Krauser led the Panthers in ball movement, dishing out 11 assists in the contest, and Graves chipped in with five of his own.

One of Krauser’s assists was a no-look pass to Ramon with 14 minutes 58 seconds remaining in the game. Krauser drove through the paint on a fast break and eyed the basket but dished right to Ramon, who laid it in off the glass.

The bucket gave the Panthers a three-point lead, 46-43, which grew to 13 with 10:30 showing on the game clock.

The 13-point lead, 58-45, was reached after a 3-point play, with a bucket and a free throw from Taft.

Notre Dame tried to bounce back, but offense was hard to conjure up with guard Chris Quinn playing on an injured left ankle for most of the game, and an off-target Chris Thomas shooting two-for-13 from the field and zero of eight from 3-point range after missing his first 10 shots.

Thomas did manage 12 points in the game thanks to an eight-for-eight showing from the charity stripe.

Notre Dame guard Colin Falls scored a career-high 28 points in the game, although 18 came in the first half, when he was deadly from outside the 3-point arc, hitting six of his seven attempts from downtown.

“That’s not the first time he hit a bunch of 3s in a game,” Dixon said. “They know how to find him.”

The Panthers had no problems shooting from the field in the second half, connecting on 20 of 30 field goals (66.7 percent). Pitt hit 56.9 percent of its shots in the contest, compared to Notre Dame’s 40.3.

“We wanted to play solid defense,” Krauser said, “and that’s what we did.”

Pitt forced 17 turnovers in the game, 10 in the second half, to go with its six steals.

With the win, the Panthers secured the fifth seed in the Big East tournament, giving them a first-round bye and an extra day of rest. And although Pitt feels it has its swagger back, there is always room for improvement.

“I think we can play better,” said Krauser, adding that he feels he will need to focus on turning the ball over less in the tournament.

The Panthers will play on Thursday against the No. 4-seeded Villanova Wildcats (21-6, 11-6) at 2 p.m. Pitt fell 80-72 to Villanova on Feb. 20 at the Pavilion. This time, the two teams will meet at a not-so-neutral site, Madison Square Garden, with half of Pitt’s team calling New York its home.

“We still have something to prove to the Big East and to everybody else who doesn’t think we’re a half-decent basketball team,” Troutman said, adding, “I feel like we’ll roll in the tournament and that will open some eyes.”

GAME NOTES:

Pitt has won at least 20 games in each of the last four seasons. The Panthers now have 12 seasons in which they’ve won 20 games or more.

Chevon Troutman and Mark McCarroll recorded their 108th career win, making them the winningest class in Pitt men’s basketball history.

Pitt has won five out of the last six against Notre Dame and evened up the all-time series at 25-25.