Pitt overcomes season-low shooting percentage in win

Only one word can be used to describe Pitt’s 53-44 win over Central Florida in the first… Only one word can be used to describe Pitt’s 53-44 win over Central Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday — ugly.

The Panthers shot a season-low 29.5 percent from the field, while the Golden Knights weren’t much better, connecting on 30.8 percent of their field goals. The offensive futility was highlighted by a three-and-a-half-minute stretch in the second half during which both teams went scoreless.

The win was the Panthers’ 30th of the season — a school record — and was Pitt’s third consecutive opening round win in the NCAA Tournament.

“We won tonight and obviously, we’d like to shoot at a higher percentage,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “Any time you can hold a team to shooting 30 percent from the field, you’ve got to be pretty happy with your defense.”

Carl Krauser led all scorers with 20 points, including two second-half three-pointers and five free throws in the final two minutes. Roberto Morentin led the Knights with 16 points and also grabbed nine rebounds.

For Pitt, Chevon Troutman added 13 points — 11 in the first half — despite fouling out, and Chris Taft grabbed 16 rebounds to help Pitt hold the advantage on the boards, 37-33.

“You never count on anybody for 16 rebounds,” Dixon said of Taft. “He did a great job on the boards. I think that was a big key to us taking control in the second half.”

It looked like Pitt did have control of the game early in the second half. But, despite holding a six-point lead in the opening moments of the half, it looked as if the Panthers might be making an early exit from the tournament.

The Knights scraped together a 12-3 run over a seven-minute stretch in the second half to take a three-point lead with 12:39 remaining in the game. Central Florida was able to get back into the game by taking Pitt’s big men out of the game, double-teaming Taft every time he touched the ball and forcing Troutman to the bench after he picked up his third and fourth fouls of the game.

Central Florida did not allow a field goal by any Pitt player other than Krauser for the first 14:29 of the second half.

But after Morentin scored to put the Knights up by three with 10 minutes to go, both teams went cold from the field. The teams combined to miss 10 consecutive field goals before Troutman scored his only points of the second half on a fast-break layup with 5:28 to play.

Further complicating things for Pitt was that seniors Julius Page and Jaron Brown combined to shoot just two of 17 from the field and scored only 13 points. Pitt connected on just six of its 24 field goal attempts in the second half, but converted on better than 70 percent of its free throws.

When it counted, Page was able to step up and provide Pitt with the lift it needed. With 2:24 left and the Panthers clinging to a two-point lead, Page took a pass from Krauser on the right wing and drilled a three-pointer to put Pitt up 43-38.

“I shot it, so obviously I was confident,” said Page about taking that shot. “The other shots that I missed, I was a little anxious. I felt good about my shot before coming in; I just think I rushed some shots. When I caught it, I just took my time with the shot.”

Dixon was glad to see Page pull up and take the shot as well.

“I have every confidence in the world that he is going to make that shot and so does he,” he said. “Obviously, it wasn’t one of our better games offensively. We’d like to make every shot, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.”

Pitt was able to hold on from there, making 10-of-12 free throws in the final minutes to advance to the second round of the tournament.

“You don’t take anything for granted; your emphasis is on executing and thinking about what you have to do,” Dixon said about playing in a close game. “It was one of those days where we didn’t shoot our best.”