Young dominant in 94-69 Gotham Classic win against Davidson

NEW YORK — Under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, Michael Young spent most of his Sunday afternoon victimizing its baskets.

A couple first-half slam dunks mixed into a consistent flow of easy jump hooks and layups made his opponents, Davidson’s big men, mostly irrelevant in that effort.

“With our size and skill down low, we felt like we could pretty much dominate,” Young said.

Led by Young’s now-standard performance of 22 points, the Pitt men’s basketball team (9-1) defeated Davidson (7-2) 94-69 at Madison Square Garden Sunday in the showcase game of the Gotham Classic.

Young led both sides in scoring, but for his Panther team, points did not come as easily to them early on as it did for the Wildcats.

Davidson started out the scoring with a couple of quick threes from Sullivan and Aldridge. Pitt struggled to find any momentum, and the Wildcats jumped out to a 19-12 lead. The Wildcats’ 16th-ranked scoring offense functions on the strength of its 3-point shooting, and Davidson head coach Bob McKillop said that early effectiveness gave his team confidence.

“Making shots gives you confidence, a feeling of freedom and fun,” McKillop said. “It puts the opponent on their heels.”

But despite the early success, Pitt held the Wildcats to 20 percent from deep for the game, including 2-19 in the second half.

Some of Pitt’s early struggles came as a result of one of its leading scorers, Jamel Artis, picking up two fouls in the first four minutes of the game, causing him to miss nearly the rest of the half. But the team overcame his loss with a balanced offensive effort, which Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said was a focal point of practice all week.

“Just the unselfishness, they made a real commitment this week again, and we improved in four days of practice,” Dixon said. “Our guys played terrific, and I’m really proud of their focus, Mike [Young] and James [Robinson] especially.”

Dixon, who consistently preaches rebounding, was pleased with his team’s effort on the boards Sunday. The Panthers outrebounded Davidson 52-31, led by eight from Sheldon Jeter.

“Sheldon was big for us,” Dixon said. “We started him in the second half. We’re trying to reward these guys for playing well.”

For Robinson, the game’s biggest challenge came in containing Jack Gibbs, who entered Sunday averaging 25 points per game, third best in the country.

Gibbs finished with 21 points, but it came on 8-20 shooting, including 0-6 from 3-point range. Pitt made a concerted effort to swarm him and force difficult shots as he constantly attacked the paint. Some of that defensive success came from Jonathan Milligan simulating Gibbs in practice, Robinson said.

“Milligan did a really good job giving us their looks, and we were prepared as a team to defend,” Robinson said. “We had a pretty good idea how they were going to try and use him.”

Gibbs said Pitt’s defense succeeded in locking his team down with constant pressure.

“They pressured everybody,” Gibbs said. “They’re a long team, they defended the ball really well.”

As the first half wore on, the Panthers consistently fed the ball into Young down low, who used his size advantage to work the post and earn hook shots or foul line trips.

But Davidson maintained an early lead thanks to some drive-and-kick offense and timely threes.

Pitt took its first lead with 5:32 remaining in the first half when Sterling Smith hit a three. Smith stole the ball on the next possession and passed it up to Young for a thunderous dunk, bringing the Pitt fans at MSG to their feet.

Smith shot 4-5 from long range and finished with 12 points.

“Great shots lead to offensive rebounds, and a great pass puts you in that position,” Dixon said. “Sterling and Cameron [Johnson] really got it going from three.”

Pitt used a stretch of seven consecutive made baskets to open up a 10-point lead late in the half. Smith again fed the ball down low to Young, but when Davidson brought a double team, Young quickly fired it back outside for a an open Johnson three-pointer.

Pitt ended the first half on a 27-9 scoring run, capped by a Young baseline jumper at the buzzer. He ended the first half with a game-high 16 points .

“I just try to start games with defense and rebounding first and then let my offense come,” Young said. “I was just out there playing, not really thinking like, ‘Oh, I might have a big day today or I’m going to score this many points’.”

After playing only four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Artis played catch up in the scoring by drilling two quick shots to open up the second half.

The Panthers maintained a lead around 20 points for most of the second half. Sunday’s effort marked the fifth game this season Pitt has topped 90 points.

McKillop said the result quickly diminished the shine of playing at the famous New York arena.

“The magical world of Madison Square Garden wasn’t magical for our shooting or our defense,” McKillop said. “I certainly compliment Pittsburgh for causing that magic to disappear.”

Pitt next faces Western Carolina back at the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m.