Pitt Basketball: Blair; Panthers roll over Hoyas, 70-54
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DeJuan Blair muscles his way over Georgetown's Greg Monroe for one of his 17 rebounds yesterday in Pitt's dominating performance at the Verizon Center in Washington. -
Apparently, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon wants a timeout yesterday in the second half.
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WASHINGTON -- Pitt started the season with 13 consecutive victories without beating a ranked opponent. And the Panthers knew their lack of a marquee victory raised doubts about their national profile.
So the pregame motivation before the road game at No. 11 Georgetown was to play the disrespect card. The goal was to show everyone that the third-ranked Panthers were worthy of their unbeaten status and lofty ranking.
Mission accomplished, emphatically.
Pitt throttled Georgetown, 70-54, in front of 19,397 fans at the Verizon Center, where the Hoyas had been unbeatable for almost two years. The Panthers bullied Georgetown all over its home court and snapped a 28-game home winning streak. In the process, they handed the Hoyas their worst loss at home since November 2004.
"Before the game, people were saying who did Pitt beat?" Pitt sophomore DeJuan Blair said in the jolly postgame aftermath. "We came into Georgetown and showed what we can do. They can't say anything now."
In a game that defined Pitt's reputation as bullies on the Big East block, Blair played the role of biggest and baddest bully. Three days after the worst game of his career against Rutgers, when he set a career low for rebounds and matched his career low for points, Blair played perhaps the best game.
Blair scored 20 points and ripped down 17 rebounds in a dominating performance against highly touted Georgetown freshman Greg Monroe. The Pitt team statistics measuring physical dominance were even more enlightening.
Pitt won the rebounding battle by more than two to one. The Panthers pulled down 48 rebounds as a team and almost had as many offensive rebounds (20) as the Hoyas did total rebounds (23).
It was a blowout that no one saw coming. Georgetown had just beaten No. 2 Connecticut by nine points on its home court, and this game was being billed as an early showdown for Big East supremacy.
"We talked about making a statement to the rest of the country," Pitt senior Sam Young said. "That's what we did. Considering they were coming off a big win at Connecticut, and we were coming into their house ... For us to have a big win against them, shows a lot for our team."
First Published January 4, 2009 12:00 am
