Pitt Men: Panthers' Robinson has break-through performance vs. Louisville
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Nasir Robinson drives to the basket against Louisville's Jared Swopshire in the first half of Pitt's 82-77 victory.
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Louisville did a fine job of making things difficult Saturday for Pitt's leading scorer. The Cardinals blanketed Ashton Gibbs and forced him into an uncharacteristic 4-for-12 shooting performance.
The Cardinals also did a fine job on Pitt's third-leading scorer. Gilbert Brown did not score a point.
But where the Louisville game plan deteriorated was in its outright neglect of Pitt's forgotten fifth starter, Nasir Robinson. The Cardinals paid little attention to Pitt's starting power forward, and Robinson made them pay by scoring a career-high 26 points in Pitt's 82-77 victory.
"We tried to stop other people," Louisville coach Rick Pitino admitted after the game. "He showed he's a quality basketball player and took us off the dribble."
Robinson was 11 for 14 from the field and pulled down 11 rebounds in 42 minutes against the Cardinals. In a game when Pitt's big stars were misfiring, Robinson picked up the slack.
• Game: Pitt (15-2, 5-0 Big East) vs. Georgetown (13-3, 4-2).
• When: 7 p.m. Wednesday.
• Where: Petersen Events Center.
• TV: ESPNU.
"Once I got my first basket, I came out and I felt like I was in a groove," Robinson said. "I kept it going and played hard.."
Robinson used his quickness to drive against the Louisville zone and he pounded the glass, grabbing four offensive rebounds. Pitt had 27 second-chance points and outrebounded the Cardinals by 14. Robinson was a big part of that effort.
"When Nas is doing stuff like that it's hard to beat us because that's another guy you have to worry about," senior guard Jermaine Dixon said.
For much of this season Pitt's opponents haven't had to worry much about Robinson, who was averaging a modest 6.6 points per game before Saturday.
A 6-foot-5 sophomore from Chester, Pa., Robinson had never scored more than 15 points in a game at Pitt. He had made more than one basket in only one of his previous four games and had scored 27 points combined in his previous six games.
First Published January 18, 2010 12:00 am
