NCAA FIRST ROUND PITTSBURGH VS ETSU--DAYTON, OHIO

DAYTON, Ohio – The first half couldn’t have gone any better for 16th-seeded East Tennessee State. Actually, the entire game couldn’t have played out more in its favor against Pitt, which was a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs for the first time in school history.

Pitt played about as poorly as it could have in the first half, and the trend continued in second half, as well. But somehow, some way, Pitt managed to squeeze past the Bucs 72-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers avoided an upset that might’ve put the city of Pittsburgh into a psychological coma – something that Pitt looked like it had for part of the game.

Pitt guard Brad Wanamaker

The Panthers constantly threw the ball away, missed wide-open shots and missed wide-open men. They were frustrated, flustered, angry and even arguing on the court. DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Ashton Gibbs eventually bailed the team out, but not for one second was it easy.

Blair finished the game with 27 points and 16 rebounds, Young had 14 points and 13 rebounds while Gibbs, who didn’t miss a shot and hit key free throws down the stretch, finished with 10 points and four rebounds.

DeJuan Blair

The scariest part of the game for Pitt likely came when ETSU pulled within two with just minutes to play. Young threw the ball over Jermaine Dixon’s head during the ensuing inbounds play, and the Bucs had a shot to grab the lead. Young yelled across the court at Dixon and it looked like ETSU was on the rise.

But on the next possession, Gibbs came through with a steal, and Blair finished an and-one on the other end to extend Pitt’s lead to five. Gibbs his a 3-pointer a minute later to give Pitt the lead by eight. Pitt hit its free throws in the end and held on.

A sigh of relief? That would be an understatement.

ETSU had Jamie Dixon and Pitt frustrated all afternoon

The AP wrote about how the Panthers flirted with history, but it was more than that. Pitt wined history, dined history, and almost took it home for coffee. Thanks to some late baskets and late defensive stands from Pitt, No. 1 seeds are still undefeated against 16s in the NCAA. But it came about as close as anyone could ask.

The Panthers led 26-23 at the half, but it sure didn't feel like it. Pit committed 13 first-half turnovers, had only one player with more than three points and couldn’t keep up with their men defensively. The Bucs, meanwhile, attempted 13 more field goals and hung around on the glass.

Forward Sam Young

That was a trend that continued. In the end, ETSU took 20 more shots than Pitt, came through with an astounding 20 offensive rebounds (Pitt had nine), committed half the turnovers that the Panthers did and scored 25 second-chance points. The only thing the Bucs didn’t do? No matter how many open looks Pitt gave them, they couldn’t hit a shot.

ETSU was 9-of-37 from the field in the first half (24 percent) and still trailed by just three. If the Bucs hit just half of the wide-open shots they missed, they might’ve led by 20. What would’ve happened then? History could’ve been quickly changed.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said that ETSU’s performance was something that he and his team expected. He talked about how well the Bucs played down the stretch and how they deserved a much better seeding than 16.

“I watched that team and said, ‘there’s no way this team is a 16 seed,’” Dixon said. “This is a team that’s playing their best basketball right now with a totally new lineup.”

But were they – are they really that good? Was the team really so athletic, so fast and so aggressive that it could dominate Pitt in so many categories?

After opposing coaches and teams whined and complained all year about Pitt pushing them around, the ETSU did what so many of those teams didn’t: they matched Pitt physically. Looking on from the outside, it looked like a Pitt-Connecticut matchup, not a game that Pitt should’ve ran away with from the start. And it doesn’t matter if ETSU is that good overall, because they were that good on Friday.

ETSU made the game as physical as any Pitt played all year.

“We’re really disappointed,” Bucs’ coach Murry Bartow said, “Because we felt we could win. We came here to win. We didn’t come here to play a close game.”

This could end up being a good thing for Pitt, which got another reminder that every team in the Tournament will be looking for blood. The Panthers have a tough contest with Oklahoma State approaching on Sunday, and they know that if they play the same way they did today in the first half, the game will be more than just tough to come away with.

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The Pitt News

Photos by Michael Heater / Photo Editor

Story by Mike Gladysz / Sports Editor