University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
California
Panthers On To The Sweet 16!
3/17/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2002
Get Your Panther Gear Online Now!
By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh teams often have been known for great defense: the Steel Curtain, Bill Mazeroski and Roberto Clemente, Blitzburgh. It might be time to add Pittsburgh's never-let-'em-score Panthers to the list.
Pittsburgh held California without a point for 9 1/2 minutes during a decisive 16-0 run, and the Panthers moved into the NCAA South Regional semifinals with a defense-driven 63-50 victory Sunday.
Julius Page scored seven of his 17 points during that spurt, which began with Cal leading 32-28 with 16:50 remaining and ended with Pittsburgh up 44-32 with 7:08 left. The Golden Bears went more than 11 minutes without a basket, and 15-plus minutes with only one basket.
"They didn't score for 11 minutes? In an NCAA second-round game?" Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Pittsburgh's third-team All-American, Brandin Knight, was an all-over-the-floor force with 11 points and seven assists, but wasn't really a factor offensively - not that he needed to be with Pittsburgh's defense so dominating, so controlling.
"We played poorly on offense and didn't shoot well, but we knew that if we kept up our defense, we'd give ourselves a chance to win," Knight said.
The NFL's Steelers had the Steel Curtain during the 1970s, and now Pittsburgh has the Steal Curtain - a suffocating, Knight-led defense that is the school's best in 50 years, and one that held Cal to only six baskets in the final 16:40 of play.
"It's a team that embodies a Pittsburgher: tough, hard-nosed, hardworking," Howland said. "Our guys love to play defense because our guys like to win. Defense equates to winning, and it's true in any sport."
By winning twice in Mellon Arena, a mile from its campus, third-seeded Pittsburgh (29-5) moves into the regional semifinals for only the second time in school history. In 1974, the Panthers lost to sky-walking David Thompson's national champion North Carolina State in the regional finals.
The Panthers will play 10th-seeded Kent State on Thursday in Lexington, Ky.
"I don't think the teams that have played Kent State have respected them," Knight said, referring to Alabama and Oklahoma State. "But we've seen them, and we'll prepare for them like we do any other team. We'll try to contain them and do what we do best."
Pittsburgh and Kent State played in - but did not meet in - an eight-team Thanksgiving tournament in Pittsburgh, with the Panthers losing to South Florida in the championship game.
Sunday's victory wasn't the textbook way to win an NCAA game, for sure. Good college basketball teams aren't supposed to advance when shooting 43 percent or making only 12-of-26 free throws or getting so little offense from their star.
Of course, skilled teams such as sixth-seeded Cal (23-9) - which beat UCLA twice this season - are supposed to make more than three of their first 20 shots in a half, too. The Bears, growing increasingly frustrated the longer they failed to score, were only 9-of-31 (29 percent) in the second half, 18-of-58 (31 percent) overall and 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.
"It becomes a mental thing with teams," Page said. "If they can't score, they tend to let up on defense."
Cal's previous scoring low this season was a 56-27 victory over Eastern Washington on Nov. 16. Pittsburgh allows an average of 61 points.
"We had more patience in the first half," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "In the second half, we hurried ourselves and missed some opportunities."
Only Shantay Legans (13 points) and Joe Shipp (11 points) scored in double figures for the Bears.
"They're not afraid to throw their bodies around," Braun said of Pittsburgh, the only Top 10 team the Bears played this season. "It seemed like every time we were going for a ball, they were more aggressive and physical."
Shipp was surprised that Pittsburgh could stay so committed to defense for an entire game, saying, "Their defense was great, and their intensity was great. This was a tough game for us."
Chevy Troutman, a freshman making only his second career start, added 11 points for Pittsburgh, and Ontario Lett outmuscled Cal's bigger front line for 10 points. The Panthers, ninth in the final AP poll, won for the 11th time in 12 games and 14th time in 16 games.
Playing Cal for the first time in 51 years, Pittsburgh made a surprise adjustment to the Bears' size advantage by benching 6-foot-10 center Toree Morris and opening with a lineup in which no starter was taller than 6-8.
That didn't keep Cal from opening an 8-5 lead, but Pittsburgh answered with a 7-0 run to go up 12-8.
In a game in which two of the nation's top defenses were as dominant as the offenses in UCLA's 105-101 upset of Cincinnati on the same floor earlier Sunday, neither team led by more than four points in the first half. Pittsburgh led 26-25 at the break, fell behind early in the second half 32-28, then controlled the game the rest of the way after going on the decisive run.
