University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
DePaul
No. 12 Men's Basketball Downs DePaul, 73-65
1/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2006
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Aaron Gray scored 20 points and Carl Krauser had 19 for No. 12 Pittsburgh, which shook off a 13-point deficit to remain one of three unbeatens in Division I with a 73-65 victory over DePaul on Thursday night.
Pitt, unranked as late as two weeks ago, is 13-0 for only the fourth time in its 100-year basketball history to join No. 1 Duke (15-0) and No. 2 Florida (15-0) as the only major college unbeatens.
Freshman guard Levance Fields, getting more playing time as Pitt gets into its Big East schedule, scored six points during a pivotal 13-3 run midway through the second half that opened a 54-44 lead.
Fields began the run with two free throws to make it 43-41 and later hit a driving layup and a runner from the lane to give Pitt (13-0, 2-0) its first double-digit lead. Fields added 10 points in Pitt's first game in eight days, or since his shaky 5-of-10 free throw shooting down the stretch repeatedly kept Pitt from closing out a 100-97, double-overtime win over Notre Dame on Jan. 4 after Krauser fouled out.
Pitt went 20-of-28 at the line Thursday after going 44-of-70 in its previous two games.
Wilson Chandler had 15 points and seven rebounds for DePaul (8-6, 1-2) before fouling out in the final minute. The Blue Demons got it to 69-65 on Sammy Mejia's two free throws with 58 seconds left before failing to score again. Mejia had 15 points and Draelon Burns added 13.
Unlike the Notre Dame game, when Pitt got off to big leads and then held off repeated rallies, it was DePaul that surged at the start by opening a 21-8 lead over the rusty Panthers with 7 1/2 minutes gone.
The Blue Demons were helped by three early 3-pointers against the Big East's worst 3-point defense, but Krauser and Gray teamed to lead a 17-4 run that tied it at 25.
This is the second time in three seasons the Panthers are 13-0 under coach Jamie Dixon - they started 18-0 during his first season in 2003-04 - but this strong start was unexpected given Pitt's relative youth.
Krauser, a senior guard who announced last spring he was turning pro but changed his mind, is the only starter from last season currently getting substantial playing time. Fields and another freshman, 6-foot-6 Sam Young (eight points, four rebounds), have developed very quickly, and Gray is playing more consistently than last year's starting center, Chris Taft, who went to the NBA after his sophomore season.
The Panthers have benefited from a favorable schedule in which it has left Pittsburgh only once, for a sloppily played victory at South Carolina last month. The Panthers' next three are on the road in a span of six days at Louisville, Rutgers and St. John's.
Pitt and DePaul played for only the second time and the first in 69 years.
