Big Lead Sports Bar

3/20/2008

A Nice Start

PITT 82

ORAL ROBERTS 63

When you see names like Polen, Frye, and McGhee show up in the Pitt ledger, you know that the game was either very good or very bad. Fortunately, their appearance was of the "good" variety, as the Panthers (27-9) opened the tournament with an 82-63 win over Oral Roberts.

So much for my fears that Pitt might come out flat and/or low on energy. They had a 47-24 lead by halftime in a game that could've easily been renamed "The Levance Fields Show".

Fields was everywhere, dropping 23 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds on the Golden Eagles in a dominant performance. Sam Young contributed 14 points and 6 boards, while DeJuan Blair added 8 and 10.

The best part was that no Panther played more than 33 minutes. Tyrell Biggs and Gilbert Brown both had more than 20 minutes of PT in the victory.

The Panthers will next face off against Michigan State, 72-61 winners over Temple, on Saturday in Denver.

Some MSU info:

--The Spartans are led by Sophomore forward Raymar Morgan at 14.5 PPG/6.3 RPG and Senior point guard Drew Neitzel at 14.2/2.5.

--Roster includes four players listed at 6'10" or taller.

--26-8, 13-7 in the Big 10

--RPI rank of 16

--Top-50 RPI wins: #26 BYU, 7 Texas, 41 Purdue, 50 Ohio State (twice), 23 Indiana

--Top-50 RPI losses: #5 Duke, 41 Purdue, 23 Indiana, 50 Ohio State, 11 Wisconsin (twice)

--Worst losses: 43-36 vs #189 Iowa; 85-76 vs #152 Penn State

--Last year in the tournament: 9 seed. Beat Marquette 61-49, lost to #1 North Carolina 81-67

--Famous alumni (other than the Trib's Mike Prisuta): Plaxico Burress, Boo Bell, TJ Duckett, Wayne Fontes, Kirk Gibson, Mark Mulder, Courtney Hawkins, Jim Miller, Andre Rison, Magic Johnson, Zach Randolph, Mateen Cleaves, Kip Miller, Rod Brind'Amour, Bryan Smolinski, James Caan, Sam Raimi, Tom Sizemore, and To Catch a Predator's Chris Hansen.

Now feeling healthy, Fields, Pitt leave Oral Roberts in dust [ESPN]

Michigan State Basketball Official Site

2 comments:

Nate said...

I went to high school with Gary McGhee. He's a really cool guy. I definitely thought he'd play a bigger role than he does...he was a superstar here.

bohica said...

good start, but i am holding my breath until after this weekend.

plus we get gus johnson and len elmore again!