Two themes were reported about Pitt’s 71-51 beating of St. Johns. First was the NYC flavor of Pitt with Krauser, Taft and McCarroll — but especially Krauser. The other theme was that St. Johns gave up, didn’t seem to want to play.

The most eye-opening stretch occurred during the final 9:43 of the first half, when St. John’s was outscored 20-3 for a 19-point deficit. The Red Storm never got closer than 17 points.

“I guess we took it for granted,” Elijah Ingram said. “I guess we thought since we won one game we could slack off.”

It didn’t help that three Panthers who were critical to the win are from New York City. Brooklyn’s Chris Taft (Xaverian) had 15 points; The Bronx’s Carl Krauser (Notre Dame Academy) had 9 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds; and Queens’ Mark McCarroll (Christ the King) scored eight points in 13 minutes.

Even they were surprised St. John’s didn’t put up a fight.

“I was real shocked because New York City guards and New York City players in general are like the toughest players out of all cities,” said Krauser, a sophomore point guard. “We never quit. We’re really competitive. I was definitely surprised to see those guys back down and not play a full 40-minute game.”

Pitt played a completely dominating game; and, despite having a week off between games, Coach Dixon used his bench liberally. No starter, except for Jaron Brown, exceeded 30 minutes of playing time. I mean Demetrius was actually in the game for 13 minutes. Torree Morris was in for 11. Unbelievable.

Pitt is confident, poised and making no secret of their goals this year. Conversely, some see another dangerous set of games for Pitt. They are approaching another tough stretch of games: at Notre Dame, at Seton Hall and the UConn rematch. Should be another good week of b-ball.