Pitt took control of the game early. While Providence battled back at times, it was never truly in doubt. Providence scribes are already tired of the familiar story.

If the Pittsburgh Panthers are one of the two teams left off his schedule next season, it’s not likely that the Big East office will hear any complaints from Providence College coach Tim Welsh.

The ninth ranked Panthers continued their mastery of the Friars here at the Petersen Events Center last night with an 81-68 victory. Pitt, now 21-4, mauled the Friars in an ugly first half before letting its guard down for long stretches of the final 20 minutes. However, the Panthers own too much size, quickness and depth for the Friars and held on for the victory.

The win was Pitt’s second this season over PC and sixth in a row between the two teams. PC hasn’t beaten Pitt since 2001 and hasn’t won in the Steel City since 1998.

“They’re a bad matchup for everyone,” said Welsh. “Any top 10 team in the country isn’t a good matchup for us. We’re not at that level right now.”

This is also the 4th straight game against Providence where Pitt has scored 80 or more points. I realize Pitt’s offense has been leading the way late in the season, but this is not a new trend against Providence. They have never been able to answer down-low to Pitt’s size and strength.

“The other teams I played on were more keyed in on defense,” senior guard Carl Krauser said. “The defense was going to bring our offense and that was it. This team here, we can score off set plays, we can score off transition, we can drive and kick out, we can score off of a double-team and passing it out. We have a lot of weapons to play with. We’re just using them out there and it’s helping us score points.”
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Four players scored in double figures for Pitt, which was led by Antonio Graves’ 18 points and Aaron Gray’s 17 points and nine rebounds. Gray picked up where he left off against Providence and dominated the Friars for the second time in less than two weeks. In two games against Providence this season, Gray is 16 for 19 from the field and has 39 points with 18 rebounds.

“My teammates did a great job of finding me,” Gray said. “A lot of times it wasn’t even me making a move, it was just me finishing. Carl [Krauser] made some great passes. Antonio [Graves] definitely made great passes. Levance [Fields] made great passes. They were finding me and I was converting.”

Graves was 6 for 10 from the field and 2 for 3 from 3-point range. It was the second time in the past eight games that Graves has led the team in scoring.

“Antonio’s been playing great in practice and it’s been carrying over into games,” coach Jamie Dixon said.

Graves was not the only reserve to come through with a big game for Pitt. Pitt’s reserves scored 35 points. Fields had 9 points, 4 assists, no turnovers and 2 steals in 18 minutes.

“They can’t double-team all of us,” Graves said. “We’re pretty deep this year. That’s been a big key to our success.”

Levon Kendall was the other Pitt player to get to double digits.

Friars Coach Tim Welsh knew the game was over early, and there was no question later as Pitt pulled a shut-down on McGrath — who is 0-career versus Pitt.

“The game really got out of hand early,” Providence coach Tim Welsh said. “When you are digging like that against them early, you put yourself in a tough situation. It stunned us early.”

The Friars got within 55-49 midway through the second half off Sharaud Curry’s soft jumper off the glass.

But Krauser hit a 3-pointer and baseline layup to keep the lead at double digits. Graves hit an open 3 with a little more than 3 minutes left to extend the lead to 75-59, raising his right arm in the air as he ran back on defense.

Curry finished with 24 points while Geoff McDermott grabbed 14 rebounds for the Friars (12-13, 5-9). Leading scorer Donnie McGrath was held to seven points, eight below his season average, on 3-of-9 shooting.

Five Panthers, including Graves, took turns guarding McGrath.

“I don’t remember him getting a lot of good looks,” Panthers coach Jaime Dixon said.

Pitt rotated bodies on McGrath to keep things fresh.

“About five,” guard Carl Krauser said, referring to the number of Panthers covering McGrath.

“We kept different guys on him,” said Antonio Graves, one of the Panthers charged with shadowing McGrath. “The last game, we let him get started early. He had nothing open today.”

Providence coach Tim Welsh had a different idea on why McGrath wasn’t finding open looks.

“They were holding him,” he said, half-serious, half joking.

Welsh pointed out that McGrath turned into a playmaker in the second half, registering six assists and running the offense through point guard Sharaud Curry, who had a game-high 24 points.

Still, the Panthers were willing to part with a few career games from lesser players in order to keep McGrath from duplicating his.

Antonio Graves had another productive game, and was the leading scorer.

“I’m always awaiting my opportunity to do whatever my team is lacking, whether it be defense or offense, that’s what I take pride in,” Graves said. “A lot of teams clamp down on Carl (Krauser]) and Levance (Fields) but they can’t double-team everyone, so that gives me a chance to step up and carry the team.”

With the win, the Panthers preserved their perfect record at home this year. They also scored 80-plus points for the fourth game in a row.

Coach Jamie Dixon lauded Graves’ performance on both sides of the ball.

“I thought we came out and executed very well early, passed well, and got the ball to the right places, so to win by 13 points in a conference game against a good team shows we got down to business tonight,” Dixon said. “Antonio continues to do a great job, and a number of guys played well, so this was an overall team effort.”

Now that the Steelers are really done playing — not even Pro-Bowl to worry about — more local columnists are ready to write about Pitt (at least until they travel down to Florida to cover the Pirates). Mike Prisuta lauds the deep rotation.

All 11 of them, as even seldom-used forward Doyle Hudson got into the game and onto the scoreboard during the first half of what ended up as an 81-68 pummeling of Providence.

You can dress ’em up however you like; these guys just keep coming.

It’s that profound bench strength that has Pitt poised to avenge last season’s disappointing first-round NCAA Tournament check-out and take a serious run at finally getting over that Sweet 16 hump.

These Panthers will still have to prove themselves away from home, and against much stiffer competition. But at least coach Jamie Dixon will have plenty of options upon which to rely as Pitt endeavors to remain as successful as it’s been surprising.

The Panthers are sporting unanticipated records of 21-4 (overall) and 10-4 (Big East) this morning because their bench has blossomed.

And it’s during tournament time that Pitt’s bench strength will pay its biggest dividends.

We can hope.

Smizik went with his curmudgeon persona in praising the Pitt team and the honoring of Pitt’s past.

Pitt had announced that the Panthers would wear throw-back uniforms. You knew that wouldn’t happen. These members of the hip-hop generation wouldn’t been seen in public with basketball pants that didn’t at least graze the knee, if not cover it. To ask them to wear shorts that might have dropped 10 inches from the waist was asking too much. They wore a different uniform, blue, which is unusual for a home game, but they were not throwbacks.

No doubt, many of the lettermen were dazzled by the new facility and dazzled, too, by the athleticism of the Pitt team. The game has changed greatly since many of them played.

“They’re an elite team,” Providence coach Tim Welsh said.

An elite team, for sure, but more importantly an elite program. For most of its first 100 years, that’s something Pitt couldn’t say.

He’s actually right about Pitt’s first 100 years. There were plenty more downs than ups. Still, complaining about the length of the shorts? Grife.

He complained about some of the omissions like Ricardo Greer and Jason Matthews. I’ve made my feelings about Greer clear — one of my absolute all-time favorites. Jason Matthews was a shooter, but little else. He was an excellent shooter, and that was what he was supposed to do. That doesn’t make him one of the all-time great players.

Kevin Gorman has the round-up on the High School Football Juniors attending the game.

It was a who’s who list of the state’s top football players, including Manheim Township quarterback Pat Bostick, considered the state’s top prospect and the Panthers’ No. 1 target in the Class of 2007.

Pitt used the occasion to make a formal scholarship offer to Greensburg Central Catholic receiver-safety Nick Sukay, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the WPIAL’s most coveted recruits. Sukay has seven offers after Akron and Georgia Tech extended theirs earlier in the week to follow Marshall, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia.

Also attending were several top high school basketball players who could be targets of Pitt in the summer.

Also seen at the Pitt-Providence game were three top juniors: Schenley power forward DeJuan Blair and point guard Jamaal “Onion” Bryant, who will play for their third consecutive City League championship Thursday at Mellon Arena, and Elizabeth Forward center Steve Swiech, who is scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday for a season-ending hairline fracture in his right foot.

I don’t expect any other immediate declarations of choosing Pitt.