Maybe Delaware State will win the MEAC. Maybe they are a good team. They learned, though, the difference between being a top team in the MEAC versus being a top team in the Big East.

Every basketball conference has a preseason player of the year, and they are not created equally.

There are those who come from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, like Delaware State’s Jahsha Bluntt. And there are those who come from the Big East, like Pittsburgh center Aaron Gray, who might as well come from a different planet compared with the MEAC.

The difference Tuesday night was staggering as the fourth-ranked Panthers did whatever they wanted in a 67-50 victory over the Hornets at the Petersen Events Center.

“We’re not used to players like that in our league,” Bluntt said.

…
“No one in our league is that big and talented,” DSU coach Greg Jackson said. “I think the game was an indication of how good Pitt is. They caused us a lot of matchup problems.”

The answers weren’t easy to find.

During DSU’s first timeout – when the game was barely under way – the time was nearly completely spent with Jackson taking advice from assistants Keith Walker and Mike Bernard.

“All you can do is play principled defense,” Fleetwood said.

The Hornets, known for their ball control, still let Pitt’s guards get into transition. But Pitt was ready for DSU’s slow-down approach and didn’t get flustered like some Hornets opponents have in the past.

Levance Fields is having an easy time getting the ball in to Gray right now. A good start with that, since last year the team struggled to get the ball inside if Krauser wasn’t in the game.
Pitt also played a solid D, keeping DSU from doing much — though some simply thought the team had a bad night shooting. Good defense will do that.

Still, some love for DSU, they are playing a brutal schedule that technically will only get better, but they are like nomads at the moment.

The game was the first of 14 consecutive road games to start the season. Delaware State plays North Carolina State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Marquette, Michigan and Baylor, among others, before playing in front of their home fans.

Coach Dixon liked playing a team that was going to give Pitt a different style to face.

Dixon knew Delaware State would challenge his team and purposely scheduled the Hornets to get his team exposed to a different style of play that it might encounter in the NCAA tournament.

“That was something we looked at,” Dixon said afterward. “We were well aware of how good they were. We knew they were going to play that way. They were very deliberate and ran the shot clock down from 35 seconds almost every possession. I think they will win their league. We did a pretty good job. Not perfect, but pretty good.”

Four Pitt players scored in double figures. Senior center Aaron Gray led the way with 17 points and eight rebounds. Junior small forward Mike Cook had 13 and Levon Kendall and Antonio Graves each had 10.

Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon are thriving in the backcourt at the moment. Fields is involving everyone in the game and Ramon is shooting very well coming off the bench.

Fields, who started his second game in a row, had eight assists — against only two turnovers — and five rebounds. Ramon continued his outside accuracy, coming off the bench to make 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range. He finished with nine points and three assists.

“We’re fortunate to have two very good point guards,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “We have two very good players that would be starting on most teams. I don’t know if anybody has any better point guards than we have. They are very good.”

The only bad news for Pitt basketball is that Freshman Gilbert Brown is going to have an MRI on his ankle today. Brown has had a miserable fall with Mono and a recurring ankle issue. He was supposed to be the one freshman with the talent, ability and toughness to have a shot at cracking Pitt’s deep rotation. Now, he is more likely to be redshirted at this point.

Omar provided a good first-hand report of the game, noting that the team seems exceptionally close this season.

The box score has lots of goodness. 20 assists on 24 baskets, only 8 turnovers, free throw shooting was a decent 14-19. (If Gray can get his FT shooting to 70% this year, I’ll be thrilled.) Lots of minutes distributed. Coach Dixon is definitely not burning out any players early in the season.