In happier news, Pitt had no problem with St. Francis. This is not exactly a shock. The Flash aren’t exactly a mid-major threat. The only questions coming into the game were the amount of minutes for the players and the size of the win.

Pitt built a lead of as high as 31 before finally ending up with a 71-47 win.

Ashton Gibbs continues to see his shooting percentage suffer with point guard duties piled on top. On the bright side, he only played 27 minutes in the game as opposed to the 38-39 he had been playing. So, that’s nice. Nas only played 25 minutes. Basically, the starters got rest in this game.

J.J. Moore stood out in this game. He tied Gibbs for the most minutes played. He had 15 points including a monster jam and a lot of shots that were right around the basket — rather than pulling up for jumpers.

Dixon was pleased with most aspects of the game, including reserve forward J.J. Moore getting 15 points. Moore came off the bench in place of Lamar Patterson, who ended up with 11.

“He’s been playing hard, and he’s working hard,” Dixon said of Moore. “Lamar was banged up on the one play and wanted out, and Lamar has probably been one of our most steady guys.

“J.J. is going to be a really good player. At some point, they will be playing a lot together in the future.”

Moore said he thought even before the opening tip it might be his night.

“I felt fired up on the layup line,” he said.

I think my favorite moment for Moore came late in the game, when he got whistled for a foul. It was a dumb, late foul — and he knew it. And in was coming Patterson at the horn. Moore started walking back to the Pitt bench when he realized Patterson was subbing in for another player. Coach Dixon was leaving him in the game. He spun back to the court on his heel and the camera caught him with a big, big smile on his face. Those little moments when a player realizes his coach is giving him more freedom — and responsibility.

Coach Dixon has been saying that Patterson and Moore will be seeing some playing time together. This kind of blowout gave Pitt a chance to play with that concept.

Dixon played Patterson some at shooting guard and got both players on the floor at the same time.

“It’s definitely working for us,” Moore said of the tweak in the rotation. “Lamar is like another Brad Wanamaker. He can get rebounds, he can get assists, he can score. It’s working out very well.”

Patterson adjusted well in the minutes at shooting guard, and he delivered another well-rounded effort. He scored 11 points, had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 turnover in 20 minutes.

“We’re doing it more and more,” Dixon said of playing Patterson at shooting guard. “Lamar has played really well. Any position we put him at he’s playing well. Eventually, we thought Lamar and J.J. would play together, but it’s probably going to happen more this year.”

Ray Fittipaldo saw this as a big game for Pitt because it was one where the team had a chance to process the Birch departure.

Taylor and Moore both said something that perked my ears up after the game.

Here is the quote from Moore:

“For the past week coach has been feeling us,” Moore said. “He’s been having confidence in us. Today he came fired up, and that fired us up, especially me. I just wanted to go out there and get a win for us.”

When Moore was asked what he meant by coach “feeling” them, Taylor jumped in with this quote:

“He’s feeling our intensity,” Taylor added. “The way we’ve been practicing, our energy has been lifting everyone up. We all come in excited. We’re all excited every day ready to practice and ready to play. It showed today. We came out and played hard. That’s what we’ve been doing for the past four days. Playing hard, playing smart. Everyone has been doing well.”

Four days? Hmmmm. That just happens to be the number of days since Khem Birch left the team.

As every day passes the more and more I believe the Panthers are going to use Birch’s departure as a rallying point. I got that idea speaking to some people off the record Friday night, the night Birch got on a bus and went home to Canada.

I got that feeling talking to the players Saturday night after the South Carolina State game.

I got that feeling talking to Talib Zanna yesterday when he said Birch “made coach Dixon look bad.”

And I got that feeling tonight. The chemistry on this team got a whole lot better with Birch leaving. Whether the Panthers will be a better team without Birch remains to be seen, but it’s obvious that the players are excited about this team and where it’s headed.

In wake of Khem Birch’s departure. One aspect mentioned about Birch is that he can be very shy, and somewhat of a loner. There is nothing wrong with that. Some of the same things were said about Sam Young early in his career. But the difference is that early on with Young, he wasn’t considered a key part of the team. He had a chance to grow into things and part of the team culture. Birch didn’t have that luxury, and it may have rubbed wrong with the players.

Culture and fit with the Pitt players is a big deal. What Coach Dixon — and the players themselves — have developed at Pitt is a very close-knit unit. The do everything together. They are extremely tight and close. It’s a point of pride among the players. It is also a major factor in why Pitt hasn’t had many transfers about playing time — there is a reluctance to leave. They like Pitt and their teammates. It is hard to leave that even without the playing time.

Everyone saw action, and for the most part played well. Aside from Gibbs’ shooting, the notable exception was John Johnson. Not sure if he’s just in a bit of a slump, hitting some of the freshman wall, teams starting to be a little more aware of him out there, or if he’s been more focused on staying eligible by concentrating on finals. But in his last 3 games he is only 1-6 on 3’s, 3 assists and 6 turnovers.