A little hometown favoritism about the difficulty of playing at the RAC. I do love the Krauser retort:
This new edition got what might have been its toughest test yet last night – a game at Rutgers, arguably the conference’s toughest road venue. And how No. 9 Pitt handled the rigors in a 76-68 win before 8,065 at the Rutgers Athletic Center was something to see.
The Panthers took the crowd’s taunts. They withstood the Big East’s loudest crowd. And then they held off every run to remain one of three unbeaten Division I teams.
“This is a fearless group and I am the fearless leader,” said Krauser, one of five Panthers from the greater New York area. “We got guys from New York here. You don’t think they’ve played in rowdy gyms before?”
Krauser is one of two seniors on a team that looks like it could be good for a good, long time. The Panthers don’t rely on any individual and move the ball extremely well. Krauser scored six points, 11 below his average, and the Panthers never showed signs of buckling.
Rutgers just couldn’t handle the strong physical play of Pitt, the fans knew it and were making a plea for the future.
In block printing and not-so-neat printing, in the student section and in the bleachers, the signs were everywhere.
“Lance=Dance.” “Stay in Jersey, Lance.” “Knights need their Lance.”
Like right now.
With enormously coveted recruits Lance Thomas and Eugene Harvey sitting alongside an enormously loud 8,063 other bodies, Rutgers couldn’t manage to make liars out of its fans. Missing someone — anyone — to help Quincy Douby, the Scarlet Knights dropped a taxing 76-68 decision to No. 9 Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
The Scarlet Knights shut down undefeated Pitt’s leading scorer Carl Krauser, made 7-foot center Aaron Gray claw for potentially the ugliest 20 points of his career and, in the end, desperately could’ve used a jolt from either of the St. Benedict’s prep stars.
Wonder if either might want to look a little closer at Pitt after this?
Two tough road games and two Pitt wins. The thing that is most impressive is that so many different players have been stepping up. Krauser and Gray have been limited in the last 2 games. Instead Fields, Kendall, Benjamin, Ramon and Young, have all been making the impacts. It is a wonder to behold and the reason why Pitt has yet to have a Big East Player of the Week (though Young did get Rookie of the Week once). Pitt is playing as a team. They share the ball, as evidenced by an astounding 68.4% A/B% (Assisted Basket Percentage), and no one player is trying to do too much.
Coach Jamie Dixon deserves a lot of credit for the way he has been bringing this team along. He has gotten everyone to buy into the way things are. Making it all about the team and winning first. He has Carl Krauser playing under control, getting everyone into the game. I’m impressed. I had a lot of doubts after last season, but Coach Dixon has shown that he has control of this team.
