Before the Seton Hall game, I said that the NJ media was too busy with the Giants to bother with the Pirates. Turns out, I was way more right than I knew. The NJ Star-Ledger story on the game was farmed out to Pitt’s P-G beat writer Ray Fittipaldo. The focus was on the loss of Brian Laing in the second half. Interestingly, in his recap for the P-G there was only a passing reference to Laing insofar as he kept the Pirates in the game in the first half. Obviously for Pitt-centric readers the story was Sam Young’s game.

Young not only was dominant inside, but he stepped out and made all four of his 3-point attempts. Young has developed into one of Pitt’s top outside shooters. With his perfect performance yesterday, he is shooting 52.6 percent (20 for 38) from 3-point range for the season.

“He just keeps getting better,” Dixon said. “He’s improving in every area. He was a complete non-shooter coming out of high school. That was the question about him. Even coming out of prep school, people didn’t think he could shoot it. Now he goes 4 for 4, and we’re running plays for him to come off screens and shoot 3s.”

Seton Hall could not handle Blair on the blocks. He had five rebounds in the first four minutes and got stronger. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 8 for 12 from the free-throw line.

After playing half a season together, Young and Blair are beginning to develop excellent chemistry.

“You could see them interacting early on in the season and you could see how they enjoyed playing with each other,” Dixon said. “That’s not normally the case with a young guy like that. They know where each other is now. They have a good feel for each other on the offensive end.”

Not to mention the success on the inside, means more open looks outside.

“We took what we could,” said Keith Benjamin, who made all three of his 3-pointers in the second half after going 0 for 2 before halftime. “Sam and DeJaun are so good at kicking it back to who’s open.

“Inside out … that’s how you want to play basketball.”

Seven of Pitt’s first eight shots were from the outside. All eight went in. It was a masterful shooting performance more because it was unexpected than perfect.

Blair, Young and reserve forward Tyrell Biggs stretched Seton Hall’s inside defense to 10-12 feet and beyond. Young hit four 3-pointers. Blair showed some outside touch with a 13-footer to open the second half. Biggs found his groove with a couple of 15-foot swishes early in the second.

Young, Blair and Biggs were all but a few points of the offense in the first half. The second half was also when Keith Benjamin snapped out of a bad first half. The kind that would have Trevor Matich calling him “Bad Keith” if he played football.

Riding a wave of emotion and brimming with confidence, Benjamin didn’t expect Saturday’s first half to come crashing down on him. He missed all three of his shots, and his two 3-point attempts were nowhere close. He committed three turnovers, the bane of the Panthers since Fields went down.

“My adrenaline was pumping from the last three games. I was a little fast, and the bad ones put me in a funk,” Benjamin said. “In the second half, I was being more patient, more decisive

In the first seven minutes of the second half, which started with Pitt up only three, Benjamin hit two 3-pointers, has four assists and added a steal and a rebound. It was part of a game that saw Benjamin get 12 points and a career-best six assists.

“He made some decisions that aren’t typical of him,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “(In the second half), he waited for his shots.”

Benjamin just seems to be showing a lot more maturity about himself and playing these days.

Of course there was little time to discuss this as things move to the Monday night game. The opener of ESPN’s Big Monday with Georgetown coming.

Their mini-resurgence sets the stage for Georgetown, which beat Pitt two out of three games last season and denied the Panthers the Big East regular-season and tournament crowns with a pair of victories in a 14-day span.

Tipoff for their only regular-season meeting is 7 p.m.

“We think about it all the time,” senior guard Ronald Ramon said. “That was a ring that was taken away from us. It’s behind us now. It’s definitely a challenge. They are coming into our house. We’ve got to protect our house.”

Georgetown has kept winning, but has had some close games including just getting past UConn on Saturday.

DeJuan Blair is excited about a chance to go up against Roy Hibbert.

“He’s a big dude, an excellent player, man,” Blair said. “I can’t say nothin’ about him. He’s a good idol. I’m not saying he’s my idol, but he’s a good player to look up to. It seems like he’s a good guy. I like him.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon was asked if Blair thrives in big-game atmospheres.

“I haven’t seen him dislike too many atmospheres,” Dixon said, laughing. “He seems to be smiling every time I see him. I’ve never really seen him in a bad mood. I think he’ll have fun. I think he’ll have a good time.”

Blair going against Hibbert seems to be a theme.

Blair will be tempted to use that big booty to push around Hibbert, but he has to be careful of foul trouble. If he can’t play 30-35 minutes, Pitt will get beat. Write it down.

“You just have to be smart,” Blair said. “Don’t reach in. Keep your feet and play strong. Try not to let him get the ball inside. Try to keep him outside.”

Blair figures to get his points against Hibbert. Many come on put-backs after his rebounds.

Write it down. Ron Cook has used his allotment of the term “booty” for 2008.