Page irked by Panthers’ performance in 89-49 romp over Lions
PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh continued its winning ways in this year’s pre-Big East basketball season by defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 89-49, at the Petersen Events Center if front of 7,969 fans last night. “We’re glad we got the win,” Howland said. “We need to focus every night and play defense and keep up our intensity.”
Arkansas Pine-Bluff (0-4) did not show up to simply be another tune-up game for the Panthers, however, as the Golden Lions kept the game close through the first half and four minutes into the second half.
Guard Julius Page, who scored 14 points, was disappointed after the game in the team’s performance in the first half.
“As long as we continue to let teams stay around, this will catch up to us in the Big East,” Page said. “We still won by 40, but we have to pick up our game if we want to be No. 5 in the country.”
“In the first half, we were anxious to get things under way,” Howland said. “Anybody can beat anybody, so they shot well in the first half, but we picked it up in the second half.”
Pittsburgh committed 10 turnovers by halftime and held a mere 37-30 lead on a team that lost to Georgia Tech by 38 points and lost to Illinois by 53 points.
“My point at halftime was they are coming here to play with nothing to lose and they hit some tough shots in the first half, so give them some credit,” Howland said. “Our opponents are not going to roll over and play dead.”
Arkansas-Pine Bluff was still down only four points five minutes into the second half, but Pittsburgh separated from the Lions at that point and opened up a 22-point lead after center Toree Morris helped spark a 20-0 run.
“Toree played a big key in helping us during that run in the second half,” point guard Brandin Knight said. “He came to play tonight and he has picked up his game.”
Morris scored five points and blocked two shots in a one-minute span halfway through the run. He finished the game scoring 10 points and pulling down eight rebounds.
“I knew we could play better after that first half,” Morris said. “We knew we had to pick it up in the second half and I tried to take it upon myself and make something happen for the team, defensively and offensively.”
The next time the Lions scored and the smoke cleared, the Panthers were up 62-40 and the route was on. Pittsburgh used another impressive run to close out the game, outscoring the Lions 27-9 in the final seven minutes.
“I was happy with Toree tonight because he gave us a lift,” Howland said. “He picked his game up in the second half and we needed that spark.”
Guard Carl Krauser missed the game with an injured calf and the Panthers could have used his offense in the first half. He is expected to return the next game. Five Panthers finished the game in double-figures, led by forward Chevon Troutman, who scored 15 points.
“Chevy really played well tonight,” Howland said. “He did a good job underneath and helped us with his scoring tonight.”
Guard Jaron Brown scored 13 points and Brandin Knight scored 11 points to round out the Panther double-figure scoring effort.
“I don’t really pay attention to the fact sheet because my main focus is to get to where we are going and win games,” Knight said. “After we put together the run in the second half, we took the wind out of them, but we struggled a little bit and still need work.”
The Panthers doubled the Lions’ rebounding total 50 to 25. Forward Donatas Zavackas led the Panthers with 11 boards.
“It’s great to outrebound them, especially on the offensive boards,” Howland said. “We want to out-rebound our opponents by at least 10 every night, and if we do, we will be happy with our rebounding performance.”
Next up for Pittsburgh is Norfolk State on Dec. 3.
Howland is not concerned with the team’s high ranking at this point, but rather on the Panthers continuing to improve each game and prepare for Big East Conference play.
“We really don’t worry about the ranking right now,” Howland said. “We need to prove ourselves all year and do well in the end by getting it done night in and night out.”