Second-ranked Panthers slam George Mason, improve to 9-0
PITTSBURGH – The second-ranked Panthers pushed their record to 9-0 for the first time since 1987 by beating the visiting George Mason Patriots, 65-41,in front of 10,002 fans at the Petersen Events Center. “This was another big win for us,” Howland said. “Our defense really rose to the occasion tonight.”
Pittsburgh’s offense lollygaged through the first half, managing only 26 points in the first 17 minutes. Luckily for the Panthers, their defense held the Patriots to only 20 points in the same time period.
“I thought we would be a little rusty having four days off,” Howland said. “We still played outstanding on defense by holding them to 25 percent shooting for the game.”
Pittsburgh woke up with three minutes left in the half, however and opened up a 36-20 lead on a 9-0 run. The Panther defense ignited the effort as eight of the nine points during the run were scored on lay-ups with Jaron Brown dunking a shot with five seconds left in the half.
“That was a nice run we had in the last 3 minutes in the first half,” Howland said. “Jaron (Brown) put an exclamation point on the half with that dunk.”
The out-manned Patriots (5-4) put up a fight in the first half that Nathan Hale would have been proud of, but they ran out of gas, and had little left for the second half. George Mason made only eight field goals in the first half and seven in the second half on the way to a 25 percent shooting performance for the game.
“I don’t know who my shooting coach is, but we’re going to have to fire him, because this was a terrible game for us.” George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga said. “The Panthers have a great team and deserve their high ranking, but for us to shoot 15 for 58 against any type of opponent is ridiculous.”
The Panthers maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half and opened up their biggest lead of the game at 21 points after point guard Brandin Knight scored his first field goal of the game with a little over four minutes left. The Patriots would never get any closer.
Knight came off a stellar week by earning Big East Co-Player of the Week for his performance in Pitt’s last two victories. He only scored seven points against the Patriots, but dished off a season-high 10 assists.
“I don’t worry about how much I score, I think our whole team is very unselfish on offense, and on defense, I said to the team in the huddle before the game to hold them to less than fifty points,” Knight said. “We can demoralize the other team with our tenacious defense by getting in their head that they can’t score, then that starts to get in the back of their mind.”
Howland complimented Knight on having a good game for all the things he did besides scoring points.
“Brandin may have only scored seven, but he still had a good night,” Howland said. “He had 10 assists, five steals, and three rebounds.”
Pittsburgh was led on offense by Jaron Brown who scored 13 points and was the only Panther to score in double figures. Brown is known to fans as a player that excelled on defense his first two years, but has added considerable offense to his game this season.
“Jaron (Brown) is a good all-around player on defense and on offense,” Howland said. “He did a good job from the foul line tonight by hitting all three of his attempts, and he is just an unsung hero with a good Pittsburgh work-ethic and toughness, who brings it every night.”
The Patriots stayed even with the Panthers on the boards however, as Pittsburgh out-rebounded George Mason by a scant 1 board, 40-39. Julius Page led the Panthers in rebounding with nine. Howland felt that his team did not let up on the boards, but credited the Patriots for gathering so many rebounds as a result of missing so many shots.
The Panthers will be in for a dogfight in their next game as they now travel to Georgia to play the 7-3 Bulldogs on Tuesday night. Georgia was ranked in this year’s preseason polls. Even though they have three losses, they will be Pitt’s toughest opponent this year to-date.
“Our next game against Georgia is by far the best team we will see in non-conference this year,” Howland said. “They have two players who will be going to the NBA, they have everybody back from last year and they will be a very good test for us to see where we are right now.”