Second-seeded Pitt takes business-like attitude into regionals
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Brandin Knight bristles at the mention of Kent State, not needing a reminder of Pittsburgh’s departure from the NCAA tournament a year ago at the hands of the upset-minded, 10th-seeded team from Ohio. It’s not that the loss bothers the senior guard much – just the opposite. He doesn’t need last year’s defeat to motivate him this time around.
“It’s gone, forgotten,” Knight said Tuesday, a day before the Panthers (26-4) departed for Friday night’s Midwest regional matchup with 15th-seeded Wagner (21-10) in Boston.
This year, Pittsburgh enters the regional as a No. 2 seed, a slot higher than it opened last year’s tournament, when it beat Central Connecticut State and California before facing Kent State. That was the Panthers’ first trip to the tournament since 1993.
Any team should be able to get up for the NCAA tournament. What Pittsburgh brings this year is not the Kent State loss but the experience of getting to the Sweet 16 last year. What was anxiety before the 2002 games has faded, Knight said.
“This year, it’s more business-like,” Knight said. “I’m actually pretty calm.”
“We just got to continue doing the things we’ve done all year,” added Knight, who sat out practice Tuesday nursing an injured ankle but who was expected to shoot around Thursday in Boston. “I don’t think we should change anything.”
Julius Page, a junior guard who leads the Panthers with 12.3 points per game, said last year’s experience – and success – is a confidence builder for the team. “It’s a big advantage. We know how to deal with the hype and not get too excited.”
That’s not to say Pittsburgh is taking the Seahawks, champions of the Northeast Conference, lightly.
“I don’t want to be a two-seed losing to a 15-seed,” Page said. “That will be remembered.”
It’s unlikely Coach Ben Howland would allow his team to take Wagner for granted. After all, it was his own 15th-seeded Northern Arizona squad that had second-seeded Cincinnati in trouble before losing 65-62 in 1998.
And it’s lost on no one, particularly Howland, that Wagner’s coach, Dereck Whittenburg, was the player who launched an air ball for North Carolina State 20 years ago that Lorenzo Charles converted for the basket that beat favored Houston in the championship.
Still, Howland knows he has a sizable edge.
“There’s no question that having a veteran group, juniors and seniors in your lineup, is a real plus,” said Howland, who was grateful to get a game set for Friday, giving several of his players, including Knight, forward Chevon Troutman and center Toree Morris, more time to heal nagging injuries.
Knight has no intention of looking past Wagner.
“For me, this could be last game, and I don’t want it to be,” he said.