Toughness, tenacity propel Pitt to Big East Tournament Championship

#7 Pittsburgh 74 - #1 Georgetown 65

On Saturday night, Pittsburgh celebrated their seventh trip to the Big East tournament championship game in grand style. Playing for the fourth time in as many days, Pitt downed the No.1 seeded Georgetown Hoyas 74-65, giving the Panthers their second Big East tournament title.

Powered by grit, determination, and Sam Young, the Panthers became just the second team in the history of the Big East tournament to win four games in four days, and take home the crown; Syracuse was the first team to achieve the feat in 2006. Young, who was named tournament MVP, had 16 points and Ronald Ramon added 17 for the Panthers, who denied the Hoyas their bid to win back-to-back Big East tournament championships.

Roy Hibbert led Georgetown with 17 points and six rebounds, and Jonathan Wallace added 12 for the Hoyas. DaJuan Summers, Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman each finished with nine points for Georgetown, who were manhandled on the glass by Pitt, 41-29. Georgetown was only able to get to the free throw line nine times, connecting on seven attempts, and while Pitt didn’t have a good showing at the line (22-44), the Panthers used their aggressiveness to drive to the basket and get to the line an astounding 44 times. Four players for the Hoyas had at least four fouls, with Summers and Jeremiah Rivers both fouling out.

The last time Georgetown led in the game was 22-21 with 7:39 left to play in the first half, and the Hoyas didn’t appear to be as hungry or driven as Pitt. The Panthers improved to 6-0 this season at Madison Square Garden and 23-8 at MSG since 2000-01. Pitt avenged last year’s loss to Georgetown in the Big East title game, 64-52, and handed the Hoyas their first loss in 15 games in the tournament as the No.1 seed. The loss also ended Georgetown’s seven game winning streak. Before Saturday night’s loss, the Hoyas hadn’t lost a game since mid-February.

Nothing has come easy for Pitt this season, and it really shouldn’t be any surprise the Panthers’ task of becoming Big East tournament champs fell right in line with everything else this season. The Panthers won four games in four days, and only played seven players in the title game against Georgetown. Head coach Jamie Dixon has had to mix and match, motivate and glue together a Panthers team that’s seen their fare share of adversity. They loss senior Mike Cook to a torn ACL in the win over Duke a week before Christmas. The next game just nine days later, their heart and soul leader Levance Fields was lost to a broken foot. They started 5-4 in conference play, and fell victim to a three-game skid and four of six from mid-February to early March.

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As good as Young has been for Pitt, it’s the Panthers’ defense that’s propelled them back into the title game. In all three games in the tournament, Pitt has held their opponents to under 65 points (64.7 ppg) and only allowing the opposition to shoot 36 percent from the field. The Panthers held Marquette in check, holding the Golden Eagles to just 31 percent shooting.

Pitt took the only meeting between the two schools this season, defeating the Hoyas 69-60 on Jan.14 th in Pittsburgh. Hibbert had 12 points and 10 boards in the loss for Georgetown, while Sam Young was held in single digits for the only time this season, finishing with only nine points on a rough 3-of-13 shooting. Ronald Ramon led Pitt in the win, scoring a season-high 18 points.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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