Pittsburgh, Cincinnati square off in rubber match in opening round of Big East tournament

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
7 PM Madison Square Garden

#7 Pittsburgh vs. #10 Cincinnati

Madison Square Garden might as well be the second home for the Pittsburgh Panthers. Since 2000-01, the Panthers are 19-8 at Madison Square Garden, a venue where the Panthers have enjoyed a lot of success. Pittsburgh has played in six of the last seven Big East tournament championship games. The Panthers won both games they played this year at MSG, defeating Duke a week before Christmas, 65-64, and trouncing St. John’s on Jan. 23rd, 81-57.

Despite playing sub-.500 basketball down the stretch (3-4 in their last seven games of the season), the Panthers closed out the regular season winners of three of their last four. Pittsburgh (22-9, 10-8) has returned senior point guard Levance Fields to the lineup, after missing 12 games with a foot injury. Though the Panthers started out a white hot 15-2, the Panthers leveled off after that, going 7-7 the rest of the way. Without Fields in the lineup, the Panthers rallied around each other and fought strong, going 8-4. Fields has struggled to work himself back into game shape since returning, shooting just 22-of-74 (29.7 percent) in seven games since returning.

Sam Young has picked up the offensive slack and blossomed into a legitimate offensive threat. Young leads Pittsburgh in scoring and is third in the Big East, averaging 18.0 ppg, and has scored in double figures in 14 consecutive games. Young failed to score in double figures only one time this season. In the win over Georgetown, Young only registered nine points. Young has been the high man in scoring for Pittsburgh 19 times this season, but he’s received some help, courtesy of a fun-loving, burly freshman.

Forward DeJuan Blair has a smile and enthusiasm on the court that’s infectious, but don’t take his jovial demeanor for granted; this kid’s nasty. He’s a load to keep off the glass, whether on offense or defense. Blair is nearly averaging a double-double for the Panthers, scoring 12.9 ppg and grabbing 9.5 rebounds per contest, good for third in the Big East in rebounding. Though Blair has struggled at times with his consistency and early foul troubles, he’s finished strong down the stretch, posting double-doubles in four of the Panthers’ last six games. Defensively, the Panthers are holding their opponents to just over 65 points per game, which will make life difficult for a Cincinnati team has trouble putting the ball in the hoop with regularity.

Cincinnati (13-17, 8-10) limps into the Big East tournament, losers of five straight. During the slide, Cincinnati has played far from Bearcat basketball. They were blown out by Georgetown by 20. They suffered a terrible loss to DePaul, scoring only 54 points, and concluded their regular season by getting their heads kicked in against UConn 96-51. It was the largest win in school history for UConn, with the Huskies holding Cincinnati to a measly 15 first-half points, a first half that saw UConn go on a 30-0 run.

The Bearcats come into MSG ranked 14th in the Big East in scoring and 14th in field goal percentage, shooting just over 41 percent per game. Cincinnati has largely been a two-horse tandem this year, led by freshman Deonta Vaughn and senior John Williamson. Vaughn has been one of the best freshmen in the Big East this season, among one of four freshmen in the top 10 in scoring in the Big East, averaging 16.7 ppg. Williamson is second on the team in scoring behind Vaughn with 11.6 ppg. He leads the Bearcats in rebounding, grabbing 6.1 rpg.

After Vaughn and Williamson, there are no other Bearcats who come close to averaging in double figures in scoring. The offensive woes the Bearcats have experienced this season can be directly traced to a severe lack of a third option after Vaughn and Williamson. Some nights Rashad Bishop and Larry Davis have helped carry the scoring load, but other nights they’ve faded into the background, barely making a ripple. The Bearcats have failed to score more than 55 points in five of their past seven games. Opposing teams know if they can shut down or limit the touches for Vaughn and Williamson, they’ve got a terrific chance to win the game, but yet at the same time, even if Vaughn and Williamson go off, very few teams are fearful of their teammates. For the Bearcats to knock off Pitt and advance to the second day of the tournament, Vaughn and Williamson must be nothing short of stellar, and hope for their teammates to rise to the occasion. If not, it’ll be a quick one and done, and a long flight back to Ohio for the Bearcats.

This will be the third game between these two teams this season, with each team winning at home. Cincinnati slipped past Pittsburgh in the first meeting, 62-59. Vaughn finished with 14 points to lead Cincy. 10 of his 14 points came by way of the free throw line. Williamson was held to just eight points, while Bishop and Adam Hrycaniuk finished with 11 and 12 points respectively. Sam Young was a one-man wrecking crew for Pitt, dropping in 24 points, but he received little help from his teammates. Keith Benjamin was the only other Panther in double figures with 11.

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Pittsburgh exacted revenge in the rematch, knocking off Cincinnati 73-67 on Feb. 27th. Young led the Panthers in scoring again, finishing with 20 points. DeJuan Blair added 18 points and 10 boards, and Benjamin finished with 11 points. Williamson and Vaughn were outstanding, combining for 51 of the Bearcats’ 67 points (Williamson had 27, Vaughn added 24). Their supporting cast, not so much. Hrycaniuk and Bishop combined for 13 points, but four other Cincinnati players combined for only three points.

The winner in this rubber match advances to the quarterfinals on Thursday to face the No.2 seeded Louisville Cardinals at 7 p.m.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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