Fearless Pitt knocks off Villanova
NEW YORK -- Perhaps Connecticut and Villanova had no need to be humbled at the Big East Tournament.
But they were.
They entered as the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the country, each considered as locks to be No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. But UConn was unable to get by Syracuse Thursday afternoon and Villanova was similarly disrespected last evening, when the Wildcats barely offered any opposition to the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Instead of a dream 1 vs. 2 scenario for the Big East championship, we will have a No. 9 (Syracuse) playing a No. 6 (Pittsburgh). Syracuse will be attempting to win back-to-back titles, while Pitt will be making its fifth appearance in the title game in the last six years, winning once, in 2003. In any event, someone will capture the Big East tournament by winning four games in four days, and that has never happened.
But whereas Syracuse had to extricate itself from a record 15-point halftime deficit to squeak by Georgetown in the opener of last night's Madison Square Garden doubleheader, Pitt had absolutely no trouble with Villanova, answering an early 6-0 Wildcat lead by dominating the final 38 minutes en route to a 68-54 victory.
Villanova's troubles didn't end with the final score, either. For there are potentially damaging repercussions from a terrible accident that occurred just over a minute into the second half, when Pitt's Carl Krauser accidentally poked Villanova's Allen Ray in the eye, sending the brilliant Wildcat guard to nearby St. Vincent's Hospital. If Ray is unable to play, Villanova would enter the NCAA Tournament as a wounded team.
''Our team is very concerned about Ray," said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. ''I don't know what happened. I didn't see the play. He's a great player and a great kid."
His presence might not have made much of a difference in the second half last night, however. Pitt was the better team, beating Villanova at its own guard-oriented game with superb outside shooting and intelligent ballhandling. Anyone walking into the Garden unaware of just who was whom would have assumed that Krauser, Levance Fields, Antonio Graves, and Ronald Ramon were the wondrous guard quartet he or she had been reading and hearing about.
Pitt is a dangerous team. It is surely a fearless one, because it plays off the big-hearted Krauser, who will go down in both Pitt and Big East history as one of the toughest, most competitive guards ever. And in the rugged Fields, the Panthers might have his heir -- both physically and emotionally. Fields, a freshman from the Bronx, has a mailbox body and a wicked crossover dribble, and he acts as if he would just as soon run over his defender as go around him.
Pitt was up by 11 (32-21) at the half, and it was 32-23 when the Krauser-Ray incident occurred. When Randy Foye, Villanova's only effective player in this one (26), made a 3-point play, the Cats appeared to be back in business. But Mike Nardi missed a transition up-and-under layup at one end and Fields hit a 3-point facial on the other end and Villanova did not threaten again.
With 10 minutes remaining, Dixon ordered his team into a 1-4, run-the-clock-down spread offense, and Pitt simply began to embarrass the Wildcats.
Villanova was beaten every which way, inside, outside and depth-wise. The final bench tally was 38-4 in favor of Pitt, which got 32 out of Graves (18) and Fields (14). ''I guess the numbers say it right there," said Dixon. ''Depth is a strength of ours. We use it and we expect it. It's not unexpected for us. We have good players, and we have a lot of good players."
''We really haven't had a game like that all year, where we couldn't get going offensively," said Villanova coach Jay Wright. ''And when they got control of the game, they really controlled the tempo. We can usually get some offense from our defense, but not tonight."
Pitt is now 24-6. Attention must surely be paid.
