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Pittsburgh Plays Up to Its First No. 1 Ranking
Levance Fields had 13 points and nine assists for Pittsburgh, which routed St. John's to improve to 15-0 this season.
(By Keith Srakocic -- Associated Press)
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Monday, January 12, 2009
Just before the opening tip, Pittsburgh center DeJuan Blair jumped and performed a two-handed pullup on the rim.
The Panthers seem to like lofty views.
Blair scored 23 points with 18 rebounds and Jermaine Dixon added 17 points as host Pittsburgh, playing for the first time as the nation's top-ranked team, ran away from St. John's in the second half for a 90-67 win yesterday.
Leading by just five points at halftime, Pitt (15-0, 3-0 Big East) clamped down on defense and found its shooting range, knocking down three three-pointers in a 17-4 spurt in the first seven minutes of the second half. By the time Blair came out for a rest with 8 minutes 47 seconds left, the Panthers were up by 23 and putting on a show.
Game No. 1 as No. 1 went just fine.
"I thought we handled it well," Coach Jamie Dixon said. "But we weren't as good as we could have been."
Levance Fields had 13 points and nine assists for the Panthers, who forced 24 turnovers, shot 58 percent after halftime, and after shaking off some early rustiness from an eight-day layoff, looked worthy of their newfound status.
"It's history, us being number one for the first time," said Fields, Pitt's senior guard and floor leader. "But that's really all that it is. Just a little more scrutiny."
After a 60-year wait, and nearly more than a month since their last home game, the Panthers took the court at Petersen Events Center sitting atop the Associated Press poll. They intend to stay there as long as possible, but that will be easier said than done as a Big East minefield lies ahead.
The conference had nine teams ranked in the top 25 last week, and after hosting unranked South Florida on Wednesday, Pitt will face Louisville, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova and Notre Dame -- all currently in the poll -- in succession before the month ends. Two more matchups with Connecticut will follow.
D.J. Kennedy, who won a Pennsylvania state high school title as Blair's teammate, scored 18 for the Red Storm (10-5, 1-2), which didn't have enough to withstand Pitt's second-half blitz.
"That's the Big East," St. John's Coach Norm Roberts said. "You forget it and get ready to play the number five team in America (Connecticut) next. That's our conference."
