Easy Big East opener
PITTSBURGH — Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun warned his players what they would experience at Pitt. The never-let-up defensive pressure. A very loud crowd that’s only a few feet off the court and tries to intimidate unsuspecting teams.
No, this isn’t Hartford or Storrs or even Maui, and now the Huskies know what their coach was talking about.
Ashton Gibbs scored 21 points as Pittsburgh’s balance overcame Kemba Walker’s one-man offense for No. 4 Connecticut, and the No. 6 Panthers easily won the Big East’s first matchup of Top 10 teams by 78-63 Monday night.
Walker scored 31 points, but missed 17 of 27 shots as Pittsburgh repeatedly limited the Huskies to a single shot in a possession — often a bad one. They shot 31.7 percent, 19 of 60, and had only two scorers with more than 5 points until the closing minutes in the conference opener.
“They came to play, they wanted it and they got it,” a worn-out Walker said. “They made me work for every basket. It was a tough night for me. ... Their game plan was great and they stayed with it.”
Or just how the Panthers planned it.
“Our transition defense was good and we really emphasized it,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “We wanted to force them to take tough shots and we did that for the most part.”
Brad Wanamaker, who took turns with Gibbs shadowing one of the nation’s leading scorers, added 14 points as Pittsburgh (13-1) beat Connecticut (10-1) for the fourth straight time and the fifth in six games.
Gary McGhee had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Nasir Robinson, making his first start of the season, helped out with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Pitt, which shot 52.1 percent.
Pitt’s experience made a difference as only three players in UConn’s rotation had played before at the Petersen Events Center, where the Panthers are 8-0 against Top 5 teams and 142-11 overall.
The Huskies also played their first road game, and it showed. They had trouble solving Pitt’s man-to-man defense, which repeatedly forced them into taking hurried or low-percentage shots after the shot clock had wound down to a few seconds.
“They locked us up defensively,” Calhoun said. “They weren’t allowing us to get good shots and we took some ill-advised ones.”
The Huskies fell behind by 10 in the first half, trailed by as many as 17 and never took a determined run despite Walker’s wide variety of baskets, nearly all of them heavily defended.
Pitt, cheered on by a standing-room crowd of 12,725, surged to early leads of 8-2 and 16-7 and never led by fewer than 6 points the rest of the first half.
