Pitt shuts down Cincinnati, 89-69
PITTSBURGH — Cincinnati has won either the regular season or conference tournament championship in the first season the last five times it joined a new league. That run will likely end this year.
Carl Krauser had 18 points and reserve Keith Benjamin scored a career-high 16 as No. 14 Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati 89-69 in the first Big East meeting between the schools. Seven-foot center Aaron Gray added 15 points and 10 rebounds for his Big East-leading 13th double-double of the season.
The Bearcats (16-9, 5-6) got a game-high 21 points from Jihad Muhammad and 15 from forward Eric Hicks, but little else as the Panthers (19-3, 8-3) never trailed and won their 15th straight at home.
"They dominated us in every area," Cincinnati coach Andy Kennedy said. "I thought today we were on our heels the whole game fighting uphill."
Muhammad, a 5-11 senior guard who became a starter just five games ago, has averaged 17.3 points the last three, shooting 12-for-24 on 3-pointers. However, he struggled early as Pitt jumped out to a 19-7 lead, with Hicks accounting for all of Cincinnati's points.
Hicks scored just eight points the rest of the way, and the Big East's third-leading rebounder (at 9.7 per game) was no match for Gray, who leads the conference averaging 11 rebounds a game. Hicks had just four rebounds and Gray was the primary reason Pitt controlled the boards 43-25.
"He's a huge man," Kennedy said of Gray, a 270-pound junior. "He's really big and he's got good touch ... and we're trying to defend him with guys five to six inches shorter than him."
Gray shot 6-for-7 from the field and 3-for-6 from the free-throw line.
However, it was really the play of Pitt's guards, sophomores Benjamin and Ronald Ramon, and Krauser — once he got untracked — that paced the Panthers.
Pitt led 43-33 at the half and Cincinnati managed to close to 48-42 early in the second half, but that was as close as the Bearcats would get. After forcing a Pitt turnover, but failing to score on its next possession, Cincinnati watched as Benjamin hit a key 3 to give Pitt a 51-42 lead.
Benjamin hit another 3 from the baseline as the shot clock expired to increase Pitt's lead to 54-42 with 14:00 left. That was one of four or five instances where Kennedy said Cincinnati's defense played tough — only to see Pitt make a key shot or rebound.
"Those are huge swings in a game that I though deflated our guys," Kennedy said.
Despite being outmanned, Cincinnati kept Pitt's lead hovering around 10 points for much of the second half until Ramon, who finished with 14 points, was fouled shooting a 3. He made all three free throws to give Pitt a 71-58 lead with 6:37 left and Cincinnati didn't make another serious run.
Krauser, who had just 3 points in the first half — all free throws — and shot 0-for-6 from the field, was 6-for-8 in the second half and added three more free throws.
After Benjamin's back-to-back 3s, Krauser made two key layups, including a spectacular reverse off a baseline drive, that capped a 9-0 run to give Pitt complete control of the game, 77-58 with 5:05 left.
The only thing Krauser didn't do was hit 3s. He left that to Ramon, who finished the day 3-for-4 beyond the arc. Benjamin was 3-for-3 on 3s. Pitt was 7-for-17, while Cincinnati went just 4-for-17, with Muhammad going 3-for-8.
"Muhammad is a very good player and he was again tonight," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "He can play off the dribble and he can shoot. We did a pretty good job (defensively), except for him."
Cincinnati won six of the previous seven matchups, but the schools hadn't played since the Bearcats beat Pitt 61-60 in Cincinnati on Dec. 19, 1979.
The Bearcats were the Panthers' first unranked opponent since they beat Marquette 77-71 on Jan. 28. Since then, Pitt lost to No. 1 Connecticut and No. 17 Georgetown on the road, and beat No. 9 West Virginia 57-53 on Thursday while holding the Mountaineers' Kevin Pittsnogle scoreless for the first time this season.
