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No.16 Pittsburgh beats No.15 Connecticut 67-57 Panthers take control,winning eighth straight game
Panthers take control, winning eighth straight game
Associated Press
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HARTFORD, Conn. — Pittsburgh was supposed to be rebuilding this season. Instead the Panthers are building toward another run at a Big East championship.
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BY PAT EATON-ROBB
Gilbert Brown added 11 points for the Panthers, who were not ranked at the start of the season, after losing stars Sam Young. DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields from a team that won 31 games a year ago.
Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs each scored 19 points and the 16th-ranked Panthers won again on the road, beating No. 15 Connecticut 67-57.
The Panthers (14-2) have now won seven straight games and are 4-0 in the conference, with consecutive road wins at No. 5 Syracuse, Cincinnati, and now UConn.
"I know other people may look at us differently and where we're picked," said coach Jamie Dixon. "But I believe any team that commits to one another and commits to playing together can be as good as they want to be."
Stanley Robinson had 19 points for the Huskies (11-5, 2-3), who lost their second in a row, after blowing a 19-point lead at Georgetown on Saturday. Jerome Dyson had 14 points and Kemba Walker added 10 points and seven assists. UConn has yet to beat a ranked opponent this season.
straight from the Huskies, after winning twice last season while UConn was ranked No. 1.
Pittsburgh has won three
They outbounded UConn 40-31, including 26-13 in the second half.
"I'm not used to coming down to games where the other team grabs control of the game, as both Georgetown and Pittsburgh did the last two games," said UConn coach Jim Calhoun.
giving them a chance to come down and get a big shot," said Wanamaker, who hit nine of his 10 shots from the line. "We out-toughed them in the second half and we came out with the win."
"I believe any team that commits to one another and commits to playing together can be as good as they want to be."
COACH JAMIE DIXON
"It's very disappointing."
Pitt led most of the game and was up by nine with just under 15 minutes to play, before UConn made its only real run. The Huskies scored 11 straight points, and brought the crowd into the game. A layup by Dyson with 9-40 to play gave Connecticut a 49-48 lead, its first since being up 5-4.
"We just wanted to stay mellow, stay calm," said Gibbs. "They're going to have great runs. They are going to have big runs, especially at their place."
The Panthers hit 17 of 20 foul shots, including six straight to close out the game.
"That was very important...not
But the Panthers did not wilt.
A 3-pointer by Gibbs gave Pitt a 55-51 lead, and his layup after a UConn turnover stretched the lead to six.
Pittsburgh controlled the game early, jumping out to a 18-8 lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Brown and Gibbs completed a 14-3 run.
U C o n n fought its way back behind
Robinson's 13 first-half points. His windmill dunk cut the lead to 26-22 with 4:30 left in the first half. UConn's Alex Oriakhi had a chance to cut the lead to one, but his dunk came just after the half-time buzzer and Pitt went into the intermission with a 32-29 lead.
This was the 10th time in the last 11 games between the two teams that both were ranked. Wanamaker said not being in the polls at the start of the season "is a lot of motivation."
"Everybody in that locker room is confident in each other," Gibbs said. "We knew what we had coming into this season."
Connecticut's Jerome Dyson gets fouled while being guarded by Pittsburgh's Gilbert Brown and Jermaine Dixon during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday.
UConn's Robinson scored his 1,000th career point on a layup in the first half, becoming the 44th Connecticut player to reach that milestone.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Gamecocks come back to defeat LSU
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Devan Downey scored 29 points and had seven rebounds to lead South Carolina to a 67-58 win over LSU on Wednesday night.
The Gamecocks (11-5,2-0)
Southeastern Conference) trailed for most of the game before going on a 17-1 run that started when Lakeem Jackson's put back cut LSU's lead to 49-47 with just under 9 minutes to go.
Downey had nine points during the run, including a driving layup high off the backboard with just under 8 minutes to go, giving
the Gamecocks their first lead since early in the first half at 51-49 with 7:55 to go.
South Carolina then put the game away with a nine-point burst in 80 seconds, included a layup, a steal and a 3-pointer from Downey.
the Rebels a two-possession lead.
Associated Press
Odd pass leads Ole Miss to victory
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chances to reclaim the lead in a seesaw second half before Ole Miss (13-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) finished it off.
ATHENS, Ga. — Eniel Polynice scored off an inbounds pass to himself with 11.3 seconds remaining, and No. 21 Mississippi handed Georgia another tough loss, 80-76 Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs had several
After the ball was knocked out of bounds under the basket with 14.6 seconds left, Polynice threw it in off Trey Thompkins' back, grabbed the deflection and dropped in the shot that gave
Associated Press
Georgia (8-7, 0-2) finished off a stretch of three straight games against Top 25 opponents with its second loss in a row. The Bulldogs gave No. 2 Kentucky a major scare before losing 76-68 on Saturday.
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