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Young, Panthers Again Too Strong For Huskies

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The Associated Press

Published: March 8, 2009

PITTSBURGH - Two games, two UConn losses, two big performances by Pitt's Sam Young. By now, Connecticut could be excused for not wanting to see the Panthers again, yet the Huskies can't wait for the next matchup. Or maybe the next two.

Young dominated one of this season's biggest games with 31 points and No. 3 Pittsburgh likely secured one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament, opening a 14-point lead early in the second half before holding off top-ranked Connecticut 70-60 on Saturday.

Pitt (28-3, 15-3 Big East) had never beaten a No. 1-ranked team in school history, only to accomplish it twice in less than a month - both times against Connecticut (27-3, 15-3), which still hasn't figured out how to slow down Young.

Pitt becomes the seventh school to beat a top-ranked team twice in a season, the last North Carolina over Duke in 1998.

"Every time I see those UConn jerseys, my eyes light up," said Young, who scored 25 points in Pitt's 76-68 win at Hartford on Feb. 16.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun used all the superlatives to describe Young - including "fantastic," "magnificent" and "very special" - yet he and his players are eager to see the Panthers again, perhaps in next week's Big East tournament. Or maybe beyond.

"I guarantee you we're going to see them again, nine times out of 10 we're going to see them in the Big East tournament and we're going to be ready for them," said the Huskies' Stanley Robinson, who had six points and 12 rebounds. "We could see them after that - in the NCAAs, semifinals or national championship or whatever."

Calhoun called the Panthers a potential national championship team, but still thinks he has the team to beat them.

"Do I think we can beat Pitt?" Calhoun asked. "Yes, but we are 0-2 and I don't have any graphic evidence to support that."

The Panthers did it a different way than they did in winning at UConn, when 6-foot-7 DeJuan Blair pushed around 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet for 22 points and 23 rebounds and Thabeet ended with only five points and four rebounds. This time, Blair had eight points and eight rebounds in a relatively quiet performance and Thabeet had all 14 of his points in the first half.

"Hasheem was limited only by the fact we didn't get him the ball enough in the second half," Calhoun said.

NO. 4 OKLAHOMA 82,

OKLAHOMA ST. 78

NORMAN, Okla. - Blake Griffin scored 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to set a Big 12 season record and Oklahoma (27-4, 13-3) beat Oklahoma State (20-10, 9-7) to claim the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

NO. 5 MEMPHIS 74, TULANE 47

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Robert Dozier had 16 points and 12 rebounds and the Tigers (28-3, 16-0 Conference USA) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 22 games with victory over Tulane (13-16, 7-9).

NO. 9 KANSAS 83, TEXAS 73

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Sherron Collins had 21 points and seven assists, and Kansas (25-6, 14-2) claimed its fifth straight Big 12 title by beating Texas (20-10, 9-7).

AUBURN 69, NO. 12 LSU 53

AUBURN, Ala. - Korvotney Barber had 16 points and 17 rebounds as Auburn (21-10, 10-6 SEC) defeated LSU (25-6, 13-3) for its seventh win in eight games.

NO. 25 SYRACUSE 86,

NO. 13 MARQUETTE 79

MILWAUKEE - Jonny Flynn scored 20 of his 24 points after halftime and Syracuse (23-8, 11-7 Big East) beat Marquette (23-8, 12-6) in overtime, handing the Golden Eagles their fourth straight loss without injured guard Dominic James.

TEXAS A&M 96,

NO. 15 MISSOURI 86

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Donald Sloan scored 16 points and Texas A&M (23-8, 9-7 Big 12) fought off a late rally by Missouri (25-6, 12-4) for its fifth straight victory.

NO. 16 WASHINGTON 67,

WASHINGTON ST. 60

SEATTLE - Quincy Pondexter scored 16 points and Jon Brockman tied his career high with 18 rebounds as Washington (24-7, 14-4) beat Washington State (16-14, 8-10) to clinch its first outright conference championship since 1953.

RICHMOND 80,

NO. 17 XAVIER 75

RICHMOND, Va. - Kevin Anderson scored a career-high 29 points to lead Richmond (17-14, 9-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) to an upset of Xavier (24-6, 12-4).

NO. 20 UCLA 94, OREGON 68

LOS ANGELES - Josh Shipp scored a career-high 28 points, Darren Collison added 19 and UCLA (24-7, 13-5) defeated Oregon (8-22, 2-16) to keep alive the Bruins' chance for a share of their fourth straight Pac-10 title.

NO. 21 ARIZONA ST. 83,

CALIFORNIA 66

TEMPE, Ariz. - Jeff Pendergraph had 27 points and 10 rebounds in his final home game to lead Arizona State (22-8, 11-7 Pac-10) to victory over California (22-9, 11-7) that snapped the Sun Devils' three-game losing streak.

NO. 22 BUTLER 62,

WRIGHT STATE 57

INDIANAPOLIS - Horizon League player of the year Matt Howard had 24 points, leading Butler (26-4) past Wright State (20-13) in the conference tournament semifinals.

FLORIDA SOUTHERN 80,

TAMPA 59

FORT LAUDERDALE - John Thompson scored 19 points to lead Florida Southern (26-6) past Tampa (16-12) in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament semifinals, ending the Spartans' season.

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