Pittsburgh 78, Virginia Tech 59
by Chris Coleman, 1/6/04
Pittsburgh, PA -- The Pittsburgh Panthers used a stingy second half defense to go along with big games from senior guards Jaron Brown and Julius Page to defeat Virginia Tech 78-59 Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The Panthers got 21 and 20 points respectively from Brown and Page. The Hokies were paced by Bryant Matthews with 22 and Coleman Collins with 17.
The Hokies came out fired up in their new black road uniforms -- a "surprise" alluded to on Monday night's Hokie Hotline radio show -- and gave the Panthers a game for the first 20 minutes, taking the lead at one point 22-18. The back and forth game continued throughout the first half until Tech freshman guard Zabian Dowdell, who scored 13 points in the contest, picked up his 3rd foul with approximately three minutes to go in the first half. The Panthers went on to take a 39-33 lead into halftime.
Then things began to fall apart for Virginia Tech. Dowdell picked up his 4th personal foul little more than one minute into the second half. The Hokies were already without the services of freshman guard Jamon Gordon, who had knee surgery on Monday. Without their two best guards, Tech couldn't manage to keep the ball in their own hands and committed numerous turnovers in the second half. The undermanned and undersized Hokies could not stay with Pittsburgh, who eventually extended their lead to 76-51.
Virginia Tech shot the ball very well in the contest, going 22-of-45 (48.9%) from the field, including a red-hot 8-of-11 (72.7%) from 3 point range. However, that old Achilles heel of the Hokies, the turnover, struck once again, as Tech gave up the ball 26 times. Pittsburgh countered by shooting a blistering 57.7% (30-of-52) from the field. They also had 9 blocks against the smaller Hokies.
Pittsburgh continued their stellar homecourt play with their 35th consecutive home victory, a streak that leads the nation. The Panthers also got 17 points from center Chris Taft, who was able to get numerous inside baskets against the Tech defense. The loss drops the Hokies to 7-5 overall, and 0-1 in Big East Conference play. Virginia Tech and first year head coach Seth Greenberg will return to action on January 14 at West Virginia.
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Pittsburgh 78, Virginia Tech 59
1/6/04, Pittsburgh, PA
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Virginia Tech................. 33 26 59
Pittsburgh.................... 39 39 78
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VIRGINIA TECH (59)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
A Calloway 16 0-1 0-1 0-3 0 2 0
B Matthews 36 10-19 1-2 2-3 3 4 22
C Collins 33 7-11 0-0 4-4 3 2 17
Z Dowdell 28 3-4 4-5 0-1 4 4 13
M Sailes 38 0-2 2-2 0-2 5 0 2
F Davis 4 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 0
B Randall 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
S Harris 27 1-4 0-0 1-4 0 4 3
P McCandies 14 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 22-45 7-10 8-20 15 18 59
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Percentages: FG-.489, FT-.700. 3-Point Goals:
8-11, .727 (B Matthews 1-1, C Collins 3-4, Z
Dowdell 3-4, F Davis 0-1, S Harris 1-1). Team
Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 2 (B Matthews, P
McCandies). Turnovers: 24 (B Matthews 9, C
Collins 5, Z Dowdell 4, S Harris 3, A
Calloway, P McCandies, M Sailes). Steals: 6
(C Collins 2, Z Dowdell 2, S Harris, M
Sailes).
PITTSBURGH (78)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
C Troutman 23 1-1 0-0 0-5 4 3 2
J Brown 36 10-15 1-4 1-4 3 3 21
C Taft 27 7-11 3-4 3-4 1 0 17
J Page 39 5-10 8-8 0-3 2 2 20
A Graves 29 2-4 0-0 1-1 5 2 5
Y Demetris 14 0-1 1-2 1-2 0 1 1
E Turner 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
L Kendall 3 0-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
M McCarroll 18 3-5 0-0 0-3 2 2 6
M Bowman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
A Gray 2 0-0 2-2 1-1 0 0 2
T Morris 6 2-2 0-0 1-1 0 2 4
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TOTALS 200 30-52 15-20 9-25 17 16 78
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Percentages: FG-.577, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
3-13, .231 (J Brown 0-2, J Page 2-6, A Graves
1-3, Y Demetris 0-1, L Kendall 0-1). Team
Rebounds: 0. Blocked Shots: 9 (C Taft 4, C
Troutman 2, M McCarroll, L Kendall, T
Morris). Turnovers: 16 (A Graves 6, J Page 3,
C Troutman 3, T Morris 2, J Brown, L
Kendall). Steals: 9 (J Brown 4, Y Demetris, M
McCarroll, J Page, C Troutman, C Taft).
Technical fouls: Virginia Tech 1 (Bench). A:
12,024. Officials: Curtis Shaw, Fran Connolly, Joe
Lindsay
2003-2004 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results