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By Bill Albright
PITTSBURGH -- Somebody must have forgotten to tell Pitt that Slippery Rock University was coming to the Petersen Events Center Sunday afternoon for an exhibition basketball game with the Panthers.
Although the Panthers lost three standout starters from last year’s team that was a few points from making it to the NCAA Final Four, they returned a number of players from that team with extensive playoff experience as well as a full season in the Big East.
Obviously not awed by the Division I Panthers, the Rock gave it all they had before bowing by the final of 75-64.
Following the game, Rock coach Kevin Reynolds indicated that he and his players were just happy to have the opportunity to play a quality Division I program in a venue as nice as the “Pete”.
“We want to thank coach (Jamie) Dixon and his staff for giving us the opportunity to play this game,” said Reynolds. “We are very appreciative to have the opportunity to play a team like Pitt who was an Elite Eight team last season. They can choose any team they want to play in these exhibitions so we would like to thank him (Dixon) for choosing us. I know he has a lot of accolades as a coach, but believe me he is a better person than a coach. We don’t get this opportunity that often and our University is happy to get on the national scene.”
The Rock jumped out to a 6-2 lead on back-to-back treys by Maron Brown and Maurice Douglas before they gradually built up their lead to as many as seven (22-15) 11 minutes into the game.
The Panthers clawed their way back to tie the game at 27-all before they went on a 13-4 run to take a 40-31 lead at halftime.
“They have a lot of nice players, including Dante Taylor,” said Reynolds. “He is a McDonald’s All-American from last season and he showed it tonight with 27 points and nine rebounds. They have a lot of other good players and I look for those guys to lead them to a lot of wins this year.”
Holding the 9-point lead heading into the second period, the Panthers gradually built up their advantage until they led by as many as 18 (61-43) midway through the second half.
However, not to run away and hide, the feisty Rock squad battled its way back to cut its deficit to single digits (70-61) before falling by 11 points at the final buzzer.
In addition to Taylor, Nasir Robinson also netted double figures with 11 points, while Gary McGhee narrowly missed doubles with nine points. McGhee was also credited with three blocked shots.
For The Rock, Jabril Bailey led the way with 18 points and a half dozen boards, Douglas also netting doubles with his total of 14 points. Brown and Jade Burka both narrowly missed doubles with nine points each.
As for dealing with the decided height advantage the Panthers had over his club, Reynolds said he and his staff didn’t really have a defensive plan to deal with that aspect of the game.
“We just wanted to make them run the floor and play the entire length of the floor to try and wear Taylor and McGhee down,” explained Reynolds. “Our post players are more athletic than they are and we wanted to get them tired in transition, but they did an excellent job of subbing with the rotation of McGhee, Taylor and (Dwight) Miller. Whatever plan we had obviously didn’t work.”
As for the reason the Rock was able to stay with the powerful Panthers, Dixon felt it was due to their inability to handle the Rock’s switching out front.
“I guess the biggest thing was our rebounding and they did a lot of switching out front which we haven‘t worked on yet,” said Dixon. “We were down by 10, then 7 in the first half so we got on them in the second half and they (Pitt players) responded. Obviously we could have done some things better, but at the same time we played hard and had some great performances.”
In addition to the rebounding, Dixon’s next biggest concern was his team’s inability to put The Rock away after they had built the lead up to as many as 18 points.
“We built it (the lead) up to as many as 18, but then we had a couple of transition plays that we didn’t finish,” said Dixon. “We had an opportunity to open it up and pull away, but we made some careless passes and we just didn’t do what we needed to do. That is what I addressed with the players after the game.”
The Rock will now look to build on its fine effort against the Panthers when they travel to Happy Valley Friday night for an exhibition game with the Penn State Nittany Lions, the reigning National Invitation Tournament champions. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Following the final exhibition game against the ‘Nits, The Rock will open regular season play by hosting Ohio University Eastern November 15 at Morrow Field House. Tipoff for that contest is set for 3 p.m.
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