15-7. That was the score after one half of basketball between Pitt and New Hampshire on Friday night. Yep, I'm starting to believe this might be a long year for the Panthers, who ended up pulling out a 47-32 victory after all was said and done.
The 22 combined points set an NCAA record in the shot clock era for the fewest points in a half, breaking the previous record held by Mississippi (15 points) and South Carolina (13), which combined for 28 points on Jan. 8, 2003. And New Hampshire's seven points nearly broke the shot clock era record for fewest points in a half, which was Northwestern's six against Illinois (30) in 2000. But they sure gave it a valiant effort.
Pitt shot 26% to New Hampshire's 12% in the first half, as Ashton Gibbs followed his 3-for-15 against Duquesne with an 0-for-4 start. But Gibbs eventually heated up, hitting seven in a row and scoring 10 consecutive points for the 7-1 Panthers. He would go on to lead all scorers with 23 points, which is basically saying he was the best of the worst.
Brad Wanamaker scored 19 for Pitt, and the other eight Panthers who got minutes scored a combined five points. Five! My pity to the 8,856 who endured this as their Friday night entertainment.
The Panthers resume play against old friend Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday night. The Hoosiers are an underwhelming 3-4, including losses to Boston U. and George Mason. I can't imagine Pitt has many all-time victories against a traditionally strong program like IU, so this may be as good a time as any to grab one. It might help to have more than two guys get involved in the scoring, though.
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