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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh teams often have been known for
great defense: the Steel Curtain, Bill Mazeroski and Roberto
Clemente, Blitzburgh. It might be time to add Pitt's
never-let-'em-score Panthers to the list.
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The Big East is known for tough defense, and Pitt demonstrated its own tough D by shutting out Cal for nearly 10 minutes in the second half to advance to the Sweet 16. Pitt hasn't been there since 1974, baby! The Panthers also benefited from playing in front of their home crowd (as did Illinois, Texas and Maryland).
Sophomore Julius Page led the Panthers on offense with 17 points (7-of-10 from the field, 3-of-6 on trifectas). Junior point guard Brandin Knight scored 11 points with seven assists and just one turnover. Knight hurt his knee in Pitt's Big East title-game loss to UConn, but it looks like he's OK based on his play in the first two rounds.
Next up for Pitt is a surprise Sweet 16 team, a Cinderella -- Kent State. The Panthers better take 10th-seeded Kent State seriously, baby -- just ask Oklahoma State and Alabama.
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Pitt held California without a point for 9 1/2 minutes during a
decisive 16-0 run, and the Panthers moved into the NCAA South
Regional semifinals with a defense-driven 63-50 victory Sunday.
Julius Page scored seven of his 17 points during that spurt,
which began with Cal leading 32-28 with 16:50 remaining and ended
with Pitt up 44-32 with 7:08 left. The Golden Bears went more than
11 minutes without a basket, and 15-plus minutes with only one
basket.
"They didn't score for 11 minutes? In an NCAA second-round
game?" Pitt coach Ben Howland said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Pitt's third-team All-American, Brandin Knight, was an
all-over-the-floor force with 11 points and seven assists, but
wasn't really a factor offensively -- not that he needed to be with
Pitt's defense so dominating, so controlling.
"We played poorly on offense and didn't shoot well, but we knew
that if we kept up our defense, we'd give ourselves a chance to
win," Knight said.
The NFL's Steelers had the Steel Curtain during the 1970s, and
now Pitt has the Steal Curtain -- a suffocating, Knight-led defense
that is the school's best in 50 years, and one that held Cal to
only six baskets in the final 16:40 of play.
"It's a team that embodies a Pittsburgher: tough, hard-nosed,
hardworking," Howland said. "Our guys love to play defense
because our guys like to win. Defense equates to winning, and it's
true in any sport."
By winning twice in Mellon Arena, a mile from its campus,
third-seeded Pitt (29-5) moves into the regional semifinals for
only the second time in school history. In 1974, the Panthers lost
to sky-walking David Thompson's national champion North Carolina
State in the regional finals.
The Panthers will play 10th-seeded Kent State on Thursday in
Lexington, Ky.
"I don't think the teams that have played Kent State have
respected them," Knight said, referring to Alabama and Oklahoma
State. "But we've seen them, and we'll prepare for them like we do
any other team. We'll try to contain them and do what we do best."
Pitt and Kent State played in -- but did not meet in -- an
eight-team Thanksgiving tournament in Pittsburgh, with the Panthers
losing to South Florida in the championship game.
Sunday's victory wasn't the textbook way to win an NCAA game,
for sure. Good college basketball teams aren't supposed to advance
when shooting 43 percent or making only 12-of-26 free throws or
getting so little offense from their star.
Of course, skilled teams such as sixth-seeded Cal (23-9) -- which
beat UCLA twice this season -- are supposed to make more than three
of their first 20 shots in a half, too. The Bears, growing
increasingly frustrated the longer they failed to score, were only
9-of-31 (29 percent) in the second half, 18-of-58 (31 percent)
overall and 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.
|  | | Ontario Lett, right, celebrates as Pitt reaches the final 16 for the first time since 1974. |
"It becomes a mental thing with teams," Page said. "If they
can't score, they tend to let up on defense."
Cal's previous scoring low this season was a 56-27 victory over
Eastern Washington on Nov. 16. Pitt allows an average of 61 points.
"We had more patience in the first half," Cal coach Ben Braun
said. "In the second half, we hurried ourselves and missed some
opportunities."
Only Shantay Legans (13 points) and Joe Shipp (11 points) scored
in double figures for the Bears.
"They're not afraid to throw their bodies around," Braun said
of Pitt, the only Top 10 team the Bears played this season. "It
seemed like every time we were going for a ball, they were more
aggressive and physical."
Shipp was surprised that Pitt could stay so committed to defense
for an entire game, saying, "Their defense was great, and their
intensity was great. This was a tough game for us."
Chevy Troutman, a freshman making only his second career start,
added 11 points for Pitt, and Ontario Lett outmuscled Cal's bigger
front line for 10 points. The Panthers, ninth in the final AP poll,
won for the 11th time in 12 games and 14th time in 16 games.
Playing Cal for the first time in 51 years, Pitt made a surprise
adjustment to the Bears' size advantage by benching 6-foot-10
center Toree Morris and opening with a lineup in which no starter
was taller than 6-8.
That didn't keep Cal from opening an 8-5 lead, but Pitt answered
with a 7-0 run to go up 12-8.
In a game in which two of the nation's top defenses were as
dominant as the offenses in UCLA's 105-101 upset of Cincinnati on
the same floor earlier Sunday, neither team led by more than four
points in the first half. Pitt led 26-25 at the break, fell behind
early in the second half 32-28, then controlled the game the rest
of the way after going on the decisive run. | 
