Looks like my Panther senses were right on yesterday with Pitt (14-2, 4-0) finishing the road trip sweep defeating UConn (11-5, 2-3) 67-57. I was a little off in my prediction, but what a game Panther fans. Pitt really shut down UConn’s transition game down and played one hell of a half court game.

Jim Calhoun was quick to start with his excuses of losing for the third time in a row to Pitt saying his team “didn’t show up.” Let’s face the facts here coach, Pitt didn’t show up completely either. This was one of the best games Pitt played all year, but they still missed the easy shots, still had too many turnovers, and still made too many mental mistakes. Pitt did not come close to playing a complete game, so don’t say your boys didn’t show up Calhoun, because simply put, Pitt outplayed you. Even with Pitt shooting 39% from the floor, they still pulled out the victory.

Pitt was aggressive, fast, and played like they’ve been there before. They played solid defense and really wore UConn’s big men down. I laid out 5 keys to victory yesterday. Let’s look back and see how Pitt did with them.

1. Gibbs stays hot – Gibbs was still hot yesterday, granted he made some bad mental mistakes and didn’t make his shots like he usually does. He still came out with 19 points last night. Brad Wanamaker helped with 19 points as well and that was bigger than anyone will admit.

2. Slow down UConn’s transition game – 5 star success here from Pitt. Pitt held UConn to 16 fast break points. Pitt didn’t just slow UConn’s transition game down, it made it almost non-existant.

3. Contain Jerome Dyson – First off I would like to apologize for calling Jerome Dyson Jermaine Dyson yesterday, a regrettable error. Pitt did this very well last night, you may be asking how is still allowing Dyson 14 points a success? Dyson played 35 minutes and only had 14 points, he averages 19 points a game. While Stanley Robinson went off, who was going to stop him on Pitt though? Dyson was being shut down.

4. Hit the makeable shots (Free Throws, the bunnies, high percentage) – Pitt still missed a lot of bunnies and high percentage shots and only shot 39% from the field. The main story here is Pitt’s Free Throw shooting. They were 85% last night. When you think of Pitt, you think of a team who can’t hit a free throw for their life.

5. Be aggressive – Pitt was extremely aggressive, causing UConn to foul early and often, out-hustling UConn, and most importantly, and most impressively, out rebounding UConn 36-31. Pitt was on every loose ball, and their man-to-man defense was on fire last night.

I laid out 5 keys to victory and Pitt followed them and they were victorious. This was a huge win for Pitt as it gives them another good quality win for their tournament resume, shows that the momentum carried from the 9 day break, and gave Pitt their first 3-3 road trip sweep in Big East history.

Pitt looks to carry their 7 game win streak into Saturday when they return to The Pete to take on Louisville (12-5, 3-1) at 12:00 on ESPN Fullcourt, WTAE for those in the Pittsburgh area.