March 13, 2008

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BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINAL NOTES

Pitt vs. Louisville, Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.

 

*Pitt (24-9) advances to face the winner of the Marquette vs. Notre Dame game in Friday's Semifinal Round at 9 p.m. ET. Pitt is attempting to earn an appearance in its seventh Big East Championship Final in the last eight years. Jamie Dixon is attempting to guide Pitt to his fourth title game in his first five seasons.

 

*Pitt has now won five of its last six games on the year.

 

*Pitt improves to 10-9 in Big East Second Round games. It enters Friday's Semifinal game with a 6-3 all-time Semifinal record.

 

*Pitt eliminated Louisville from Big East Championship contention for the third consecutive season. It defeated Louisville 65-59 in last year's Quarterfinal matchup and defeated the Cardinals 61-56 in the First Round in 2006.

 

*Madison Square Garden is Pitt's home away from home as the Panthers are 21-8 at MSG since 2000-01. Pitt improves to 4-0 at Madison Square Garden this year and has won six of its last seven in the "World's Most Famous Arena."

 

*Pitt improves to 17-6 in Big East Championship games at Madison Square Garden since 2000-01.

 

*Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon improved to 9-4 in Big East Championship Games. He is now 4-2 in head-to-head games vs. Louisville's Rick Pitino including 3-0 at MSG.

 

*With his double-double (21 points/12 rebounds, Sam Young registered his sixth career and fourth double-double this season. Young  finished with his 16^th 20-plus point scoring night and registered his sixth double figure rebounding game. Young has now reached double figure scoring in 32 of Pitt's 33 games this year and in 40 of his last 44 games played. Young has now led Pitt in scoring in 23 of 33 games.

 

*The 45 minute game saw several Panthers set career-highs for minutes played. Those players include Sam Young (41), Ronald Ramon (42) and Gilbert Brown (36).

 

*Levance Fields reached double figure scoring for the fifth game in a row. It also marked his 42^nd career double figure scoring game.

 

*With his 13 points, Ronald Ramon registered his 50^th career double figure scoring game and 13^th time this year. He also hit a team-high 3-6 3-pointers.

 

*DeJuan Blair finished the evening with 16 points on the evening. It was his 23^rd double figure scoring game of his career.

 

*Pitt's 24 victories rank tied for eighth among the all-time winningest seasons at Pitt. The school record is 31 set in 2003-04, Jamie Dixon's first year at Pitt. Dixon has guided five of Pitt's 15 winningest seasons.

 

*Pitt's senior class of Keith Benjamin, Mike Cook, Ronald Ramon and Maurice Polen improved to 97-34 all-time. They are attempting to become just the fifth senior class in school history to win 100 or more games.

 

*Pitt improved to 2-2 vs. ranked teams on the season.

 

*Pitt improved to 4-3 all-time vs. Louisville. It split the two games against the Cardinals this year.

 

*The overtime contest marked Pitt's second of the season. Pitt also defeated Duke in overtime at Madison Square Garden (65-64 on Dec. 20, 2007).

 

*Pitt held Louisville to 69 points on the evening. On the year, Pitt has now limited 23 of its 33 opponents to 70 points or less.