Piscataway, N.J. – The Garden State guards trio of Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.), Anthony Farmer (Millville, N.J.) and Corey Chandler (Newark. N.J.) combined for 59 points, but it was not enough as No. 3-ranked Pittsburgh (13-0, 1-0) escaped with a 78-72 victory over Rutgers (9-5, 0-1) Wednesday afternoon at the RAC. Rosario scored 22 points, while Farmer and Chandler contributed 20 and 17, respectively, as the Scarlet Knights posted the highest points total against the Panthers this season in the BIG EAST opener for both schools.

Mike Rosario has scored 20 or more points in three consecutive games. (Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto) PHOTO GALLERY

“Our guards did such a phenomenal job today,” said head coach Fred Hill. “We like to run a lot of ball screens, and they like to hedge hard and trap off those screens. I told our guys in practice it would be a matter of how we handled that hedging and trapping; if we handled it well we would get a lot of good looks and opportunities to score. Our guards did that and that’s why we were able to knock down some shots.”

The contest featured 13 lead changes and five ties. The Scarlet Knights committed a season-low eight turnovers, but were unable to compensate for the points injection provided by the Panthers bench, which outscored the RU reserves, 31-9.

The Scarlet Knights made their first seven field goal attempts to jump out to a 13-8 lead. The home squad later increased its advantage to six points (22-16) on a Rosario layup with 11:04 remaining before the break. The remainder of the opening stanza was a back-and-forth affair. Rutgers scored the final five points before halftime to take a 43-39 lead into the locker room.

After the intermission, Chandler opened the scoring with a three-pointer to provide RU a seven point (46-39) lead, its largest of the game. Pittsburgh responded with an eight-point run to regain the edge on a Sam Young jumper. The Scarlet Knights answered with a 9-3 stretch to take a 55-50 advantage with 10:07 on the clock. Pittsburgh then scored nine consecutive points and never again relinquished the lead.

The Scarlet Knights battled back from double figures to reduce the deficit to five points with 18 seconds to play, but would get no closer. RU made all four of its free throws in the final minute, including a pair by Rosario, who leads the BIG EAST in charity stripe proficiency.

Pittsburgh had five players in double figures, including Young, who shot eight-of-12 from the field to lead the visitors with 18 pointers.

Rutgers’ history-making week continues this Saturday at No. 2-ranked Connecticut, when it meets the Huskies in a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. The game will be televised live in the New York Metropolitan region on SNY. The Scarlet Knights are believed to be the first team to ever play the nation’s top three ranked consecutively, and are doing so in a calendar week.

POST GAME NOTES

Rutgers scored 72 points against the Panthers, the most points given up by Pittsburgh this season. Pitt has allowed 67 points twice, against Akron (Nov. 21) and Texas Tech (Nov. 28).

Pittsburgh’s six-point win was its lowest margin of victory this season. Its previous low was eight points, set in a 56-48 defeat of Florida State on Dec. 21.

Rutgers committed just eight turnovers, its fewest this season and its least amount of miscues since also committing eight at Florida (11/17/07) last season.

Freshman Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) tallied 22 points and senior Anthony Farmer (Millville, N.J.) finished with 20, marking the first time that two Scarlet Knights scored 20 or more points in the same game since Farmer and sophomore Mike Coburn (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) achieved the feat in RU’s 80-68 win over No. 18 Villanova on Jan. 23, 2008.

Rosario has scored 20 or more points in three consecutive games, the first Scarlet Knight to achieve the feat since Quincy Douby in the last three games of the 2005-06 season.

Rosario set a career-high with four assists. His previous high was three, set twice, most recently at No. 1 UNC on Dec. 28.

Farmer now has 943 career points, and moves into a tie with Mike Jones for 42nd-place on the Rutgers all-time scoring list.

Sophomore Corey Chandler (Newark, N.J.) matched his career-high with eight rebounds. He previously set the mark against No. 1 UNC on Dec. 16, 2007.

Senior JR Inman (Pomona, N.Y.) finished with seven points, giving him 984 for his career. He passes two players to move into 36th-place on RU’s all-time scoring list. Inman hit his first three-pointer of the year against the Panthers.

Inman grabbed eight rebounds, giving him 604 for his career. He becomes the 20th Scarlet Knight to grab more than 600 rebounds and moves into 20th-place on the Rutgers all-time rebounds list.

Rutgers converted its first seven baskets before missing its first shot at the 14:20 mark of the first half.

POST GAME QUOTES

Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill

On his team’s overall performance:
“Our guys did a terrific job. I thought they went zone and it slowed us down a little in the 2nd half. We got the ball inside near the rim three times and we came away empty. Those empty possessions hurt you against the number 3 team in the country.”

On Rutgers guard play: 
“Our guards did such a phenomenal job today. We like to run a lot of ball screens, and they like to hedge hard and trap off those screens. I told our guys in practice it would be a matter of how we handled that hedging and trapping; if we handled it well we would get a lot of good looks and opportunities to score. Our guards did that and that’s why we were able to knock down some shots.”

On his team’s progression:
“We’ve gotten better, that’s what we talk about. It sounds boring and cliché, but that’s what we do (focus on getting better every day). We’re building something very special. You can see it starting to develop. Our goal is to get better each and every day, we’ve been doing that, and that’s why we’ve played some pretty good basketball the last two games.”
“This is a good time of the year, because there’s no school, and guys can come in the morning and shoot and work out. It’s a great time to work on your game and our guys have taken advantage of that. Each practice and each game, you want to take something positive out of it and continue to grow. We’ve done that and you can see our players starting to grow and gain some experience and confidence.”

Jamie Dixon, Panthers Head Coach

Opening Statement: “We got exactly what we expected. We knew it’s a new season; everybody is at 0-0. We talked about it as a team and they (Rutgers) can get it going and they got it going. They were in a rhythm. I probably should have gone with the zone earlier. We came into the game, thinking we may have to do it (play zone). When Rutgers gets in a rhythm, they penetrate and really drive it and their three guards are all off the dribble guys. It’s something you just have to be prepared for and we talked about it beforehand and I probably should have done it a little earlier but that is a coaching mistake. It helped us out obviously (in the second half). I don’t know where to start, the bench, you could go down the list. Everyone did everything we asked going in there. I said that to the team, afterwards. All five guys gave us everything. We are very fortunate to have a lot of good players and sometimes guys don’t get to play as much as they want and that’s a good thing because they should all want to play. But, again, (it was a) great effort from our bench. Obviously, we played without our leading rebounder (DeJuan Blair) who really couldn’t play because of the foul (trouble). It’s just something that is going to happen in our conference and we’ve got to get better at that. Rutgers is a very good team and I think they are getting better. I am glad we work on the zone every day for these situations.”

On Rutgers ability to convert 62 percent of its shots in first half: “They were in a rhythm (in the first half). I don’t think anyone ever shot 62 percent for a game. They were making some tough ones. It seemed like they were driving, a bump was a foul. We didn’t seem to be able to keep them in front of us and they hit some jump shots. We never put our heads down. I felt very comfortable with where we were at. DeJuan didn’t play and I thought we would get him in the second half (more time) but we obviously didn’t. But we found ways to do.”

On the overall play of Pitt: “I guess you have to single out Brad (Wanamaker) and what he has done. There has never been a doubt in my mind how he was going to be and how good a player he is. I think at times I have talked to him about it that I have almost hurt him at times because I was so sure he was going to be a good player and no one thought he was as good as he is. I have so much confidence in him and he wants to be so good and at times maybe I have been harder on him than I should have. He’s a great kid, great teammate and a great player. He was big (today). You can go down the list. I don’t want to leave anyone out. Our seniors were huge, leadership-wise. Levance (Fields) pointed out some great things. He did a great job coaching on the floor and recommending and pointing out things to me. It was great to see he had complete control and grasp of the game as a coach on the floor.”

Characterization of defense as a whole: “In the second half, we were a little more patient offensively. And they stayed with us for a little bit. We eventually broke them down and Levance, there is a reason why he is tops in the country assist-to-turnover ratio for his entire career. He can find guys, he knows where they are at. It was really wear them down, grind them down in motion and then get penetration at the end and that is something we are trying to get better at. We’ve got to be prepared to do that when teams are able to guard us out.”

How much zone Pitt has played before this year: “None. We practice it every day. I get this question at some point every year. They think it’s the first time we have played it. We practice it every day. We usually bring it out and it has been successful at times. When it came to the end, we went back to man and got it done with the man. They were in a rhythm and their drives and if we hedged we were getting fouls called on us. The drives it seemed like we were getting fouls so it really slowed things down. That’s what we really use it for. Everybody talks about our good defense, I don’t think we are going to throw out our man-to-man. I think the zone is not something we don’t live and die by. I had a feeling we were going to have to use it. This is a team that is better off the dribble and we knew that.”

Pittsburgh 78

			Total	3-point		Rebounds
##	Player	p	fgm-fga	fgm-fga	ftm-fta	off-def	tot	pf	tp	a	to	blk	stl	min
05	BIGGS, Tyrell	f	3-5	0-0	0-0	4-6	10	3	6	1	0	2	0	32
23	YOUNG, Sam	f	8-12	2-2	0-1	1-3	4	3	18	0	2	1	0	35
45	BLAIR, DeJuan	f	1-4	0-0	0-0	2-0	2	4	2	0	0	0	0	8
02	FIELDS, Levance	g	4-13	2-3	1-2	0-4	4	1	11	6	1	0	2	34
03	DIXON, Jermaine	g	3-7	0-3	4-6	0-2	2	2	10	2	0	2	3	28
11	BROWN, Gilbert	-	4-8	0-1	3-4	2-2	4	0	11	0	1	1	0	22
12	GIBBS, Ashton	-	1-2	1-2	0-0	0-2	2	0	3	0	2	0	0	9
22	WANAMAKER, Brad	-	4-7	2-5	5-6	0-5	5	2	15	4	1	0	0	22
35	ROBINSON, Nasir	-	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
52	MCGHEE, Gary	-	1-1	0-0	0-0	1-2	3	1	2	0	1	0	0	9
TM	TEAM	-	-	-	-	0-1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Totals..............	-	29-59	7-16	13-19	10-27	37	16	78	13	8	6	5	200
			49.2%	43.8%	68.4%
	Team summary:		FG	3FG	FT
	1st Half:		16-31	3-7	4-4
			51.6%	42.9%	100 %
	2nd Half:		13-28	4-9	9-15
			46.4%	44.4%	60.0%

Rutgers 72

			Total	3-point		Rebounds
##	Player	p	fgm-fga	fgm-fga	ftm-fta	off-def	tot	pf	tp	a	to	blk	stl	min
00	ECHENIQUE, Gregory	f	2-8	0-0	0-0	4-4	8	0	4	1	0	3	0	28
05	NDIAYE, Hamady	c	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-2	4	4	0	1	2	1	0	24
01	CHANDLER, Corey	g	7-16	2-7	1-1	2-6	8	2	17	1	2	0	1	34
02	FARMER, Anthony	g	6-7	1-1	7-9	0-3	3	3	20	3	1	0	0	33
03	ROSARIO, Mike	g	8-20	2-10	4-4	0-3	3	4	22	4	1	1	2	35
11	PETTIS, Earl	-	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6
15	INMAN, JR	-	2-8	1-1	2-2	4-4	8	2	7	1	2	0	1	28
31	COBURN, Mike	-	1-3	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	1	2	3	0	0	0	12
TM	TEAM	-	-	-	-	0-0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Totals..............	-	26-63	6-20	14-16	12-23	35	17	72	14	8	5	4	200
			41.3%	30.0%	87.5%
	Team summary:		FG	3FG	FT
	1st Half:		16-26	4-10	7-8
			61.5%	40.0%	87.5%
	2nd Half:		10-37	2-10	7-8
			27.0%	20.0%	87.5%

Score by Periods	1st	2nd	Total
Pittsburgh	39	39	78	Record: (13-0, 1-0)
Rutgers	43	29	72	Record: (9-5, 0-1)