Pitt started fast and never looked back in defeating North Florida. UNF head coach Matt Driscoll probably could have used a few more timeouts.
As expected, Pitt had no trouble facing North Florida today, defeating them by 46 points. The game was never in doubt as Pitt led UNF 48-21 at halftime and extended that lead in the second half.
With UNF's lack of size (no players taller than 6'8"), Pitt, also as expected, had a large edge on the boards, 59-28.
North Florida was playing its second game in two days and has to be tired after this:
North Florida was competitive during a 75-55 loss at Florida State that didn't start until 9 p.m. ET Friday, trailing 50-45 midway through the second half.
The ensuing, 900-mile, early morning trip on private jets and the quick turnaround before playing a 4 p.m. ET game against a Top 5 team proved to be too challenging for the Ospreys, who went from being down 10-6 to trailing 36-12 in slightly less than 10 minutes.
Brad Wanamaker had 17 points, leading the Panthers for the most Part. Freshman J.J. Moore actually led the team in scoring with 19, but most of his points came in the second half after Pitt was comfortably ahead. For the first time this season, Ashton Gibbs was held to under 20 points as he finished with 12.
And if you needed further proof that Jamie Dixon's plan is to likely redshirt freshmen Isaiah Epps and Cameron Wright, this game was probably it. Neither played even as Pitt had the game well in hand, but walk-ons Aron Nwankwo and Nick Rivers entered the game late. If neither Epps nor Wright are getting playing time in non-conference blowouts, then they probably won't see time in Big East games barring injuries.
But back to Moore - this kid is a beast. He continues to make the most of his minutes, scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds in only 19 minutes. This kid seems to do only good things when he's in there and with today's output, he's averaging 14.0 points per game. He's kind of in a tough spot because Pitt is pretty much set with Brad Wanamaker and Gil Brown, but he looks like he's going to be a contributor right away. Ashton Gibbs played some key minutes as a freshman, but Moore looks like he can do more than that.
And speaking of Brown, I'll get to him a little later in a separate post, but it's hard to figure what to make of him right now. He's struggled pretty badly through Pitt's first three games.
Still, Pitt's looking strong and will now face a pretty good test in Maryland next week as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.