Pitt Basketball: Panthers Defeat Robert Morris, 81-71; Bench Explodes for 29

Pitt took care of business against Robert Morris, winning 81-71 on Sunday.

Lamar Patterson (suspension) and Dante Taylor (presumably migranes again) both missed the game. The big news, at least to me, was that the bench had a big game with 29 points.

Talib Zanna and Cam Wright led the bench with 23 points and John Johnson added six. The 29 is the most the bench scored all season and without Taylor and Patterson, the starters needed some help.

Zanna, only a sophomore, is one of those Pitt players who's somehow found it possible to frustrate fans with his play. He started off the season with a few big games last year before flaming out miserably. This year, he started off slowly on the offensive, despite getting quality minutes. The last two games, he's really picked it up, though with 18 points and tonight he had 15 boards to lead the team.

I'm still not sure exactly where he fits on this team. Will have more of that later this week, though.

Here's the box score from tonight's game - Pitt jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead and hung on for the ten-point win. They still didn't rebound all that well and that's concerning.