Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant is one of the best point guards in Division I but Pitt’s James Robinson refused to take a backseat to Grant when the two teams met Saturday at Petersen Events Center.
Robinson, not Grant, turned out to be the best point guard on the floor in this game and that’s a big reason the Panthers pulled off a 76-72 upset of the No. 8-ranked Irish before a crowd of 12,508.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak by the Panthers (14-8, 4-5 ACC) and broke a five-game winning streak by the Irish (20-3, 8-2), who had won 16 of 17 games.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said it was great to see his team finally get a big payoff for all their hard work after coming off a heartbreaking loss Tuesday at Virginia Tech.
“I’m proud of our guys, this was a great win against a very good team,” Dixon said. “We made big plays all the way through, we guarded a really good team and I thought we did a good job passing the ball and making plays. This was a big day for us and we made big improvements.”
The victory was indeed a team win, but Robinson’s play was the story. He had his first career double-double, 15 points and 10 assists, and also played great defense on Grant, who was limited to 14 points and only three assists.
Despite how well Robinson played, it looked as if Grant might still walk away the victor. Grant scored nine points in a row and gave the Irish a 72-71 lead with 31 seconds to play.
But this was Robinson’s day as he got into the lane and made a floater with 12 seconds to play to give the Panthers a 73-72 lead.
“The play was for me to come off the handoff and just make a play, really,” Robinson said. “I was just supposed to turn the corner and get to the basket. The team had a lot of faith in me to make a play and coach called a good play for us and the team executed very well.
“This is a good win for us. Obviously Notre Dame is a really good team and it is important for us to protect our home court and that was what we wanted to do.”
Grant still had one more play in him, though. He drove the lane, but when Pitt’s defense collapsed on him, he passed it to a wide-open Steve Vasturia on the wing.
It was not to be for the Irish, however, as Vasturia missed the shot and Jamel Artis grabbed the rebound and the Panthers held on for a much-needed win.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey gave Pitt a lot of credit for the way it played.
“The major story of this game is how well Pitt played both offensively and defensively,” Brey said. “I thought James Robinson made it very hard on Jerian. This was one of those games I felt like we should have lost by about 15 but what I love about our group is somehow we had that shot in the corner to steal another one.
“Robinson is such a rock. If we get the stop when Robinson hits the runner, we win the game, but it was almost like when we don’t get that one, it is almost like the basketball gods said, ‘nah, nah, you can’t have this one.’
“The way we had been winning, I’m thinking we may steal another one but we had two thefts already this week and so we were 2-1 in thefts.”
There were nine ties and 10 lead changes throughout the game.
Pitt, which outrebounded the Irish, 27-23, made an 8-0 run and led, 71-63, after Robinson made two free throws with 3:05 to play.
But Brey went to a smaller lineup and Grant took advantage of Pitt switching on defense. Grant went on a 9-0 run before Robinson’s game-winning drive.
“We went to that smaller lineup and the floor was more open,” Brey said of Grant’s surge. “What we were doing was ball-screening for Jerian and then they would switch to a big guy and he could drive or shoot because he didn’t have James Robinson on him.”
Pitt shot 58.5 percent from the field (31 of 53) for the game, but went 68.2 percent from the floor in the second half (15 of 22).
Robinson was the big star for the Panthers, but Artis had another big game with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Michael Young had 16 points and Cam Wright was 7 of 9 from the floor and finished with14 points for the Panthers. Demetrius Jackson led the Irish with 15 points.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1720 and Twitter @paulzeise.
First Published: January 31, 2015, 7:25 p.m.
Updated: February 1, 2015, 1:13 a.m.
