LAHAINA » Chances are Pittsburgh and Hawaii won’t meet on a basketball court again for quite a while. Thus, the peeved Panthers transferred payback onto someone else.
That unfortunate someone? EA Sports Maui Invitational host Chaminade.
Forward Derrick Randall came off the bench to outrebound the Silverswords by himself, setting a tournament record with 21 boards in Pitt’s 81-68 victory on Monday night at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Effort- and energy-wise, coach Jamie Dixon’s group was night-and-day from the 74-70 UH upset at War Memorial Gymnasium last Friday.
Pitt (3-1) crushed Chaminade (2-1) on the glass 51-17 and advanced to face San Diego State at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
"I think the University of Hawaii game was kind of a wake-up call for them," said Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird, who sat in the stands for that one. "I know Pitt’s a heck of a lot better team than what they showed versus the University of Hawaii. We knew that. That wasn’t the result I was hoping for. I wanted them to come in relaxed and confident."
Pitt forward Michael Young carried an emotional edge during his turn at the postgame podium.
"The (Hawaii) loss hurt. It hurt a lot. From me, and James (Robinson), down to the 16th player on the team, through the coaching staff," Young said. "It hurt really bad. You never want to lose a game you’re supposed to win.
"I don’t think we had energy and enthusiasm in the Hawaii game. … That is the reason I think we lost. They had energy, confidence and enthusiasm the whole game, and ours was kind of up and down, if we had any."
| TUESDAY’S GAMES
» Purdue vs. Missouri, 9 a.m.
» Chaminade vs. BYU, 11:30 a.m.
» Kansas State vs. Arizona, 2:30 p.m.
» Pittsburgh vs. San Diego State, 5 p.m. |
He responded with career highs of 27 points and 15 rebounds.
Chaminade offered the threat of a similar upset scenario against Pittsburgh, despite the vast rebounding disparity.
The Silverswords hung around by sinking 11 3-pointers in 27 attempts. Some were deep and contested, others weren’t, giving Dixon — a former UH assistant coach under Riley Wallace — something to focus on as the tournament progresses Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I thought we were tense (against UH)," Dixon said. "I think we hit a team that played well the other day, and we’re not where we need to be defensively to … win games with our defense as we have in the past. We’ve got to get better at it."
Chaminade opened with a zone, similar to what UH played the entire way against the Panthers. But the ‘Swords were denied their eighth victory among 89 total games in their signature event dating back to 1984. They face BYU at 11:30 a.m. in the consolation bracket.
Pitt wasn’t necessarily much taller, but it was definitely beefier. The Panthers had more offensive rebounds than Chaminade had total boards.
The rebounding differential was 33-8 at halftime.
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2016 field announced
The 2016 EA Sports Maui Invitational was unveiled on the first day of the 2014 competition.
Besides host Chaminade, the eight-team field at the Lahaina Civic Center includes Connecticut (American Athletic), Georgetown (Big East), North Carolina (Atlantic Coast), Oklahoma State (Big 12), Oregon (Pac-12), Tennessee (Southeastern) and Wisconsin (Big Ten).
The 2015 championship field includes Chaminade, Indiana, Kansas, St. John’s, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
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"They came out tonight and gave us their best effort," Bovaird said. "They were in the passing lanes. They were scrambling. They were crashing the boards, which is pretty obvious."
Randall’s 21 rebounds tied for seventh-best in Pitt history.
Pitt sophomore Josh Ko, a Kalaheo graduate and former state player of the year, appeared in the final minute and went 0-for-1 from the field.
No. 3 Arizona 72, Missouri 53
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley each scored 15 points, helping the Wildcats (4-0) beat the Tigers.
Montaque Gill-Caesar led Missouri (2-2) with 13 points. Point guard Keith Shamburger, who left the Rainbow Warriors in the offseason, had 11 points, three assists and four turnovers for the Tigers.
"It felt good to be back (in the islands) and just go out there and compete with my team," Shamburger said. "We found out a lot of things that we needed to find out today. I’m glad we found out that this is a hard-nosed team and we’re going to give it our all every minute of the game. That is going to get us a long way."
No. 15 San Diego State 92, BYU 87, 2OT
Aqeel Quinn scored 22 points and hit a big 3-pointer in each overtime, helping the Aztecs outlast the Cougars.
Tyler Haws scored 26 points for BYU (3-1).
Kansas 88, Purdue 79
Marcus Foster scored 24 points to help the Wildcats (3-1) beat the Boilermakers (3-1), who got 21 points from Kendall Stephens.
