As expected, Pitt had little trouble in defeating the North Florida Ospreys Saturday, winning 95-49.
J.J. Moore’s 19 points led Pitt, even though most of his buckets came in the second half with the game out of reach. For the first time this season, Ashton Gibbs failed to reach 20 points as he was held to 12. Still, Brad Wanamaker’s 17 helped the Panthers to an easy victory.
Gilbert Brown struggled, shooting only 2-13 from the field. Gil hasn’t gotten off to a great start this season and Pitt will probably need him to do a bit more if it wants to advance deep into the NCAA Tournament.
The Ospreys have had a rough time, playing their second game in two days:
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.
UNF head coach Matt Driscoll still didn’t want to make any excuses about the quick turnaround:
“There’s no excuses, we weren’t very good,” said North Florida coach Matt Driscoll, a former Pittsburgh-area high school player. “But that’s probably the two fastest regular season, non-tournament games played in history.”
Moore showed off his athleticism and while he might not crack the starting lineup this season, is looking like he’ll get regular minutes even in Big East play. He’s shown too much to be buried on the bench and I think he’ll get the chance to play against conference foes.
Pitt’s next game comes Thursday against the Maryland Terrapins in the 2K Sports Classic to benefit Coaches vs. Cancer.