Yes, I'm on hiatus, but sometimes you just can't pass up an opportunity to gloat, and this is one of those times.

On Feb. 16, the Pitt Panthers made school history when they went to Hartford and defeated Jim Calhoun's Connecticut Huskies 76-68, toppling the #1 team in the country for the first time ever.  They were ranked #4 at the time.  Pitt then beat Depaul, which is a walk in the park, and went to Providence, where the Friars pulled off the upset after Pitt had risen to #1 in the polls for the 2nd time this year.  That cleared the way for UConn this week.  The season finale for Pitt was a rematch with UConn at the Pete, and this time it was again a battle of powerhouses as expected, between #1 and #3 in the country.

For the Huskies, Hasheem Thabeet had the upper hand inside this time with a double-double, 14 points and 13 rebounds.  A.J. Price led the Huskies with 19 points, and Jeff Adrien just missed a double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Both teams shot horribly from 3-point land, each making a total of 4 3-pointers the entire game, 4-14 for the Huskies and 4-20 for the Panthers...yikes!  Good thing both teams had more success inside the arc.  That's quite possibly one of the ugliest 3-point performances I can remember for 2 teams put together in a long time.

Foul shooting was no better for UConn.  Normally it's Pitt that screws up at the line, and as a fan, I've grown accustomed to the Panthers blowing late leads because they can't make free throws.  Today, they made 6 of them, but only had 9 chances the entire game.  UConn on the other hand was half-a$$ed, shooting 10-19 from the foul line.  Those misses can prove costly, and it certainly hurt the Huskies in this game.

For the Panthers, Dejuan Blair had a career night against UConn last time, but today he was fairly quiet with 8 points and 8 rebounds, and yes, for Dejuan Blair, that's a bad game.  However, the Panthers were fortunate enough to get big performances out of other guys.  Brad Wannamaker had 13 points, a welcome surprise since he's going to have to step up next year when Fields and Young graduate.  Speaking of Levance Fields, he did play today, and had the kind of game the Panthers needed with a double-double of his own, 10 points and 12 assists.  Sam Young led everyone with a tremendous double-double, 31 points and 11 rebounds.  It was an incredible performance for the 2 outgoing starting seniors, and was exactly what the doctor ordered to beat the Huskies for a second time this year.