PITT BASKETBALL FLORIDA STATE • DECEMBER 21, 2008 • DONALD L. TUCKER CENTER • TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 2008-09 SCHEDULE Date Opponent W/L Time GAME N2 SETON HILL (Exh.) W 102-51 #3 PITT (11-0, 0-0 Big East) N9 LaROCHE (Exh.) W 82-30 N14 FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON W 86-63 at FLORIDA STATE (11-1, 0-0 ACC) N17 MIAMI, Ohio (FSN) W 82-53 12 Legends Classic (Pittsburgh) N21 AKRON (FSN) W 86-67 N22 INDIANA, Pa. W 86-60 Sunday, December 21, 2008 • 5:30 p.m. ET Donald L. Tucker Center (12,100) • Tallahassee, Fla. N25 BELMONT (PP.com) W 74-60 Legends Classic (Newark, N.J.) Television: Fox Sports Net-National/FSN Pittsburgh (ACC Game of the Week) N28 vs. Texas Tech (HDNet) W 80-67 (Tim Brando, Mike Gminski; Sidelines: Jenn Hildreth; Producer: Bob Steinfeld). N29 vs. Washington State (HDNet) W 57-43 Radio: Pitt Panthers/ISP Sports Radio Network (Rob King and Dick Groat), D3 DUQUESNE (PP.com) W 78-51 94.5-FM (WWSW), 970 AM (WBGG). Satellite Radio: Not Available. D6 VERMONT (PP.com) W 80-51 Internet Radio Broadcast/Live Stats: www.pittsburghpanthers.com D13 UMBC (FSN) W 91-56 The Coaches: Pitt: Jamie Dixon, 10th year at Pitt, 6th year as head coach (143-40); D17 SIENA (ESPN2) W 79-66 Florida State: Leonard Hamilton, 7th year at FSU (117-87); 21st year overall (317-297). D21 at Florida State (FSN-National) 5:30 p.m. Rankings: Pitt: 3-AP, 3-ESPN; Florida State: unranked. Series: Pitt and Florida State meet for the 10th time in college basketball. Pitt owns an 8-1 all-time D31 at *Rutgers (FSN) 2 p.m. record vs. Florida State. Pitt has won each of the last five games in the series. J3 at *Georgetown (ESPN) Noon J11 ST. JOHN’S (WTAE) Noon J14 *SOUTH FLORIDA (ESPN-U) 7 p.m. J17 at *Louisville (ESPN) 6 p.m. No. 3 ranked Pitt (11-0) travels to Talla- each of his first six seasons as head coach. Ad- J19 *SYRACUSE (ESPN) 7 p.m. hassee, Fla. to play Florida State (11-1) on ditionally, Jamie Dixon has guided Pitt to six J25 at *West Virginia (FSN) 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21 at the Donald L. Tucker Cen- of the top-10 best starts to a season in school J28 at *Villanova (ESPN-U) 7 p.m. ter. Tipoff is at 5:30 p.m. ET. history. J31 *NOTRE DAME (ESPN) Noon F2 ROBERT MORRIS 7 p.m. The contest marks Pitt’s final non-confer- According to www.realtimerpi.com, Pitt F7 at *DePaul (FSN) 2 p.m. ence game before it has a nine-day holiday is ranked No. 4 nationally in Ratings Percent- F9 *WEST VIRGINIA (ESPN) 7 p.m. break, then begins its Big East portion of the age Index and No. 28 nationally in the strength F14 *CINCINNATI (ESPN) 4 p.m. schedule on Dec. 31 at Rutgers. of schedule rankings (as of Dec. 19, 2008). F16 at *Connecticut (ESPN) 7 p.m. F21 *DEPAUL (FSN) 7 p.m. The contest will be nationally televised on Pitt also has the best RPI and highest strength F24 at *Providence (FSN) 7 p.m. Fox Sports Net National with Tim Brando of schedule rating in the Big East Conference. F28 at *Seton Hall (FSN) 8:30 p.m. (play-by-play) and Mike Gminski (color com- Pitt is one of 14 schools nationwide to M4 *MARQUETTE (ESPN2) 7:30 p.m. mentary), along with Jenn Hildreth (sideline own an undefeated college basketball record. M7 *CONNECTICUT (CBS) Noon reports) making the call. Bob Steinfeld will Pitt is one of two schools to own a current 11- M10 at Big East Championship (ESPN) TBA produce. 0 record (Clemson is also 11-0). BYU, North M19 at NCAA First & Second Round TBA For the second consecutive year, Pitt be- Carolina, Oklahoma and Illinois State all have M26 at NCAA Regionals (CBS) TBA gins a season with an 11-0 start. Head Coach 10-0 records (as of Dec. 19). A4-6 at NCAA Final Four (CBS) TBA Jamie Dixon has guided Pitt to 10-0 starts in This week, the University of Pittsburgh is TODAY’S TOP STORYLINES PITT PANTHERS ROSTER NOTES • At 11-0, Pitt is one of only 14 undefeated teams nationally. PROBABLE STARTERS • Pitt plays its first road game of the season. # NAME POS HT WT CL PPG RPG CAREER/2008-09 NOTES Earlier this year, the Panthers played two 5 Tyrell Biggs F 6-8 250 SR 8.5 5.1 •Career: 116 games played, 12 starts neutral site contests. The contest marks its 23 Sam Young F 6-6 220 SR 20.0 5.7 •Last 7GP: 22.3 ppg./6.3 rpg. final non-conference game before Pitt be- 45 DeJuan Blair C 6-7 265 SO 15.2 13.1 •Seven double-doubles on year gins Big East play on Dec. 31. 3 Jermaine Dixon G 6-3 195 JR 7.0 2.4 •Started first 11 games; 12 pts vs. Duq. • Pitt is off to its second consecutive 11-0 2 Levance Fields G 5-10 190 SR 11.0 2.2 •73 assists, 17 turnovers in first 11 GP start to a season. Dixon has won at least 10 OFF THE BENCH straight games to start each of his six sea- 1 Travon Woodall G 5-11 190 FR 1.7 1.0 •17 assists in 97 minutes off bench sons at Pitt. • Pitt has won seven of its last nine non- 11 Gilbert Brown G/F 6-6 200 SO* 6.7 4.0 •Played in last 7 games, 13 pts vs. UMBC conference road games under Jamie Dixon 12 Ashton Gibbs G 6-2 190 FR 5.4 0.6 •Averaging 12.8 minutes per game (2003-08). 14 Sean Brown F 6-4 215 SR 0.0 0.0 •Walk-on added in November • Jamie Dixon is 37-3 in December games. 21 Ryan Tiesi G 6-2 185 SO 0.0 0.0 •Played in three career games He concluded his sixth November at Pitt 22 Brad Wanamaker G 6-4 205 SO 4.5 2.6 •41 career games played with a perfect 31-0 record in November 24 Tim Frye G 6-4 200 SO 1.0 0.0 •Walk-on, 13 career games games. He is 71-4 vs. non-conference op- 25 Dwight Miller F 6-8 230 FR -- -- •Freshman from Nassau, Bahamas ponents and 89-10 at home. 35 Nasir Robinson F 6-5 220 FR 2.1 2.0 •11.4 min. per game at small forward • Pitt enters the game ranked No. 4 nationally 52 Gary McGhee C 6-10 250 SO 2.2 2.8 •Career: 32 games played, one start in RPI and No. 28 in strength of schedule. PITT BASKETBALL • GAME NOTES 2 SERIES HISTORY NATIONAL POLLS (as of December 15, 2008) FLORIDA STATE SERIES Total Games: 9. ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL Series Record: 8-1. Rk. School (1st Place) W-L Pts. Rk. School (1st Place) W-L Pts. Hosted by Pitt: 5-0. 1. North Carolina (72) 9-0 1,800 1. North Carolina (31) 9-0 775 Hosted by FSU: 1-0. 2. Connecticut 8-0 1,715 2. Connecticut 8-0 737 Neutral: 2-1. 3. PITT 10-0 1,646 3. PITT 10-0 713 Overtime: 0 (0-0). 4. Oklahoma 10-0 1,585 4. Oklahoma 10-0 676 One-Point Games: 2 (2-0). 5. Texas 8-1 1,473 5. Texas 8-1 642 Two-Point Games: 0 (0-0). 6. Duke 8-1 1,347 6. Duke 8-1 574 Most Points Scored-Pitt: 102 (102- 7. Xavier 9-0 1,233 7. Xavier 9-0 552 80 win on Dec. 20, 1983). 8. Gonzaga 7-1 1,225 Gonzaga 7-1 552 Most Points Scored-FSU: 89 9. Louisville 6-1 1,176 9. Louisville 6-1 467 10. Wake Forest 9-0 1,101 (102-89 win on Dec. 20, 1983). 10. Wake Forest 9-0 466 11. Syracuse 9-0 1,005 11. Syracuse 9-0 406 Largest Victory Margin-Pitt: 22 12. Notre Dame 7-2 992 two times (82-60 win on Dec. 12. UCLA 6-2 369 13. Purdue 8-2 765 13. Georgetown 7-1 358 8, 1973; 88-66 win on Nov. 24, 14. UCLA 6-2 756 2006). 14. Notre Dame 7-2 345 15. Georgetown 7-1 750 15. Villanova 10-1 313 Largest Victory Margin-FSU: 13 16. Tennessee 6-2 683 16. Ohio State 6-0 275 (83-76 loss on Dec. 21, 1984). 17. Ohio State 6-0 576 17. Arizona State 8-1 272 Longest Win Streak-Pitt: 5, cur- 18. Villanova 10-1 571 18. Purdue 8-2 252 rent. 19. Michigan State 6-2 506 19. Tennessee 6-2 246 Longest Win Streak-FSU: 1, 1984. 20. Arizona State 8-1 431 20. Davidson 8-1 194 Last 10: 8-1. 21. Baylor 8-1 420 21. Memphis 5-2 166 Last 20: 8-1. 22. Davidson 8-1 398 22. Michigan State 6-2 147 23. Memphis 5-2 350 23. Marquette 8-1 130 GAME SUMMARY 24. Marquette 8-1 240 24. Baylor 8-1 119 FLORIDA STATE (8-1) 25. Clemson 10-0 196 25. Clemson 10-0 65 GP: 9; H: 5-0; A: 1-0; N: 2-1; OT: 0-0.