Championship Game
On March 15, Pittsburgh won their first-ever Big East Tournament, defeating Connecticut 74–56. They led by one at half-time, but quickly extended their lead in the second half. Jaron Brown led the Panthers with a career-high 19 points. Brown converted all six of his free throw attempts and was 6-of-9 from the field. He added ten rebounds to notch his fourth career double-double. Julius Page and Brandin Knight finished with 16 points apiece, and Chevon Troutman had 12. Page, a junior, averaged 13.3 points and 3.7 rebounds on 47.1 percent shooting (16-for-37) in the three tournament games. He won the Tournament MVP award. Knight averaged 12.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 steals, and 3.3 rebounds in the tournament.
It was the third straight title game reached for Pittsburgh. Howland and the Panthers lost to Uconn in double overtime in 2002. It tied the largest margin of victory for a Panther team in the Big East Tournament. They also defeated Boston College by eighteen, winning 88–70 on March 8, 2000. The win was Pittsburgh's ninth in a row, tying their season high. They also won nine in a row to begin the season.
Read more about this topic: 2003 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
Famous quotes containing the word game:
“My first big mistake was made when, in a moment of weakness, I consented to learn the game; for a man who can frankly say “I do not play bridge” is allowed to go over in the corner and run the pianola by himself, while the poor neophyte, no matter how much he may protest that he isn’t “at all a good player, in fact I’m perfectly rotten,” is never believed, but dragged into a game where it is discovered, too late, that he spoke the truth.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)