The refs from yesterday’s game were calling everything in the first half. In the second half, they let up. 34 fouls called in the game. There was a sequence of flops by OK State and then Pitt that were both called. The last thing you would think is that a coach would be complaining that the officials let too much go.

“They did a good job on him,” Sutton said. “They got away with a lot of holding, a lot of grabbing and he hadn’t seen that kind of physical play yet. It hurt us because we depend on him to score points for us. He never got in any rhythm.”

Anderson was 2-of-8 from the floor and finished with eight points. He did not play the last five minutes of the game.

“He had eight points,” Pitt point guard Levance Fields said. “We can live with that.”

Much like Duquesne Coach Everhart decided to give the nod to WVU over Pitt as a better team they have lost to, Sutton gave the edge to Pitt over Marquette.

Sutton gave it serious thought and said the teams are pretty even.

“But I might give Pitt a slight edge based off (DeJuan) Blair,” Sutton said. “I think he’s good. I’m not sure Marquette has a guy in there that consistently scores. They both have great guards; they’re both tough.”

Those comparisons mean nothing. In both cases the edge went to the team that beat them last and was at home. As opposed to the road game or neutral site.

Sutton did think his team was better than they were against Marquette (to whom they lost by 30 in Maui).

“It’s going to be a process with a young team,” Sutton said. “I know we are a lot better team now than we were out in Maui. Hopefully we will make the same amount of improvement over the next two or three weeks.”

Why does Sutton think OSU is better than they were in Maui? His team fought back instead of folding.

To be fair, they really didn’t fold. Of course, I also find the oversimplification that but for that 1st half stretch where they let Pitt beat their brains in with a 20-5 run they were even with Pitt. That’s the sort of rationalization excuses the overall performance of a team.

Levance Fields, though, still said the one thing that Pitt fans should love to hear.

Pittsburgh couldn’t miss a shot in the first half, and then for a significant stretch in the second half the Panthers couldn’t make a shot.

Whether their shots were falling or not on Saturday, the No. 11 Panthers did not let up on defense in their 85-68 win over Oklahoma State.

It’s a lesson Sean Sutton hopes his young Cowboys picked up, and one that undefeated Pitt’s point guard was preaching after the game.

“If we make mistakes on offense we can’t compound it by making mistakes on defense,” junior Levance Fields said.

[Emphasis added — because it’s so important.]