Kenyon Martin can’t help the Knicks these days, but the veteran forward made a difference for his alma mater.
Prior to Cincinnati’s matchup with Pittsburgh at the Garden in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night, Martin met with the Bearcats, who were coming off a pair of lopsided losses and uncharacteristically porous defensive efforts, and offered some words of advice.
“You got to get stops to win games. That was his message to the guys, which was nice because it was my message for two days,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “Defense is the first key to giving your team a chance to win.”
It seemed to work. The Bearcats took note of the school’s all-time leader in blocked shots and field-goal percentage and held Pitt to 31 percent shooting from the field to eke out a 44-43 eyesore of a victory.
Titus Rubles’ follow of a Sean Kilpatrick miss with 4.2 seconds remaining proved to be the difference in the hard-to-watch slugfest. Cameron Wright’s desperation heave at the horn from just inside half court came up well short, capping a disappointing evening for the Panthers.
“It’s a stepping stone,” Cincinnati forward Justin Jackson said. “The first one.”
The Panthers entered the contest undefeated while playing a soft schedule and hoping to open eyes on a big stage. Instead, Pitt was out-rebounded, 35-27, and outscored in the paint, 30-16.
Strangely, the Panthers did have a 19-1 edge in made free throws, but their 44 points were nearly 40 below their season average.
“We didn’t match their physicality at all, which is disappointing for us,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s hard to believe we can get outrebounded that badly.”
Kilpatrick, the Yonkers product, struggled mightily. The senior guard made just 4-of-13 shots, and was 1-of-8 from 3-point range, but he did make two big shots down the stretch, scoring on back-to-back baskets — an offensive explosion in this mishmash of a game — to give Cincinnati (8-2) a 42-39 lead with 3:10 left.
“I’m a New York guy,” said Kilpatrick, who attended White Plains High School. “Me being able to come here and get this win one last time, it was a good thing.”
Jackson had 12 points and nine rebounds for Cincinnati, while Talib Zanna scored 12 points and Lamar Patterson added 12 for Pitt (10-1).
Patterson, however, missed a pair of free throws with 19.6 seconds remaining and the Panthers up a point.
“It’s tough. I feel like I lost the game for us, not missing one, but both of them,” the senior said. “I’ll take that on the chin for the team. It was definitely on me.”
After a timeout, Kilpatrick drove hard to the hoop. His driving shot was off, but the carom found Rubles, and he flipped in the follow.
The sparse crowd wasn’t exactly fired up for the matchup, and the teams quickly took even more energy out of the building with their grizzly shooting. They were tied at 20 at halftime and combined to shoot 5-of-26 from 3-point range. Pitt shot an anemic 31 percent from the field while Cincinnati was slightly better, at 37 percent.
“That wasn’t University of Pittsburgh basketball. Next game we’ll bounce back,” guard Cameron Wright said. “We just weren’t the same team today. You hate to see it, but it was one of those days.”
Florida 77, Memphis 75
Casey Prather spent his first three years at Florida as a complementary piece.
Thus far this season, he’s The Piece.
The senior continued his surprising season Tuesday night at the Garden, scoring a game-high 22 points in the Gators’ 77-75 win over No. 15 Memphis in the nightcap of the Jimmy V Classic.
“I’m just trying to play as aggressive as I can, each and every possession,” said Prather, who scored Florida’s final eight points and is averaging three times as many points as he did last year. “I’m trying to do whatever needs to be done for the team.”
When Prather first got to Florida (8-2), he seemed determined to prove he could fit the NBA shooting guard mold, shooting from the perimeter rather than using his athleticism to score in the paint. Though he’s just 6-foot-6, he’s scoring at a high rate despite rarely taking perimeter jump shots, getting to the free throw line an average of 7.6 times per game and shooting 61 percent from the field.
“He’s playing to his strengths instead of trying to prove he can overcome his weaknesses,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “It’s his first time he’s playing with a clear head and a clear mind.”
Florida built a 59-51 lead with 6:03 remaining after freshman Kasey Hill sank a 3-pointer. Memphis got within two late, but senior point guard Joe Jackson’s layup was partially blocked.
Prather’s production has been invaluable for No. 16 Florida, making up for a fluid roster that is finally beginning to get whole. Senior guard Scottie Welbekin, forward Dorian Finney-Smith and freshman guard Kasey Hill each have missed multiple games for a variety of reasons, from suspensions to injuries. Top recruit Chris Walker just joined the team for practice after he was ruled ineligible for the fall semester.
The Gators have won seven of their last eight games — the only loss in that span coming at the buzzer to 10th-ranked UConn — and two in a row against ranked foes. Last week, they knocked off No. 18 Kansas.
“These games have helped us get better, and even in a lot of these games we haven’t had a full complement of players,” Donovan said. “We’ve had a lot of different experiences, and I think our guys have grown.”
Jackson led Memphis (7-2) with 17 points and five assists and Geron Johnson added 13. Smith-Finney had 14 points off the bench for Florida while Wilbekin and Michael Frazier each had 11.