No. 10 Pittsburgh Beats Richmond, 69-60

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Posted 5:26AM on Friday, December 24, 2004

PITTSBURGH - Carl Krauser scored 31 points - the most by a Pitt player since the school opened its new arena two years ago - and his outside shooting in the second half carried the 10th-ranked Panthers past Richmond 69-60 on Thursday night. Not many college basketball coaches spend their entire postgame news conference talking about the opposing team's star. Richmond coach Jerry Wainwright did just that after watching the Pittsburgh point guard. Wainwright jokingly extended an invitation to Krauser to play for the Spiders (4-4) any night Pitt (9-0) isn't scheduled. "He's a typical New York City kid," Wainwright said. "He'd rather play than practice." But Krauser has rarely played liked this in his previous two seasons, with games of 28 points (against Penn State on Dec. 11) and the career high in a three-game span. He came into the game averaging 14.5 points. "He's one of the top five or six point guards in the country," Wainwright said. "And that's what those guys do. It wasn't a prima donna 30-point game, either, it was a blue-collar game. He left a lot of skin on the floor, going for loose balls." As Wainwright finished up his news conference, Krauser stood in the back of the room. The two shook hands, and Krauser asked, "How can I top that?" Perhaps with his shooting. Krauser was 6-of-8 on 3-pointers as Pitt went 9-of-18 from beyond the arc despite playing without shooting guard Antonio Graves, who sat out with a sprained ankle. The Panthers were the nation's seventh-worst outside shooting team last season, but are making 42 percent of their 3-pointers this season. "I worked on my shot all summer," Krauser said. "I've got the ability to do a lot of things, and when I see open shots, I knew I had to knock them down." In other games involving ranked teams Thursday night, it was: No. 20 George Washington 81, Florida International 71; No. 24 Maryland 81, American 61; and No. 25 Virginia 79, Loyola Marymount 77 in overtime. Krauser matched the arena record of 31 set by Notre Dame's Matt Carroll in January 2003, and is the first Pitt player to score more than 30 points since Ricardo Greer had 33 on Feb. 16, 2000, against Syracuse. Krauser scored 12 points during a 17-6 run that boosted Pitt's lead to 56-44 with 9:24 to go - including six during as Pitt scored eight straight points in only 33 seconds. Krauser hit 3s on consecutive possessions and was fouled on the second. He missed the free throw, but Chevon Troutman scored off the rebound to put Pitt up 47-38. "The game turned on those three possessions," Wainwright said. Richmond, trying for its fourth road upset of a Top 25 team in three seasons under Wainwright, closed to 62-58 with just over 3 minutes remaining. But Krauser made four free throws and Ronald Ramon added two down the stretch to hold off the Spiders, who opened their season by upsetting another Big East opponent, Seton Hall, on Nov. 19. "We all know he can hit that shot if they leave him open and it was almost like they didn't respect his outside shooting," Pitt's Chris Taft said of Krauser. "He kept hitting them and we kept running plays for him." Jermaine Bucknor scored 13 points, Patrick O'Malley and Kevin Steenberge each had 12 and T.J. Paterick scored 10 for Richmond, which was outrebounded 40-29 in dropping its third in four games. Ramon added 10 points to help the Panthers start 9-0 for the third consecutive season and the second in as many seasons under coach Jamie Dixon. Pitt has yet to play a Top 25 opponent and isn't scheduled to meet one until facing No. 11 Connecticut on Jan. 22.