It began as a battle of dominating 7-footers.
Roy Hibbert of the No. 17 Georgetown Hoyas and Aaron Gray of the No. 9 Pittsburgh Panthers each scored his team’s first six points.
But Georgetown switched to a small lineup in the second half, harassing Gray with multiple defenders. Pittsburgh’s offense fell apart, and the Hoyas came back for a 61-58 win.
“We got a little bit away from what we wanted to do,” Gray said. “We were playing like we needed to win on that one possession and you can’t do that.”
Gray dominated the first 20 minutes at the Panthers’ offensive end. Matched against Hibbert, Gray stepped away from the post and showed a soft touch. When Hibbert left the game, Gray went to the basket and even when his first shots didn’t fall, he had little trouble getting second and even third chances.
Gray had 15 points and six rebounds in the first half — just two less rebounds than the Hoyas. He made six of 10 shots and rebounded three of the four misses.
When he didn’t find a shot he liked, Gray had plenty of room to find an open teammate.
“For as much as he scores, Gray is a terrific passer,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “He can pick you apart, and he is big enough that he can see everything.”
All that changed after the break. Georgetown flashed a zone in the first half, but switched to it almost exclusively in the second and Gray’s touches diminished. When Pittsburgh’s perimeter players did find him, so did a second Hoyas defender.
Gray did not score after halftime. He missed four shots, including one that Brandon Bowman rejected. In control in the first half, Gray was rattled in the second. He committed three turnovers, all on passes he tried to force while under duress.
“Every time I touched the ball it seemed like there were two or three guys around me,” Gray said. “I made bad decisions and turned the ball over.”
Hibbert cooled considerably after his fast start, finishing with seven points and four rebounds. When he went to the bench, Gray had to match up against the smaller, quicker Jeff Green, and Green exploited the matchup with drives to the basket.
Gray and Hibbert are the league’s tallest players and two of the three most improved in the conference along with Connecticut’s Hilton Armstrong.
“[Hibbert] is definitely the tallest and one of the strongest players I’ve played against,” Gray said. “Every time we play it is just going to be a great matchup.”
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