And it all happened, ironically, on the day that a football coaching legend appeared close to losing his life. On Saturday night, there were conflicting reports about former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, but we did not learn for sure that he had passed until about 10:30 this morning. We send our condolences to Joe’s family and friends at this time.

The last time Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and Mike Krzyzewski lost a game on the same day was January 18, 2003. The three coaches have combined for over 2,600 wins, so they have won a little more than they have lost, and one might even be surprised that this wasn’t the first day all three lost.

It started in the middle of the afternoon, with two of the games. Connecticut took on Tennessee in Knoxville, a return of a game played last year. The Volunteers got a double-double from freshman Jarnell Stokes and fended off a late Husky rally for a 60-57 win. Turning the ball over one time in the second half certainly helped, especially as taking care of the ball had been a problem for Tennessee of late. Connecticut shot just 36.4 percent from the field.

Around that same time, Florida State looked like they had a shot to end Duke’s 45-game home winning streak, as they were right there with the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They had leads late in the game as well. And finally, with the game tied at 73 in the final seconds, the Seminoles got the ball up the floor to Michael Snaer in front of his own bench, where he hit a three-pointer just as time expired to give Florida State their second big win in as many Saturdays, a 76-73 decision over Duke.

Not only had Duke not lost at home since North Carolina knocked them off in February 2009, but they also had a longer (64 games) home winning streak against unranked opponents. They had a chance to tie their own ACC record of 46 straight home wins, set between January 13, 1997 and February 9, 2000.

Florida State is now looking more and more like the team some thought they would be this season. In the preseason, a good number of prognosticators thought they might be the third-best team behind Duke and North Carolina. Virginia had emerged as that team, and probably still is, but now the Seminoles look like another formidable team in an ACC that is not looking much better than last year. They are in a three-way tie atop the ACC at 4-1, along with the two teams they have knocked off the past two Saturdays.

By the time the evening came around, one already had a sense that Syracuse could suffer its first loss of the season. The team announced earlier in the day that sophomore center Fab Melo would not make the trip to Notre Dame and Cincinnati and that junior forward Mookie Jones had left the school for personal reasons. The Orange are so deep, it would not have been a shocker if they came away with two wins, but if they dropped one it would not have been a surprise. Sure enough, a Notre Dame team that knocked off Louisville a couple of weeks ago beat Syracuse 67-58 in South Bend.

Notre Dame led throughout the game and beat a No. 1 team for the eighth time, which ties for the fourth-highest total. They did it led by junior big man Jack Cooley, who went for 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Fighting Irish out-rebounded Syracuse 38-25. While Melo’s absence hurt there, it wasn’t a big factor in the Orange’s offensive struggles on the night.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation

With Syracuse losing, that left just one team undefeated: Murray State. The Racers were 82-65 winners at SIU-Edwardsville to improve to 20-0 on the season.

Missouri got perhaps its most impressive win yesterday, going on the road to beat Baylor. That’s two in a row now for Baylor, and it seems that at the moment, Baylor is close, but not there when it comes to the top of the Big 12.

Georgetown got all they could handle from Rutgers, and needed to score the game’s last seven points to eke out a 52-50 win in the nation’s capital.

Louisville continued Pittsburgh’s misery as they went into the Peterson Events Center and left with a 73-62 win over the Panthers, who are now 0-7 in the Big East and have lost eight straight.

UNLV convincingly won a key matchup with New Mexico, the second straight loss for the Lobos as they took on the two favorites in the conference this past week.

Mississippi State won an overtime thriller at Vanderbilt in a key matchup among teams chasing Kentucky in the SEC.

Todd Bozeman returned to the bench at Morgan State, but his team’s struggles continued as they lost for the fifth time in seven games by dropping a 62-61 decision against visiting North Carolina A&T.

Late Saturday night, Long Beach State picked up a key road win at UC Santa Barbara. That makes the 49ers 7-0 in conference play, a full two games ahead of three teams in the loss column.

Let’s start with Florida State, which annihilated North Carolina 90-57 in Tallahassee. The Seminoles had a so-so non-conference run, as they came into Saturday lacking a win against the top 50 in three tries. Beating the Tar Heels is a remedy for that, although they need to make it relevant come March by playing well the rest of ACC play.

Next, we go to Northwestern, a team for whom heartbreak has become a regular occurrence. The Wildcats have had chances to play their way into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in recent years, but haven’t been able to pull out the games they needed to. It looked like this year might be another case of that, too, although they did win the Charleston Classic over Seton Hall, a win that is looking better all the time. They won at mediocre Georgia Tech and lost to Baylor, which is hardly a bad loss. But then they lost at Creighton, got hammered at Ohio State and lost tough ones to Illinois and Michigan by a combined three points. And on Saturday, they knocked off Michigan State in Evanston for their best win of the season. Add that to the Seton Hall win and the Wildcats, who don’t have a bad loss and an RPI of 33 at the start of the week, are in a good place for the moment.

Then there is Oklahoma, a team thought to be rebuilding. But the Sooners knocked off Kansas State 82-73 for their second win against a top 50 team. The Sooners are now 1-3 in Big 12 play, so they have a good deal of work to do. But if they get to .500 in conference and win a game or two in the conference tournament, they may have done enough work by then to be in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament team.  It helps that they don’t have a bad loss.

Lastly, San Diego State knocked off UNLV in a thriller, 69-67. The Aztecs were actually in a reasonably good place before Saturday, but perhaps now they can be called an NCAA Tournament lock if they win the games they should the rest of the way. The Mountain West figured to be rebuilding this season, but that hasn’t been the case thus far as both of these teams look like they will be in the field of 68.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Pittsburgh lost at Marquette, 62-57, and is now 0-5 in the Big East for the second time in program history and first in 12 years. They have never started 0-6, but they play at Syracuse on Monday.

Connecticut freshman Ryan Boatright was suspended by the NCAA and did not play in the Huskies’ 67-53 win at Notre Dame. The NCAA is investigating more eligibility matters with the freshman guard.

Iowa handily took out Michigan 75-59, and continues to be something of a Jekyll and Hyde team.

Jarnell Stokes gave Tennessee a boost in his debut, but Kentucky prevailed in Knoxville 65-62. The thinking is that although it was a loss, Saturday’s game bodes well for the Volunteers.

The Ivy League has started the season a little differently this time around, and Penn has started off 2-0 with wins at Columbia and Cornell. Normally teams play their travel partners over two weeks, save for Penn and Princeton, before the Friday-Saturday weekends start.

No America East team will go undefeated in conference play this season, as Stony Brook had its six-game winning streak end at Boston University, who has won three in a row after losing six straight.

Friday:

• Creighton at Illinois State
• Cleveland State at Butler
• Missouri State at Northern Iowa
• Seton Hall at South Florida

Saturday:

• UNLV at San Diego State
• Alabama at Mississippi State
• New Mexico at Wyoming
• Kentucky at Tennessee
• North Carolina at Florida State
• Rutgers at West Virginia
• Texas at Missouri
• Colorado at Stanford
• St. Bonaventure at Xavier
• Connecticut at Notre Dame
• Kansas State at Oklahoma
• NC State at Wake Forest
• Oregon at Arizona
• Ohio at Akron
• UCF at Marshall
• La Salle at Dayton

Sunday:

• Indiana at Ohio State
• Cleveland State at Valparaiso
• Youngstown State at Butler
• Loyola (Md.) at Iona
• Georgia Tech at Maryland
• Washington State at Washington

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

In case you missed it earlier this week, Pitt kinda struggled against Rutgers. And by kinda, we mean the Panthers totally stunk. According to ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nationg” blog, the Panthers had their worst home performance in more than 60 years, scoring only 39 points in the 23-point embarrassment against the Scarlet Knights.

Texas Tech’s Terran Petteway will miss tomorrow’s game against Texas A&M because coach Billy Gillispie suspended Petteway for elbowing Kansas’ Connor Teahan, earning himself an ejection, according to an Associated Press report.

Chairs, beware. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said he has no regrets for slamming a chair on the court to motivate the Hawkeyes during a 28-point beatdown at Michigan State, according to an Associated Press report.

Fresh off a national championship in football, Alabama fans got to stick it to LSU once again Wednesday night when the Tigers came to Tuscaloosa. One of the more creative Bama fans brought a sign that mocked the Tigers football team’s struggle in getting past midfield in the BCS Championship Game, writes USA Today’s Nicol Auerbach. Check out the Tide fan’s cheeky taunts here.

Former Clemson guard Cory Stanton hopes he’s found a basketball home in Knoxville after walking on to the Volunteers, according to an Associated Press report. Stanton arrives at Tennessee via Lipscomb after playing one season at Clemson.

These interconference events are great hooks for college basketball fans trying to get out of the malaise of colder weather and bad local football teams. ESPN dreams up match ups that force some teams (cough, cough, Cincinnati) to play at least one decent team before they get into the rough and tumble life of conference play.

This year, the Challenge expanded from its normal eight-team, two-night format to include 24 teams in 12 games over the span of three nights.

Another change included the venues where the games were held. Since 2007, the first year of the Challenge, the event was held on two neutral courts with two games taking place each night a la a conference tournament setting. This year, there were no neutral sites as the SEC hosted eight of the games, and the Big East held home court in the other four.

Taking place on Dec. 1, 2 and 3, many of these big boys from the BCS conferences have been honing their skills while feasting on inferior mid-major competitioin. The SEC-Big East Challenge is designed to snap the players into midseason form, putting them up against competition that they might regularly see in the NCAA or NIT tournaments at the end of the year.

Coming into the week, both conferences had five teams ranked in the AP Top 25, with Marquette being the only team ranked to not take part in the Challenge.

The folks who draw up the schedule did a pretty good job of giving us some solid games, not the least of which was a Top-10 match up between Florida and Syracuse.

The Cuse, which has been mired in a season during which everyone wants to talk about their now-former assistant coach Bernie Fine, has been going about their business pretty impressively, winning their first seven games by an average margin of 26 points.

Of course, the Orange wouldn’t have an easy go about it when No. 10 Florda came calling at the Carrier Dome on Dec. 2. Neither team was able to pull away in the first half with a lead never growing larger than six.

The Gators’ calling card has been the long-range jumper, hitting 43 percent of their three-pointers, but Florida could only manage 3-of-12 in the first half.

Behind solid games from Brandon Triche’s 20 points and Scoop Jardine’s 16 points and seven assists, Syracuse claimed their eighth win of the year 72-68, although the game was an afterthought as coach Jim Boeheim continued to face questions about his former assistant.

The other highly touted matchup was between Louisville and Vanderbilt. Vandy put the Cardinals in a couple bad spots throughout the night. First, with 8:45 remaining, Louisville found themselves down nine points, but then went on a 13-4 run to tie the game at 47 with just over two minutes left in regulation.

Louisville had a good look to win as Peyton Siva dropped a pass off to freshman Chane Behanan who missed a layup as time expired.

The Commodores jumped out to another lead – this time by five points – in overtime. But the Cards, in front of their home crowd, were able to get back into the game on the back of some stellar play from Siva and Kyle Kuric, who hit a three with just under a minute remaining to give the Cards a one-point lead.

Tied at 60 with under 10 seconds remaining, Siva drove and decided to take the shot himself, making the game-winning layup with 1.4 seconds left on the clock. Louisville won 62-60 in OT.

Other games of note were Georgetown’s impressive 57-55 win over No. 12 Alabama. Hollis Thompson hit a long three with 1.8 seconds remaining to give the Hoyas their sixth win of the season. Cincinnati finally showed that they do have a decent team, going on the road to beat Georgia in Athens, 57-51. Seton Hall beat Auburn 81, 59; UConn beat Arkansas 75-62; and Pittsburgh beat Tennessee 61-56.

The Big East won eight of the 12 games, winning the Challenge for the second time. Over the five-year span of the Challenge, the Big East leads the series 2-1-2.

More often than not, those cupcakes turn out to give some of the more talented squads from conferences such as the Big East a run for their money, even knocking off a few of them along the way.

The Big East has had its fair share of losses in the early going as some of the teams we picked to be contenders for the conference championships are dealing with some early season growing pains.

Preseason No. 22 Cincinnati, which has been criticized for having too easy of a nonconference schedule, has lost a pair of games in their first five; once to Presbyterian and the other to Marshall in overtime on Friday night.

Pittsburgh, thought by many to not only be near the top of the Big East but also have a fighter’s chance at the national championship, dropped an early season game to Long Beach State. West Virginia lost to Kent State during ESPNs 24-hour marathon of hoops. And even defending national champions Connecticut fell to Central Florida in the Battles 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.

In each instance, you’re sure to find a hard-core fan that will play Chicken Little and claim the sky is falling, pointing out everything that went wrong in the (enter your team’s November collapse here) game.

We’ve heard it over the past few seasons about how the gap between the majors and mid-majors is closing, and each year it seems we see more and more instances of that belief becoming fact with these so-called upsets.

One thing Big East fans need to grasp ahold of is this: it’s only November. Things will (or at least should) get better.

You’ll hear announcers calling the games on ESPN and CBS talking in clichés about teams being completely different now than they will be in February or March and even though it is a cliché, it’s true.

That’s how sayings become clichés, they turn into assumed truths. So while maybe your Big East team has dropped an early season game that was supposed to be a snoozer, don’t it deter you from an expectations you might have had before the season began.

These teams, especially some of those who are incorporating some new talent into their rotation need some time to gel. With each passing game comes more experience.

Now, if you’re dropping games to Presbyterian and Kent State in January, then there should be some cause for alarm.

Now that we are a week into the 2010-11 college basketball season, the Big East started the day as one of four conferences that could say every one of their teams made it through the opening weekend without suffering a loss; the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West are the others.

Although you would expect most of the Big East to make easy work of their early season cupcake opponents, the parity of college basketball that has become prevalent in recent years showed itself once again with some big-time programs needing some solid play to hold off so-called mid-majors.

St. John’s kicked off the BE season with a pair of wins against William & Mary and Lehigh last Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Both games weren’t all that convincing for St. John’s, however, the Johnnies leaned hard on sophomore Nurideen Lindsey and junior college transfer God’s Gift Achiuwa, and both answered with big games.

Let’s take a look at some of the other close calls.

Friday, Nov. 11:

West Virginia 78, Oral Roberts 71: The Mountaineers opened their season facing a stout Oral Roberts squad that was the preseason pick to win Summit League. Kevin Jones led four West Virginia players in double-digits with 20 points. Truck Bryant added 17 points, including the Mountaineers last eight.

Rutgers 62, Dartmouth 56: Another young team, the Scarlet Nights jumped out to an early lead, only to be matched by Dartmouth. Rutgers got their lead up to eight in the second halfbut couldn’t close the door completely, mostly due to their lack of ball security. The Scarlet Knights turned the ball over 16 times. Dane Miller led the way for Rutgers with 12 points.

No. 4 Connecticut 70, Columbia 57

No. 8 Louisville 83, Tennessee-Martin 48

No. 11 Pittsburgh 89, Albany 56

No. 21 Marquette 91, Mount St. Mary’s 37

Villanova 106, Monmouth 70

DePaul 91, Texas-Pan American 72

Saturday, Nov. 12

South Florida 61, Vermont 59: A close game throughout, South Florida’s lead was cut to a point with 10.5 seconds remaining. Shaun Noriega made the second of two free throws, giving the Bulls a two-point edge. Vermont’s Four McGlynn missed a game-tying layup with one second remaining and Matt Glass’ putback came after the buzzer, allowing South Florida to escape. SF’s Noriega led the Bulls with 17 points, and both Augustus Gilchrist and Victor Rudd Jr. had 12 points.

Seton Hall 75, St. Francis (NY) 71 OT: The Hall’s senior guard Jordan Theodore scored a career-high 25 points, including a game-tying bucket with a second remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Herb Pope was a force down low for the Pirates recording his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Trailing most of the game, Seton Hall scored the last six points of regulation and took over in the extra period to get their first win of the season.

No. Syracuse 78, Fordham 53

Georgetown 83, Savannah State 54

Notre Dame 80, Mississippi Valley State 67

Providence 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61

Sunday, Nov. 14

No. 8 Louisville 68, Lamar 48: The Cards didn’t have much trouble with Lamar but took a major hit as Mike Marra went down with a torn ACL. He’ll miss the rest of the season.  The injuries woes continue for Louisville who has already dealt with Peyton Silva, Stephan Van Treese, Rakeem Buckles and Wayne Blackshear all missing time due to injury.

No. 11 Pittsburgh 86, Rider 78: The high expectations of Pitt this year could have taken a hit as they played a sloppy opener against Rider that required a 16-5 to end the game to give the Panthers their second victory of the year. Ashton Gibbs scored 24 points and Nasir Robinson added 22

No. 22 Cincinnati 65, Alabama State 40

St. John’s 82, UMBC 59

Monday, Nov. 15

Providence 80, Fairfield 72: In a game that pitted new Providence coach Ed Cooley against his former team, the Friars got a big game from Vincent Council, who had 26 points and seven assists, and Bryce Cotton, who scored 24 points. Although the win is a good building block for Providence, it probably put a dent in Fairfield’s NCAA Tournament hopes. Already with the tournament, you ask? Yup.

Notre Dame 59, Detroit 53: Without their leader and top returning scorer, Tim Abromaitis, the Fighting Irish found themselves in a dogfight with Detroit. The Titans’ Ray McCallum lit up the Irish for 20 points. With 14 minutes left, McCallum scored giving Detroit a 41-33 lead. ND answered with a 14-0 run and kept Detroit at bay the rest of the way.

No. 4 Connecticut 78, Wagner 66

No. 5 Syracuse 92, Manhattan 56

No. 21 Marquette 99,  Norfolk State 68

Georgetown 86, UNC Greensboro 45

South Florida 81, Marist 67

DePaul 80, Mississippi Valley State 70

Game to look forward to:

St. John’s vs. (16) Arizona, 11/17, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2: The Johnnies will have their tallest task of the season Thursday when Arizona comes into Madison Square Garden for the 2K Sports Classic. Sean Miller’s Wildcats have been far from convincing in their first three games, and this is the type of game that Lavin can get his guys up for, especially playing in the Garden where the Red Storm thrived last season.

Last Year:

28-6 overall, 15-3 Big East (1st)

Coach:

Jamie Dixon (8th season, 260-60)

Projected starting five:

G: Ashton Gibbs, Sr.
G: Travon Woodwall, Sr.
F: Nasir Robinson, Sr.
F: Lamar Patterson, So.
C: Dante Taylor, Jr.

Important departures:

Brad Wannamaker 11.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 5.1 apg
Gilbert Brown 11.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.7 apg
Gary McGhee 6.9 ppg 7.7 rpg

Inside the numbers:

59 percent scoring returning
55 percent rebounding returning

Additions:

F: Khem Birch, 6’10”, 210 – Rivals #9
F: Durand Johnson, 6’6”, 191 – Rivals #120
C: Malcolm Gilbert, 6’11”, 230 – Rivals #133

Schedule:

Toughest nonconference game: 12/3 at Tennessee
Toughest in-conference stretch: 1/14 – 1/21 at (21) Marquette, at (5) Syracuse, vs. (8) Louisville

Prediction:

2nd in BE; 25+ wins; Second weekend of NCAA Tournament

What to expect:

The Panthers begin and end with Ashton Gibbs. Our pick for BE Player of the Year is also in the running for a host of other honors that are sure to include the Wooden and Naismith awards. Perhaps the best shooter in the country, Gibbs has no problem spotting up or creating his own shot coming off of screens.

Despite returning Gibbs, their leading scorer from a year ago, the Panthers lost three starters to graduation, meaning that younger guys are going to have to step into expanded roles. Travon Woodall should be an easy replacement for Brad Wannamaker. Although Woodall is not the scorer or rebounder Wannamaker was, his quickness and ability to get into the lane and finish or drop the ball off for easy buckets should prove to be sufficient.

Other concerns for the Panthers come from replacing Gilbert Brown and Gary McGhee, a couple of cogs in Pitt’s success over the last few years. Dante Taylor has been the man-in-waiting to fill McGhee’s shoes, and Lamar Patterson will have the tall task of taking Brown’s place. With a top 15 recruiting class, however, Jamie Dixon has a couple of guys that he can rotate in the frontcourt to keep the Panthers in the hunt for another Big East title.

Next: Providence Friars

Back to Big East preview

Go coast to coast with a roundup of news from across the nation.

When forward Emmanuel Negedu transferred to New Mexico, he figured he had a fresh start ahead after heart problems at Tennessee. While with the Volunteers, he entered a sudden cardiac arrest in 2009. He had the all-clear to play, barring any more bad news. But more bad news struck in December 2010 when he a bad reading on a defibrillator, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. And that means Negedu’s playing career is through, though he’ll remain on scholarship to complete his degree as a Lobo.

Washington State fans are holding their breath that Klay Thompson won’t follow junior DeAngelo Casto to the NBA after the Cougar forward announced that he’ll enter the draft and hire an agent, according to the Associated Press. Casto was Wazzu’s top big man last season, with 12 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

In addition to losing Josh Selby and the Morris brothers to the NBA and Tyrel Reed, Brady Morningstar and Mario Little to graduation, Kansas will be without guard Royce Woolridge, who announced he is transferring, according to the Associated Press. Woolridge said he wants more playing time, which he apparently isn’t convinced he’d get in Lawrence despite the roster turnover.

In other transfer news, Loyola Chicago is getting some Big Ten talent in Iowa guard Cully Payne, who will have three years of remaining eligibility, according to ESPN Chicago’s Scott Powers. And sparingly used forward J.J. Richardson is leaving Pittsburgh in search of a better fit, according to the Associated Press.

On the flip side, the Jayhawks could be on the receiving end of a transfer if La Salle’s Aaric Murray picks Kansas over West Virginia. According to Jon Rothstein, the sophomore big man is leaving the Explorers for one of those destinations after averaging 15.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this past season.

Miami’s coaching search continues, writes the Miami Herald’s Michelle Kaufman, as new athletic director Shawn Eichorst talked to Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter about the position. Eichorst has connections to the state after coming to Miami from Wisconsin, where he was an associate athletic director at the school.

Whoever ends up in south Florida as the Hurricanes’ coach might not bring highly regarded recruit Bishop Daniels to Coral Gables. According to Barry Jackson’s “Sports Buzz” blog at Miami Herald.com, Daniels wants a release from his letter of intent so that he can choose Tennessee or Rutgers. Given that the Scarlet Knights are the only team of the three with a returning coaching staff, that could bode well for Mike Rice’s squad.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

You’ve got to feel for New Mexico’s Emmanuel Negedu.

The Lobos sophomore overcame the scare of a cardiac arrest at Tennessee and found a fresh start in Albuquerque. New Mexico is one of the top programs of the Mountain West Conference, especially with BYU bolting for the West Coast Conference.

But it just wasn’t in the cards for Negedu to make an impact on the court. A bad reading on a defibrillator means team doctors won’t clear him to play ever again. It’s just too risky.

Although Negedu must manage his condition carefully, his life is still full of opportunity. The Lobos intend to keep Negedu on scholarship, which will give him the opportunity to earn his degree as a Lobo. And if Negedu has interest in contributing to team activities, the squad should be able to find an off-court role for him.

For players gifted enough to earn a Division I scholarship, the concept of imminent mortality might not be an everyday realization. But Negedu now has a perspective that gives him the opportunity to keep his teammates grounded in the face of adversity and focused on greater goals.

And that’s a perspective that could allow Negedu to make an on-court impact vicariously through the rest of the Lobos.

Tuesday night, the Panthers actually appeared to have a new look of sorts in the first half. They went 8-14 from long range, with Gilbert Brown going 5-6 and the only miss being a tough fade-away at the buzzer. But the second half was at times a grind and at other times a battle to hang on as the Panthers didn’t play all that well and found themselves down 76-72 after Providence finally sustained some momentum and got ahead after making several mini-runs that came up short.

That was when they did what they so often do. They found a way to win, and an unlikely hero to boot.

Travon Woodall has had a rough season and wasn’t having the best day. He came into the game shooting just 38.5 percent from the field and just over 30 percent from three-point range. He drove to the basket and found Gary McGhee for a layup to make it 76-74 with 1:08 left. Then after a turnover, the ball got to Woodall around the top of the key, and he put up a three-pointer that found the bottom of the net to give the Panthers a 77-76 lead they would not relinquish, aided by four more free throws by Woodall.

“I felt it was critical to have Travon in there,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “He hadn’t played well, I just felt we needed him because he’s another ball handler, and hopefully getting some penetration, and that’s what we got.”

The Panthers actually shot 52.9 percent from the field, going 10-19 from behind the arc. That helped them overcome 23 turnovers and Providence shooting over 44 percent from the field – not a great number, but coming into the game opponents were shooting just over 40 percent against them. They didn’t handle Providence’s press well, which would not have been a shocker a year ago but was noteworthy now because that hasn’t been the strength of the Providence defense this season like last year.

Still, despite all of it, and despite a great effort from Marshon Brooks (28 points, six rebounds), the Panthers prevailed.

“That’s just the kind of team we are,” said McGhee, who had 13 points and nine rebounds. “We didn’t play well all game, we turned the ball over throughout the game, and we found a way. With two minutes left, Coach Dixon called a timeout and said we’re going to pull this out, and we did that.”

The Panthers don’t bowl anyone over with big-time talent, although they are becoming more talented with time. For most of Dixon’s tenure, they have won behind the play of guys who were unheralded coming out of high school and developed in college. Players like McGhee, Brown, Brad Wanamaker and Nasir Robinson all fit that description, as none were as highly-touted as junior guard Ashton Gibbs or Dante Taylor, the latter of whom is the first McDonald’s All-American to play there. But this team has depth and experience, and rebuilding years haven’t happened even when they have had major personnel losses.

It doesn’t hurt that this team is unselfish. Sometimes a noteworthy statistic is that every player from a team who got in the game scored. While all but two players (who combined for eight minutes) did that on Tuesday, McGhee was the only Panther who played significant minutes to not have an assist. The Panthers had 18 assists on 27 made field goals, which is actually below their season ratio. Even on a night that is an aberration – they had 18 assists and 23 turnovers while entering the game with the nation’s second-best assist-to-turnover ratio – the Panthers showed their unselfish side.

That was one more thing that helped them pull this one out.

“I think our strength in our numbers really showed out tonight as the foul trouble really made it difficult for guys to get in a rhythm,” said Dixon.

Difficult, but nothing they couldn’t handle. The Panthers usually seem to find a way to win games.

As mentioned in our first rankings for Big East players this season, Walker is on pace to post a better TIQ for guards than anyone did last season. The biggest question is whether he can maintain his hot start. In the past three weeks, Walker has made an even bigger contribution in his total impact in points per 40 minutes, elevating his TIQ by 1.4 points.

Meanwhile, Pitt has a team filled with sound players, including three superstars, with one at each position. Dante Taylor is the Big East’s top forward, with a TIQ of 19.1 points. Brad Wannamaker is second only to Walker among guards, with a very impressive 16.7 TIQ. And Gary McGhee is holding down the fort in the post, ranking third among centers with a 14.4 TIQ.

Pitt’s guards, led by Wannamaker, are playing smart, productive basketball on a team filled with talented post and wing players. That’s a winning combination, and not surprisingly, Pitt ranks among the most efficient offenses, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency rankings.

Check out a complete introduction to the Total Impact Quotient.

Big East TIQ position averages:
Rankings updated for games through Dec. 18
Centers: 12.4
Forwards: 10.4
Guards: 7.5
TIQ = Total Impact Quotient
PD% = Position differential in % difference from average

Player Rankings