Of all the things Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton thought he knew about his team, toughness was near the top of the list.
But Pittsburgh changed that Thursday, roughing up the Golden Eagles 82-63 to advance to a second-round NCAA Tournament game Saturday at the Pepsi Center against Michigan State.
“We’ve played some great teams the last two years in this tournament,” Sutton said. “I think this is the best team we’ve played.”
Pittsburgh’s Levance Fields looked like the best guard the Golden Eagles (24-9) faced in a long time. Fields, a 5-foot-10 junior, scored a season-high 23 points (16 in the first half) and added seven assists, four rebounds and a steal.
Much of the buildup to the game centered on Pittsburgh’s physical and mental toughness. Physically, the Panthers were as tough as advertised. Oral Roberts senior forward Moses Ehambe sat with an ice pack on his left shoulder during the postgame news conference.
“They were really tough, man,” Ehambe said.
Still, Michigan State must pay equal attention to Pittsburgh’s shooting. And its defense.
The Panthers (27-9) shook off a 13-10 deficit to take control with an 18-0 run by dominating inside and firing away from beyond the 3-point arc.
“That run was real big,” said senior guard Keith Benjamin, one of five Panthers who scored in double figures.
Pittsburgh was able to win without a big game from its leading scorer, junior forward Sam Young, who contributed 14 points. But the Panthers hit a flurry of 3-pointers, six in the first half, to steadily pull away.
“We shot the ball well and did a good job of preventing them from getting easy baskets,” coach Jamie Dixon said.
Defensively, the Panthers allowed next-to-nothing inside the 3-point arc. Oral Roberts was 2-of-17 on two-point shots in the first half and 7-of-28 overall the first 20 minutes.
Pittsburgh bottled up Ehambe, Oral Roberts’ leading scorer, and held him to 13 points.
“I think they underestimated us, to be honest, based on the comments before the game,” Young said. “At the beginning of the game they got really confident. But as soon as we started playing like ourselves, we blew the game open.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
