ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alabama's Chuck Davis looked to shoot past Pittsburgh's Toree Morris during the second half yesterday.
Former UH assistant
wins coaching debut
NEW YORK >> Carl Krauser and Jamie Dixon both had to replace people who made Pittsburgh a prominent program in college basketball. They did pretty well last night.
Krauser, replacing four-year starter Brandin Knight at point guard, scored a career-high 21 points and the 22nd-ranked Panthers beat Alabama 71-62 in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Dixon got the win in his first game as head coach of the Panthers. He replaced former boss Ben Howland, who went to UCLA after four seasons at Pittsburgh in which the Panthers went 89-40 and made consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament round of 16.
"It wasn't that much of a change," Krauser said of the coaching move. "We lost a great coach and we gained a great coach."
The same can be said of the transition at point guard. Krauser scored 19 points in the second half and was the first player to start hitting from the outside for the Panthers.
"I saw we were 0-for-11 on 3s in the first half, but I thought they were good shots," said Dixon, a former Hawaii assistant. "I told them to have confidence and they would hit them and they did."
The Panthers missed their first 13 3-point attempts before Krauser finally hit one from beyond the arc to give the Panthers a 39-35 lead with 11:08 to play. They didn't quite catch on fire from long range, but they did make three in a 2:40 span to go up 59-53 with 2:10 left.
"In the huddle I told them they were winners and they went out and hit the three straight 3s to prove me right," Dixon said.
Antoine Pettway had 17 points for Alabama.
"They made the big 3-pointers when they had to," Pettway said.
Alabama coach Mark Gottfried was impressed with Dixon.
"He made adjustments after we exposed them early on offense," Gottfried said.
No. 17 Saint Joseph's 73, No. 10 Gonzaga 66: Jameer Nelson lived up to the billing.
The second-leading vote-getter on the AP's preseason All-America team had 20 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and a ton of oohs and aahs in leading the Hawks past the Bulldogs.
The senior guard struggled with his shot in the first half but more than made up for it in the second as he seemed to come up with every big play the Hawks needed in the teams' season opener.
His best sequence came when he drew a charge at midcourt, then took the inbounds pass and made a drive through traffic that left the crowd at Madison Square Garden standing and cheering.
