Wyoming-Pittsburgh Preview

3/18/2008 7:23 PM

By ANDY LEFKOWITZ
STATS Editor

After suffering its worst loss of the season during Big East tournament play, Pittsburgh shouldn't expect an easy time in its NCAA tournament opener.

Sixth-seed Pittsburgh meets defending WNIT champion Wyoming on Saturday in the Spokane Regional at Albuquerque, N.M.

This will be only the second meeting between the schools. Pitt defeated Wyoming 79-76 in 1980.

"I don't know a whole lot about them yet," Pittsburgh coach Agnus Bernato told the school's official Web site. "I have a lot of friends who coach in that region so I'll definitely be checking in with them. Right now, all I really know is that they don't play in the Big East."

Pittsburgh (22-10) is one of eight teams from the Big East in the field of 64 this season. The Panthers also suffered their most decisive loss of the season in their last game, falling 74-47 to Connecticut in the conference semifinals on March 10.

Junior guard Shavonte Zellous lead the Panthers with 11 points and senior center Marcedes Walker added 10 and nine rebounds. Zellous finished fifth in the Big East in scoring with a team-high 18.0 points per game while Walker is averaging nearly a double-double (13.6 points, 9.3 rebounds).

"I'm excited, but really I'm just ready to go," Zellous said. "I wish we could go through the scouting report right now. I'm ready to hit the court and start practicing as soon as possible."

This is the second straight tournament appearance for the Panthers. Pittsburgh lost 68-54 to then-No. 4 Tennessee in the opening round last season.

"Unlike last year we won't have to play a number one seed right off the bat," Walker said.

Wyoming (24-6), the No. 11 seed and one of nine teams making its NCAA tournament debut, is lead by senior forward Hanna Zavecz, the Mountain West defensive player of the year and a first-team all-conference pick.

The Australian-born Zavecz paced the Cowgirls with 13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals. She scored a season-high 28 in her regular-season finale, a 68-34 rout of BYU on March 5.

Seeded third in the conference tournament, Wyoming was ousted in the quarterfinals with a 66-54 loss to sixth seed San Diego State on March 13. Junior guard Megan McGuffey, who hadn't scored more than 11 points in a game this season, finished with 22 and 10 rebounds. Senior forward Justyna Podziemska added 11 points.

The Cowgirls are looking for greater success this year.

"There's some happy players who've been rewarded for a difficult season,'' Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said. "Now we've got to change gears and start working toward something.''

The winner of this contest will face either Baylor or Fresno State in the second round on Monday.