For Pittsburgh senior guard Ashton Gibbs, playing games at Madison Square Garden close to his home of Scotch Plains, N.J., never has been a pleasant experience in the Big East Conference Tournament. Pittsburgh had been one-and-done in the past three years, but the fourth time was the charm.
The Panthers beat St. John’s 73-59 yesterday in the first round, their first win in the event since capturing the Big East crown in 2008.
“It is definitely a little weird, especially in the past three years, we’ve had a lot more success during the regular season,” Gibbs said. “It was a good win for us today. I think it started on the defensive end, and we let it carry on to the offense.”
Last year, Pittsburgh was the No. 1 seed in the tournament, and No. 3 in the nation, but lost to Connecticut 76-74 in the quarterfinals after receiving a double bye. This year, they have struggled with a 16-13 record, and won just five of 18 conference games. Unless they win four more games this week, starting with Georgetown today at 2 p.m., the Panthers will miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001.
“We did a good job of moving the ball, and it’s something we’ve just got to continue to do throughout the tournament,” said Gibbs, who was the high scorer for Pittsburgh, with 20 points on 5-of-14 shooting. He also made four 3-pointers — or two more than St. John’s as a team, a welcome sight according to coach Jamie Dixon.
“We have encouraged him to take open jump shots and more 3s than he has been taking, and that was a good thing,” Dixon said. “I think nine of his 14 shots were 3s, and 4-for-9 is a good percentage from 3.”
The Red Storm allowed Pittsburgh to shoot 45 percent from the field, as Nasir Robinson and Lamar Patterson were able to get open when the attention was being paid to Gibbs.
“We know [Gibbs] is one of the better shooters if not the best shooter in the Big East,” said St. John’s interim coach Mike Dunlap, who is filling in for Steve Lavin. “It was just a very fine player wearing us out a little bit and doing a good job. He is just playing off of momentum right now, and he has found his better self.”
david.satriano@nypost.com