Pittsburgh Holds Off DePaul

DePaul learned on its first trip to Pittsburgh for a Big East game that the Steelers aren’t the only team in town capable of playing a physical game in January.

Aaron Gray scored 20 points and Carl Krauser had 19 for No. 12 Pittsburgh, which overcame a 13-point deficit to remain one of three undefeated teams in Division I with a 73-65 victory Thursday night.

“I expected this,” said Krauser, a senior guard who announced last spring he was turning pro but changed his mind. “This is what I came back for. I told these guys that we wanted to be unbeaten now, and then go one game at a time in the Big East.”

Pittsburgh, 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big East, joins No. 1 Duke (15-0) and No. 2 Florida (15-0) as the only major unbeatens.

Freshman guard Levance Fields, playing more as Pittsburgh gets into its Big East schedule, scored six points during a pivotal 13-3 run midway through the second half that opened a 54-44 lead.

Fields began the run with two free throws to make it 43-41 and later made a driving layup and a runner from the lane to give Pittsburgh its first double-digit lead.

Wilson Chandler had 15 points and seven rebounds for DePaul (8-6, 1-2) before fouling out in the final minute. The Blue Demons got it to 69-65 on Sammy Mejia’s two free throws with 58 seconds left but failed to score again.