From the Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - Travon Woodall scored a career-high 25 points to go with 10 assists and No. 10 Pittsburgh rolled by Albany 89-56 in the season opener on Friday night.

Ashton Gibbs added 21 points for the Panthers, who remained unbeaten in nine season debuts under coach Jamie Dixon.

The defending Big East regular-season champions wasted little time, needing 5 minutes to take a double-digit lead.

Gerardo Suero led Albany with 17 points and Logan Aronhalt added 13 points and five rebounds but the Great Danes were never in it.

Gibbs and Woodall dominated, feeding off each other against Albany’s overmatched backcourt. Woodall made 9 of 13 shots, including 5 of 7 3-pointers.

Pitt played without sophomore forward J.J. Moore, suspended for one game for playing in an unsupervised summer league game.

For one game, the Panthers didn’t need him, not with Gibbs and Woodall doing their thing.

Gibbs, the preseason Big East player of the year, eagerly fed Woodall the ball when the Great Danes threw two or sometimes three defenders his way.

The senior guard set a career-high with seven assists, though he was pretty good when he put the ball up too. Gibbs scored 15 points in the first half on 6-of-11 shooting as the Panthers took advantage of numerous defensive breakdowns by Albany.

Gibbs hit a jumper to put Pitt up 13-3. The Panthers were off to the races, one of the Big East’s most tenacious defensive teams showing it could get out and run too.

Forward Nasir Robinson showed no ill effects from a knee injury that limited him during the preseason, finishing with eight points and three rebounds in 23 effective minutes.

Freshman forward Khem Birch, just the sixth McDonald’s All-America to play at Pitt, had a so-so debut, missing his one shot from the field but making two free throws to go with three rebounds in 17 minutes.

The Great Danes were coming off a breakthrough season under coach Will Brown. Albany went 16-16, a nine-win improvement off the season before. The Great Danes return four starters and were picked to finish fourth in the American East and are expected to compete for a postseason berth.

Yet they have been hit with injuries during preseason and it showed. Forward Luke Devlin didn’t play for four months after undergoing back surgery and had just two points and two rebounds in 26 minutes. Center John Puk had an infection in his shin earlier in the week and went scoreless in 13 minutes.

Pitt has won 15 straight season openers dating to 1997 and remained unbeaten at the Petersen Events Center against nonconference opponents in November and December.

The season opener is here for the University at Albany Great Danes.

It's time to stop talking and start playing.

This evening, UAlbany will head into the Petersen Events Center (aka Oakland Zoo) and take on Pittsburgh to open to the 2011-12 season.

Here are some links to get you all you need to know about tonight's game.

Troy Record - For openers, no patsies as UAlbany opens at No. 10 Pittsburgh

Troy Record - UAlbany overview: Great Danes say they're ready to run to top of America East

104.5 ESPN The Team - UAlbany hoops tips off vs. No. 11 Pitt

AP - Albany-Pittsburgh preview

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Early Games to provide key answers for Panthers basketball

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Pitt's Moore to miss opener

The Pitt News - Men's Basketball: Gibbs leads Panthers into season opener

Pitt athletics Gameday Central

Pitt Game Notes

Former Albany Academy standout Dion Lewis could be in store for big things as we are less than one month from his sophomore season at the University of Pittsburgh.

Lewis was The Record's Football Offensive Player of the Year in 2006, when he helped lead the Cadets to the Carrier Dome and the Class B State Title game.

Sports Illustrated has an article on Lewis and West Vriginia's Noel Devine as two pint-sized running backs who are turning heads and could be Heisman candidates.

Here is a link to the story.

Tim Steadman/Icon SMI

Albany native Dion Lewis, who was named The Record's 2006 Football Offensive Player of the Year for his accomplishments in leading the Albany Academy football team to the Carrier Dome during his junior season, appears in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

Lewis is second in the country in rushing with 918 yards as a freshman for the Pitt Panthers.

(SMI)

Lewis, who spent two years at Blair Academy (NJ), was listed at 5-foot-7 and weighed just 170 pounds, but rushed for 1,368 yards and 22 touchdowns as the Cadets went 12-1.

Lewis, who is now listed on the Pitt web site as 5-8, 195 lbs., was also named a mid-season all-american by SI.

Here's the link to the story.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1161598/index.htm

Overview: Siena faces their toughest challenge of the season on Wednesday night as they travel to #3 Pitt. The game is on ESPN2 at 9:30 p.m.

The game will be another chance for Siena to gain some national exposure after getting swept down in Orlando at the Old Spice Classic.

The Saints will have to play their best game just to hang with the Panthers, especially in their own arena, where Pitt is 104-10 all-time and 64-1 against non-conference opponents (only loss was Jan. 2, 2005 vs. Bucknell).

“It’s a team that has stars at pretty much every position,” said Siena coach Fran McCaffery about the Panthers.

Records: Siena 2-0, 5-3. Pitt 0-0, 10-0

The Series: Pitt leads the overall series 2-1. Siena won in 1988 thanks to a game-winning basket by Steve McCoy. The Panthers won 82-80 in 1990 at the Knickerbocker Arena.

Player to Watch: DeJuan Blair. I might take some flack for not putting Sam Young in this spot. Young's good. Okay, he's really good, but it's Blair's ability to rebound and score that makes this team dangerous. Blair is averaging a double-double (15 points, 13 rebounds) in 26 minutes so far this year. Imagine if he played 30 or 35 minutes - would he average 20 points and 16 rebounds? McCaffery says he's one of the best rebounders he's ever seen and he's seen more rebounders than I have, so I'm going with Blair in this spot.

X-factor: Avoiding a big run. McCaffery and the players talked on Monday about avoiding a run.

“We can’t go on the road and turn the ball over,” McCaffery said. “We can’t take quick, crazy shots and we can’t let it get away from us like we did against Tennessee.”

Against the Volunteers, Siena allowed an 18-0 run to take them right out of the game.

“We watched it on film,” senior co-captain Kenny Hasbrouck said. “We knew exactly what would happen if we took crazy shots or made dumb mistakes and we went out and did it.”

The key will be not allowing it tomorrow night.

Injury Note: Junior Cory Magee (concussion) is back practicing, but it's uncertain if he'll play.

According to the Monday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Levance Fields (foot), Jermaine Dixon (groin) and guard Gilbert Brown (foot) are as healthy as they have been all season.

Prediction: Pitt 85, Siena 67 (My Siena record is 6-2).

Siena is getting ready to take on No. 3 Pitt on Wednesday night at 9:30 on ESPN2.

Here's what coach Fran McCaffery had to say about the Panthers on Monday.

"Pittsburgh's the best team I've seen so far on our schedule," McCaffery said. "They're deep, they're big. They have experience. They really execute extremely well, which you would expect with a senior point guard like Levance Fields."

Pitt is 10-0 and their closest game was a 13-point victory over Texas Tech.

They have a great frontline in 6-foot-6 Sam Young and 6-7 DeJuan Blair.

Young averages 20.6 points and 5.9 rebounds and Blair, who McCaffery called one of the best rebounders he's ever seen, is averaging 14.6 points and 12.8 reboudns (5.9 offensive rebounds per game).

Also, I'll have more on this but I will be hosting a live forum right here on my blog while the Pitt game is going on for anyone who can't make it down to the Petersen Events Center.

Feel free to come by around 9 p.m. on Wednesday and we'll be talking all Siena.