1/5/2005 The Hoyas (9-3, 1-0) opened their BIG EAST campaign in fine style on 01/05/05, beating the #16 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers (10-2, 0-1) at the Petersen center by a score of 67-64. The road win marked the Hoyas first victory over a team ranked 16 in the AP Poll since January 12 of 2002 when they defeated Boston College 70-43. Georgetown?s 5th consecutive victory was sparked by Ashanti Cook?s 23 point performance which paced all scorers while establishing a new career high. Brandon Bowman contributed 18 points, including a layup with 00:08 remaining to put the Hoyas on top for good. Brandon also led all rebounders with 9 boards, had 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and played all 40 minutes. Darrel Owens added 11 points, 6 rebounds and in a scramble in the final seconds punched the ball into the backcourt to eliminate any chance for a Pitt buzzer beater.

The Hoyas opened the game strong, hitting 9 of 12 attempts from beyond the arc (75%) and 15 of 25 overall (60%) and leading by as many as 19 points in the opening half. Pittsburgh, used their free throw opportunities to good advantage, hitting 10 of 13 without sending the Hoyas to the line and by intermission only trailed by 5, 39-34.

The second stanza saw a very different game. With an incredibly loud Peteresen Center crowd behind them the Panthers tied the game with 17:35 remaining and a see-saw battle ensued. There were 7 ties in the second half and neither team could build more than a 6 point edge. In the final 90 seconds, unanswered layups by Owens, Bowman and a free throw by Cook gave the Hoyas the win.

For the game the Hoyas shot 50% to Pittsburgh?s 46.8%, had 3 fewer turnovers and 3 more assists but lost the battle of the boards 24-31