The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Pittsburgh Media Relations

Pittsburgh forward DeJuan Blair went nearly point for point against Louisville center David Padgett in a two-point loss to then-No. 23 Louisville last Sunday. Blair, a freshman, showcased his physical toughness inside the paint against the senior 6-foot-11 center, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. Padgett countered with 21 of his own.

What gets lost in the Panthers' turbulent, injury-plagued season is the consistent play of Blair, who has emerged as a forward more-than-capable of holding his own with the conference's best.

Blair has had a substantial effect on a Panthers team that once was 15-2 and ranked in the top 25 - especially considering the injuries the Panthers have had to endure this season. Pitt has played most of the season without opening-day starters Levance Fields (who returned Feb. 15 after suffering a broken left foot in a Dec. 29 loss to Dayton) and senior guard Mike Cook, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL suffered Dec. 20 against Duke.

A Pittsburgh native, Blair currently leads his hometown school in rebounds (9.6), blocks (1.2), and steals (1.9) per game and is second in points (12.2). Considering the Panthers' injuries, those numbers are a big reason why Pittsburgh has been able to stay in the top half of the Big East, currently in seventh place with an 8-7 conference record after a recent three-game losing streak.

Blair will try to continue his stellar season when Pittsburgh visits Syracuse for a crucial game at noon Saturday inside the Carrier Dome.

"When we recruited him, we told him we really felt he could be the guy that could come in and play right away," Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon said of Blair. "We really felt he was going to get the minutes to put up good numbers. I think seeing how coachable he is, I don't think you know that stuff until you get him on campus and how eager he is to learn. So that was some of the stuff we were unsure of, but it was evident as soon as he got here."

Of course, Blair's raw physical talent and size don't hurt either. At 6-foot-7 and 265 pounds, Blair has muscled his way around taller opponents and used his quick footwork to grab rebounds and put-up high-percentage shots.

"He's suited for the Big East," said Fred Skrocki, Blair's former coach at Schenley High School, less than a mile away from Pitt's campus. "He's a banger; that's one of the things; he always has that continuation on his shot. You could smack him and take pads that the football players use to hit, do stuff like that, and he'll shrug it all off."

Continued...

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