Quinnipiac's Tai Turnage (4) celebrates with teammate Amarri Monroe while coach Tom Pecora heads back to the bench during the Bobcats' upset win at Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Quinnipiac’s Tai Turnage (4) celebrates with teammate Amarri Monroe while coach Tom Pecora heads back to the bench during the Bobcats’ upset win at Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Contributed photo/QU AthleticsQuinnipiac's Amarri Monroe celebrates late in Bobcats' historic win at Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Quinnipiac’s Amarri Monroe celebrates late in Bobcats’ historic win at Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Contributed photo/QU Athletics

The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team was at the Pittsburgh airport on Monday morning, awaiting its flight for Tuesday night’s bout with UCF.

The Bobcats probably could have flown down to Orlando without a plane, after the emotional high of their victory the night before.

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Behind 25 points from Amarri Monroe and 15 from Grant Randall, Quinnipiac beat Pittsburgh 83-75 in a Legends Classic game at Petersen Events Center. It’s the first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in program history, and the first over a Power 5 opponent since a Dec. 21, 2104 win over Oregon State.

“Anytime you can beat an up team, it’s pretty good,” third-year coach Tom Pecora said. “I’m very happy for the guys. It’s the first time we’ve all played at a very high level, especially defensively. We got great play from all nine guys who got on the floor.”

Pecora boasts 16 years of head coaching experience at Hofstra, Fordham and now Quinnipiac. He beat St. John’s a few times at his previous stops, and landed a big win over Georgia Tech while at Fordham. But this one ranks right up there among his greatest victories.

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“You’re doing this long enough,” he quipped, “you get lucky a few times.”

But this one had nothing do with being “lucky.” Quinnipiac (4-2) owned a 10-point lead at halftime. Pitt (4-3) tied the game at 51 just 4 1/2 minutes into the latter half, but the Bobcats quickly regained the lead on a Jaden Zimmerman 3-pointer and never again relinquished it, pumping their lead up to as much as 13.

“In games like this, you get under eight minutes and the pressure turns to the favorite,” Pecora noted. “Our guys did a great job with making it a one-shot game for them, rebounding the basketball and limiting their attempts.” 

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Quinnipiac got strong play and poise from Randall, a sophomore forward, and freshman guards Tai Turnage, Keith McKnight and Manchester’s Samson Reilly. But it was Monroe who came up with a big bucket whenever the team needed it.

“That’s what the great ones do,” Pecora said of Monroe, the senior forward and reigning MAAC Player of the Year who eschewed name, image and likeness offers from bigger schools to run it back one more season in Hamden.

And while Pitt (4-3) is hardly the Pitt of Charles Smith, DeJuan Blair and Brandin Knight, the Petersen Events Center has always been a tough place to play. Heck, Jim Calhoun went 1-6 in the building while at UConn.

The victory continues an impressive early-season performance by Connecticut-based programs. Central Connecticut State owns road wins over the ACC’s Boston College and Rutgers of the Big Ten. And Quinnipiac crushed the Blue Devils 71-49 on Nov. 6 in Hamden.

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Conversely, the Bobcats got blitzed by Yale at home 97-60 a few nights later. Yale is 5-1 overall, its lone loss coming at home to Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10.

Oh, and the UConn men’s basketball team is doing pretty well, too.

All this success makes Pecora pine for the return of the Connecticut Six Classic, an early-season tournament that involved Quinnipiac, Yale, Hartford, CCSU, Sacred Heart and Fairfield each year.

“I was a big fan of the tournament when everyone was playing each other,” Pecora said. “It’s great for the state, for basketball. It’s great for the little guys and girls to fall in love with basketball in the state. In all my stops, playing games down the road is much better than jumping on a plane and playing Cleveland State.”

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And yet there were the Bobcats on Monday morning, flying down to Orlando to face UCF Tuesday (7 p.m.) in their second Legends Classic game. It’ll be a second straight chance to knock off a power conference team on the road. UCF (5-1) plays in the Big 12.

The Knights beat Pitt at home by 10 last Thursday.

“We now have a point of reference,” Pecora said. “We didn’t come on the road for a split.”

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