ORLANDO, Fla. -- Unselfish offence, tenacious defence. When Pittsburgh plays like it did in routing Colorado 77-48 in the South Regional on Thursday, the ninth-seeded Panthers think they are capable of competing with anyone. It was difficult to argue against that after Talib Zanna scored 16 of his 18 points in the opening half and Pitt built a 28-point lead. However, coach Jamie Dixon and his players know they will have to be even better to go deeper in the NCAA tournament. "Were a better team now than we were earlier in the year," Dixon said. "Thats what you hope to be." The Panthers (26-9) shot 51 per cent from the field and played one of their best games of the season defensively in advancing to a third-round matchup Saturday against either No. 1 seed Florida or No. 16 seed Albany. Dixon said the Panthers have been feeling a lot better about themselves since winning two of three games in last weeks Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, including a quarterfinal victory over North Carolina. "I think last week opened our eyes," Dixon said. "We didnt win the tournament, but we thought we could have." Colorado (23-12) was eager to make amends for an early exit from the tournament a year ago, but had no answers for the 6-foot-9 Zanna. The Pitt centre made six of seven shots in the first half, and the Panthers didnt have any difficulty finishing off the overwhelmed Buffaloes. "Weve got to take care of the ball better and weve got to guard better and weve got to rebound better," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "We didnt do any of those things today. I dont know what Colorado team it was." Josh Scott led the Buffaloes with 14 points, however Colorado couldnt overcome a subpar performance from Askia Booker, who missed his first seven shots and didnt score from the field until 4 minutes into the second half. Cameron Wright had 11 points and Lamar Patterson finished with 10 for Pitt, which moved from the Big East to the ACC this season, where it finished fifth. Zanna, who had a monster game in the ACC tournament with 19 points and 21 rebounds against North Carolina, didnt attempt a shot in the second half, when Dixon gave his starters plenty of rest. Michael Young had nine points in 21 minutes and no regular played more than 30. "I was just trying to be patient. I know if Im open, the ball is going to come to me," said Zanna, a senior from Kaduna, Nigeria. "I was wide open just trying to run the floor, and I was just having wide-open layups." Colorado, whose 23 wins are the second-most in school history, entered the game coming off one of their worst offensive performances of the season in 20-point loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament. The Buffaloes were limited to a season-low 15 field goals while shooting 29 per cent from the field with Scott finishing with a season-low four points and two rebounds. It didnt get any better against Pitt, which is in the NCAA tournament for the 10th time in 11 seasons under Dixon. The Panthers lost in the second round to Wichita State a year ago and will be looking for their first trip to the round of 16 since 2009. "They came out from the start and got on us early and we werent able to recover," Colorados Xavier Johnson said. "No one wants to go out like that, so it hurts. But that will motivate us to get better in the off-season." Colorado shot 29.4 per cent from the field in the opening half, with Booker missing all four of his attempts from the field and being limited to two free throws. Scott had five points on 2-for-3 shooting, but an even bigger indication of the teams troubles: the Buffaloes had zero assists and 10 turnovers. Pitt, meanwhile, matched its point total for its previous game, a 51-48 loss to Virginia in the semifinals of last weeks ACC tournament. The Panthers had 13 assists on 18 baskets in the first 20 minutes, and they outscored Colorado 12-2 in points off turnovers in building the 28-point halftime lead. Booker, like Scott averaging 14 points per game, finished with six on 2-for-9 shooting. Johnson scored 11 points for the Buffaloes, who made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to avoid finishing with fewer points than Pitt scored in the opening half alone. "You go in at halftime down 28, theres not a lot you can say to your guys positively, other than the fact that we had to come out and compete -- and you shouldnt have to ask our guys to do that," Boyle said. "We never gave up. These guys kept battling. It just wasnt our day," he added. "You look at every statistical category you want to. When you have five assists and 17 turnovers, its hard." The 29-point defeat was the largest-ever for the Buffaloes in the NCAA tournament. The previous low point was a 73-46 loss to eventual national champion Cincinnati in 1962. Aledmys Diaz Astros Jersey . The 24-year-old Pruneau played his CIS football with the Montreal Carabins. The six-foot, 200-pound Montreal native had 41 tackles, 3. Mike Scott Astros Jersey . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/yuli-gurriel-astros-jersey/ . The biggest collapse in franchise history was a long time ago, and he was too busy trying to make sure it didnt happen again. Jose Altuve Jersey . Saltalamacchia has agreed to a $21 million, three-year deal with the Miami Marlins, two people familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday. Jake Marisnick Astros Jersey . -- Mississippi State was crushed twice by Florida last season, once by 35 points and the other by 25.DENVER -- The Atlanta Braves scored early and often and they needed nearly every one of those runs to beat the Colorado Rockies. Andrelton Simmons hit his first career grand slam as part of a seven-run first inning, and the Braves held on to beat Colorado 13-10 on Tuesday night. Evan Gattis had a home run among his three hits and Freddie Freeman also homered for the Braves, who had season-highs of 16 hits and 13 runs but had to sweat out a win in the late innings. "Nothing surprises me in this ballpark," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Ive been in this office in the same situation with a loss hanging over your head." The teams combined for 29 hits and neither starter made it out of the fifth inning. Rockies right-hander Juan Nicasio lasted just 3 2-3 innings and Atlantas Mike Minor left after giving up two hits to start the fifth. David Hale (2-0) pitched 2 1-3 innings of relief for the win. "I wasnt making quality pitches early on and later on I felt like I was making better pitches and couldnt get out of a jam," Minor said. "They were scoring all night." The Rockies trailed 13-9 when reliever Jordan Walden walked the bases loaded with no outs in the eighth. One out later Shae Simmons came on and allowed a sacrifice fly by Justin Morneau but then struck out Josh Rutledge to end the threat. Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save in 21 chances. "Kimbrel was great," Gonzalez said. "We score seven in the first inning and we needed a shutdown inning." Nicasio had a scary moment when he deflected a line drive by Justin Upton with his glove in the bottom of the first. Nicasio fractured his neck and sustained a concussion when he was hit in the head by a line drive on Aug. 5, 2011. He missed the rest of his rookie season. "That was scary. You definitely look at his past history and know what happened," shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. "Its something you dont want to see. But Juan is a tough kid. I think hes really over that." The Braves also had a scare when Upton gingerly ran the bases in the first. Gonzalez removed him from the game before Atlanta took the field in the bottom of the inning. Gonzalez and Upton said it wasnt serious and he could play in the next couple of days. "I dont know how its going to feel tomorrow but Im optimistic its not anything too serious," UUpton said.dddddddddddd Wilin Rosario homered and Rutledge had three hits for Colorado, which has lost 10 of 11 and 15 of 18 to fall six games below .500. The Braves jumped on Nicasio right away. Jayson Heyward doubled then B.J. Upton tripled and scored on a groundout. Four straight singles made it 3-0 and loaded the bases for Simmons, who went deep to centre to make it 7-0. "Its a lot of fun, especially being an offensive player and being able to bat around and score a lot of runs," said Chris Johnson, who had his second straight three-hit game. "Everybodys in a good mood because everyone hit and did well." Atlanta sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, and Colorado nearly matched it in the bottom of the frame. The Rockies scored three times on Rosarios single, Morneaus sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk to DJ LeMahieu Minor walked three batters and hit another and needed 38 pitches to get out of the first with a 7-3 lead. "Me and Gattis, before we walked out we said were going to act like its a 0-0 game," Minor said. "I couldnt throw a curveball for a strike. They eliminated every offspeed pitch and fastballs, I was barely missing the plate." He gave his team an 8-3 lead with an RBI single in the third but then allowed two more runs in the bottom of the inning, including a run-scoring single to Nicasio. It wasnt enough for the right-hander, who left in the fourth after solo homers by Freeman and Gattis, who scored a career-high four runs. Nicasio (5-5) allowed a career-high 10 runs and 11 hits. He has given up at least five runs and nine hits in his last three starts. His ERA has risen from 3.60 to 5.70 in the three outings, all losses. "I didnt worry about that line drive to me. I didnt do my job today," Nicasio said. "I feel bad for my team. They scored 10 runs I need to win this game." Atlanta scored three times off reliever Chad Bettis in the sixth to make it 13-8. NOTES: Gattis extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the first inning. ... Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez had a small tumour removed from his left index finger. The procedure was performed in Cleveland. ... The Braves activated Walden from the 15-day DL and optioned LHP Alex Wood to Triple-A Gwinnett. ... Atlanta RHP Julio Teheran (6-3, 1.89) will face LHP Tyler Matzek, who will make his major league debut for the Rockies on Wednesday night. ' ' '