Ever since Pitt’s Mike Cook (torn ACL) and Levance Fields (broken foot) went down, Keith Benjamin has seamlessly stepped into the Panthers’ off-guard spot without missing a beat. Benjamin didn’t see more than 21 minutes in a game this season until Pitt’s 12/29 game against Dayton. We got up with Keith to talk about his five straight games in double figures, the win over Georgetown on Monday, and his alma mater – Mount Vernon High…

On being ready to fill in for Cook and Fields…
“Honestly what went through my head [when Mike Cook and Levance Fields went down with injuries] is: this is my shot. For so long I’ve wanted to play and be a role guy. I mean I’m always going to be about the team, but when that happened, it was like this is my time now. I have to go out there and perform to help this team win.

It’s really been preparing every night and every day working real hard, and knowing that the team needs me now to step up, and I’m ready to step up.

On how his teammates are dealing with injuries…
“I know it’s a tough process for both of them. You hate to see that. I’m very close with both of them, and I’m sad for Mike because he doesn’t get another shot at this. Levance – I’m sad for too. It’s a very tough thing to go through. I know what it’s like. In my senior year of high school, I fractured my foot and had to sit out for two months. It’s just real hard not being able to be there to help your teammates.

On heading into conference play…
“Conference play is 18 games – you want to take it one game at a time. But you want to be on top, the way I’m thinking, at every three games if you want to break it down. You want to have the best three game records for three games in a row. That was a great start for our first three games. But in the end, no one is going to remember what you did in January. Now we’re getting to Cincinnati. We gotta get that one on Saturday.

On Monday’s win over Georgetown…
“DeJuan [Blair] is definitely a matchup problem for Georgetown. But Roy [Hibbert] is also a matchup problem for us. For the second half, we just think that we executed better than them. That’s all there is to say. We know that’s a team we’re going to meet down the road. People love to get revenge, so we’re gonna try not to let that happen. As long as we keep playing the way we’re playing, playing team basketball, we think we can win.

On playing with DeJuan Blair…
“It’s been great playing with DeJuan – he’s a great kid. He’s full of energy, full of surprises, he’s just full of fun. Basketball to him is fun. Banging inside is fun. It’s very rare that you find a big man who wants to be a banger. Nowadays you’ve got a lot of big men who want to shoot threes or all these different types of spin moves into a lay-up. DeJuan just wants to bang. He wants to rebound. He wants to dunk on you. He wants to block your shot. That’s what you need nowadays.

On your alma mater, Mount Vernon…
“Mount Vernon is always going to be a top program. Coach Cimino runs it just like college program over there. Everything there is building kids up ready to play college basketball. Coach Cimino makes you work hard academically. He’s just a class act guy. He makes sure all of his kids go to school whether it’s Division I, II or III. Mount Vernon is always going to be good under his direction. ”