The final season in the Big East Conference did not begin the way Jamie Dixon would have hoped it would.
No. 24 Pitt blew an eight point second half lead and ultimately lost their conference opener 70-61 to No. 14 Cincinnati.
Despite playing a soft non-conference schedule, Pitt showed they could compete with the top teams in the nation, but similar to the way they fell to No.2 Michigan, the Panthers couldn’t do enough to beat a good team.
A Cameron Wright jumper right before the half sent Pitt into the locker room on an 8-0 run and up 34-26, but the Bearcats came out and scored the first six points of the second half to tighten the game.
“It was a tale of two halves I guess,” said Dixon. “It’s disappointing in every way. Give credit to Cincinnati, but we are a better team than what we showed in the second half.”
Pitt held the lead until the 10:13 mark when a Titus Rubles conventional three-point play put Cincinnati up 43-42 and the Bearcats never looked back.
Their full-court press affected the Panthers at the beginning of the half and Mick Cronin’s team started making shots, which turned out to be the difference.
Cincinnati shot only 29.6 percent from the floor in the first half, including making only one of their first 11 attempts, but the Bearcats connected at a 54.2 percent (13-of-24) rate in the second half.
“Pitt’s a great defensive team and that led to our struggles early,” said Cronin. “Once we slowed down and got the matchups we wanted and the spacing we wanted we seemed to calm down. We also were able to go one-on-one more which was big. Once we got deeper into the game, we got more comfortable with our offense. We finally got our feet underneath us and we made some shots.”
While Cincy got hot, Pitt went ice cold, scoring only 11 second half points through the first 12 minutes of the half. Pitt’s struggled from everywhere, but especially from behind the arc, where they went 0-for-10 on the afternoon.
“We have to make some shots,” added Dixon. “We had good looks and we took good shots. We just have to make them. We can’t go 0-for-10.”
Every time the Panthers got close, Bearcats guard Cashmere Wright hit a big shot. The dynamic Bearcats’ backcourt of Wright and Sean Kilpatrick combined to score only 10 first half points, but the duo finished with 34 as Wright ended up with a game-high 18.
“We just have to keep shooting,” said Wright. “Coach wants us to be aggressive and with our style of play we feel we are better suited to make plays late in games when the other team is tired.”
However the real story of the day turned out to be rebounding.
Freshman Steven Adams led the Panthers with nine rebounds, but no other Pitt player had more than five. The Panthers had a 21-17 rebounding edge at the half, but when it was all said and done, Pitt ended up getting out rebounded 37-32.
Nothing told the story like a Bearcats’ possession with 3:24 remaining and Cincinnati clinging to a 60-55 lead.
Pitt played good defense and Jaquon Parker misses a three-pointer, but David Nyarsuk came up with the offensive rebound and the Bearcats were able to run more clock. Kilpatrick missed a jumper with the shot clock winding down, but Rubles snatched up another offensive board to give the Bearcats third opportunity to run clock.
Eventually the possession ended with a dunk from Nyarsuk and Pitt was down seven with only 1:33 left in the game.
“That was it right there,” said Wright. “David’s hustle play let us really slow it down and take about two minutes off the clock and it was nice that the guy who made the play to begin with eventually got rewarded with a dunk.”
Pitt didn’t go away though as a Lamar Patterson putback pulled Pitt to within three and a steal by Tray Woodall could have made it close, but Woodall missed the front end of a one-and-one, something a senior just can’t do in that situation.
The missed free-throw took all of the life out of the Panthers and the Bearcats made their free-throws down the stretch to ice the game.
Pitt, who is back in action January 5 at Rutgers, was led in scoring by Talib Zanna with 16. Patterson (13) and Wright (10) also finished in double-figures.
“It was a tough loss and we have a lot to work on like I have been saying all season,” said Dixon. “We have to get better rebounding. I don’t know how we went from plus-four to minus-nine in one half. We have to get better shooting and defensively and we can’t miss free-throws. We have a few days before Rutgers and will get right back to work.”
Photo Credit: USA Today
