Just when you thought it was safe for the Pitt Panthers to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament, Jamie Dixon’s team came out and showed what type of team they are once again Wednesday night at Virginia Tech.
A very inconsistent one.
Just three days after pounding Duke at home for its best win of the season, Pitt fell to Virginia Tech 65-61, once again putting its tournament hopes on life support.
Zach LeDay had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Virginia Tech used a 16-4 second-half run to pull away from Pitt.
Seth Allen and Justin Robinson scored 10 points each for the Hokies (17-13, 9-8 ACC).
The win pulls VT into a tie with the Panthers, Syracuse and Clemson for seventh place with one regular season game remaining for each.
Michael Young led Pitt (20-9, 9-8) with 16 points and James Robinson added 11 for the Panthers, who trailed by as many as 13 in the second half before they pulled within three at 64-61 with just over a minute left, but that was as close as the Panthers would get as they let a winnable game slip away.
Dreadful Shooting- Pitt was terrible shooting the basketball on the night. The Panthers shot just 38.9 percent from the floor on the night, but more importantly, they were just 3-of-21 (14.3 percent) from behind the arc.
Meanwhile the Hokies made 44.4 percent of their field goal attempts, including shooting 54 percent from the floor in the second half.
Artis struggles- It seems as Jamel Artis goes, so do the Panthers. When Artis is having a good night, generally Pitt wins. When he doesn’t Pitt loses.
Needless to say Artis had a very tough night, scoring only five points.
The junior was only 1-of-8 from the floor and missed all five of his three-point attempts.
Up Next: Pitt concludes the ACC regular season Saturday in a must win game at Georgia Tech.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
