No. 24 ranked Pitt, playing its first true road game of the season, started like a house of fire on the road at Notre Dame. But the Panthers had to sweat things out at the end, escaping with an 86-82 ACC victory for their 10th consecutive win.
Michael Young led the Panthers with 25 points, despite not playing a large portion of the second half because of foul trouble. Jamel Artis had his shooting stroke going on and scored 19, while Sheldon Jeter added 18 off the bench for the Panthers, who led wire to wire.
Pitt came out and scored the game’s first 13 points, making their first six shots from the floor. Before Notre Dame knew what hit them, they were down 18 as Young and Artis did most of the work. But the Irish made 10 of their next 13 to cut the lead to single digits and only went into halftime down six.
The Panthers opened the second half on an 11- 5 run and eventually got the lead back up to 18 with 12 minutes left before the Irish went nuts again from the floor. That coupled with some sloppy play from the Panthers down the stretch saw Notre Dame have the chance to tie, but Matt Ryan’s three-point attempt with 15 seconds left rimmed out.
Pitt was able to close the game out from the line to remain perfect in ACC play on the season.
Hot Start: It has become a theme lately for Pitt to get off to hot starts from the floor and Saturday was no exception. Pitt, who shot 50 percent from the floor on the afternoon, made 59 percent of their attempts in the first half, including 7-of-11 attempts from behind the arc.
Notre Dame wasn’t any slouches shooting the ball, making 57 percent in the first half, including 7-of-13 from three-point range.
Pitt held a 49-43 lead at the half, thanks to 18 first-half points from Young and 16 from Artis.
Three-point shootout: Both teams shot the ball exceptionally well from downtown.
Pitt made 10-of-19 (59 percent) three-point attempts while ND made 9-of-20 (45 percent).
The Panthers got a big lift from Artis, who made five three’s. Sterling Smith made three. Artis came into the game averaging just over one made three per game.
Demetrius Jackson kept Notre Dame in the game early, making four of his five three’s in a two-minute span. He finished the day with a game-high 26 points.
Solid from the stripe: Pitt came through from the free-throw line once again. Making 20-of-24 attempts.
Lift off the bench– Jeter has been fantastic off the bench as of late for the Panthers and was so once again on Saturday. Usually one of the first players Dixon call to, Jeter didn’t get into the game until much later than usual because of Young’s hot start.
But once Young picked up his third foul with 33 seconds left in the first half, it was Jeter’s turn to carry the team for a while.
Jeter finished with 18 points and the Pitt bench outscored that of Notre Dame 26-10.
Up Next: Pitt will stay on the road as they head to Louisville Tuesday night.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
