Pitt men’s basketball (12-6, ACC 3-4) dropped its fourth straight game 78-75 to Clemson (14-4, 6-1 ACC) on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers continue to drop lower in the ACC rankings.
Pitt found an early momentum, something they lacked in their last game against FSU. Redshirt senior forward Zack Austin brought the energy for Pitt. Austin knocked down a three, sending Clemson a message that Pitt was putting up a fight.
The key aspect of Pitt’s game was its rebounding. In the first five minutes, Pitt brought down six rebounds and forced two turnovers. Defensively, the Panthers held Clemson to 25 percent from inside the arc in the first seven minutes of the half.
Head coach Jeff Capel was focused on rebounding, an effort that has noticeably improved since the loss to Florida State.
“In the second half, we did a better job at getting to the 50-50 balls and I thought we did a better job at rebounding the basketball,” Capel said.
Clemson graduate student guard Chase Hunter had nine points after two buckets from deep. He controlled the ball for many of the Tiger’s possessions. Clemson led 17-11 with 9:08 left to play in the first.
Junior guard Cameron Corhen made a few strong moves to the basket, specifically one off of an assist from senior guard Ishmael Leggett, which Corhen forced a foul for an and-one to make the score 17-24.
“I thought in the first half we generated some really good looks and some really clean looks,” Capel said of his teams’ ability to make shots around the basket.
The Panthers continued to play strong defense within the arc, but mistakenly left Clemson junior guard Dillon Hunter wide open. Hunter had yet to miss a shot, and Clemson was running a clean offensive game. Pitt trailed 32-22 with less than four minutes in the first.
Pitt faced many short shot clocks in its last few possessions before the half, yet the Panthers made the most of it. Leggett, sophomore guard Jaland Lowe and Austin all beat the shot clock for scores. With just a couple seconds remaining in the half, Corhen capped off a second-chance possession with a bucket of his own, but Pitt was still trailing 30-40 heading into the locker room.
The Panthers were only down by 10, but Clemson started making threes in bunches. The Tigers were 10-16 from beyond the arc, making it almost impossible for the Panthers to claw back.
Defensively, Pitt could not defend the three. Clemson improved to a 57 percent shooting clip and then ultimately fell only a few marks to 51.9 percent on the day.
Every point from Pitt was matched by Clemson. With 12:10 remaining, Leggett hit a three to bring the Panthers deficit down to nine. A jump ball then gave Pitt another chance to score, while a once-quiet Oakland Zoo now rose to its feet in approval. Pitt followed behind by four with 9:55 remaining.
Clemson felt the tide shift coming out of a media timeout. An airball followed by a foul and a turnover allowed Pitt to tie the game off of a fast break three from graduate student guard Damian Dunn. The atmosphere in the Peterson Event Center turned in a complete 360 from the first half.
A once hot Clemson was now ice cold. Pitt’s defense applied pressure deep into the backcourt, forcing two turnovers from Clemson. A three from Leggett gave Pitt the lead for the first time since the middle of the first half. Clemsons had zero timeouts remaining, and with a minute left — it was crunch time.
30.1 seconds remained and after a Clemson bucket, the Tigers led by two. Pitt inbounded to Lowe who drove to the basket and tied the game. Pitt forced a Clemson turnover on the other end and subsequently overtime, each team with 66 a piece.
Lowe opened the scoring in overtime but Clemson answered with a three. A missed one-and-one opportunity from Corhen and Pitt was down 73-68 with 2:08 to play.
Despite a valiant effort from the Panthers, it was too little too late. Clemson widened its lead by four and Leggett responded with a floater from the paint, but Chase Hunter silenced the crowd with a bucket from beyond the arc. After a hard fought second half, the Panthers just couldn’t hold on.
“We fought. We battled. But it isn’t good enough. There’s more we have to do,” Capel said.
Pitt will look to get back into the W column on Saturday in an away game against Syracuse at 12:30 p.m. Catch the game on ESPN.
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