Pitt Drops its 3rd Straight, Needs to be Careful

Photo Credit: Melina Myers-Imagn Images

Less than 2 weeks ago, Pitt was off to it’s best start under Jeff Capel at 12-2 (3-0) and was looking like one of the few sure fire tourney teams from the ACC, with the potential to compete for a top 4 seed. Starting guard Damian Dunn was set to return from injury and I had the Panthers tabbed as the 2nd best team in the conference. Well, things have quickly turned with 3 losses in 8 days to now sit at 3-3 in league play.

There’s no shame in losing to Duke. Everybody else in the ACC is going to do it at some point this season. Only scoring 47 points and being held without a basket for the final 8 minutes wasn’t a great look, but it’s an elite defense on their home floor so I’m willing to give a pass. Then came Louisville, which was an awesome game that was within 2 possessions for the entire second half. Zack Austin hit a 3 with 3:09 left to take the lead, but the Panthers couldn’t finish it off, letting Louisville sneak out with a big road win. Again, not a bad loss with Louisville being one of the hottest teams in the country, but you’d still like to win a game at home where you shoot 47% from 3 and 90% from the line. The difference was Louisville crushed them on the boards and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds.

Last night is where things start to get a little less comfortable. I get that it’s on the road and Florida State is half decent, but it’s far from the peak Seminole teams of the Leonard Hamilton era and a game Pitt was favored in. FSU came into the game with an 0-5 record against KenPom top 100 teams, losing all 5 by double digits, and they really controlled this thing for a good portion of the night. It was a poor performance from Pitt who was incredibly sloppy with the ball, turning it over a season-high 17 times. Jaland Lowe was awful, accounting for a career-high 8 TOs (he had never had more than 4 in a game). Ish Leggett added 4 of his own, so you’ve got your two lead guards combining for 12 giveaways. Tough to win games on the road like that.

I still like this Pitt team and don’t think it’s time to hit the panic button yet. Last night was clearly an outlier performance from Lowe, and you’re not likely going to see any more 0-8 shooting games from Dunn. They’re still sitting at 32nd in KenPom and 29th in the NET. But in a weak ACC, there’s not as much room for error and that makes Saturday’s home game against Clemson super important all of a sudden. A win there would right the ship and have that fanbase feeling comfortable again. A loss and all of a sudden you’re 3-4 in the ACC and the urgency will intensify.