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Breakdown: Another slow start leads to another loss
- By Chris Peak
- Premium Basketball Forum
- 1 Replies
Another slow start put Pitt in a hole that the Panthers couldn’t climb out of Tuesday night, and they left the penultimate home game of the season with a 73-67 loss to Georgia Tech.
The teams: Pitt (16-12, 7-10 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech (14-14, 8-9 ACC)
Top performers
Jaland Lowe - 25 points, 7/21 FG, 2/9 3 FG, 9/10 FT, 8 assists, 2 turnovers
Ishmael Leggett - 20 points, 5/14 FG, 3/6 3FG, 7/8 FT
Duncan Powell (GT) - 26 points, 8/15 FG, 6/10 3FG, 4/4 FT
Lance Terry (GT) - 20 points, 6/14 FG, 2/9 3FG, 6/7 FT
Baye Ndongo (GT) - 11 points, 17 rebounds
Storylines
A chance at the end
Pitt trailed for virtually the entire first half and most of the second half before a Brandin Cummings three with 5:34 to go gave the Panthers their first lead.
After that, Pitt kept the score within four points and had a chance to win in the final minute, but a series of misfortunes befell the Panthers. After Jaland Lowe hit a three to tie the game at 67-67 with 1:14 left, Cummings committed a foul to give Georgia Tech two points and the lead. Back on the offensive end, Lowe drove to the basket and kicked out to Zack Austin, who missed a three.
Lowe grabbed the offensive rebound, though and kicked to Ishmael Leggett, who had a clear path to the basket. But the senior guard had a rare miss from close range, Georgia Tech collected the rebound and Yellow Jackets guard Lance Terry converted to put the lead to four.
Pitt even had one more opportunity in the final 20 seconds - four opportunities, actually. After Terry’s layup, Leggett and Lowe missed back-to-back three-point attempts, Austin missed a layup and Lowe missed one more three to seal the loss.
Duncan goes off
In every game, it seems there is a player who scores well above his season averages against Pitt, and that was certainly the case on Tuesday night. This time, it was Georgia Tech forward Duncan Powell, who averaged 10.7 points and 1.2 made three-pointers per game in the Yellow Jackets’s first 27 contests. Against Pitt on Tuesday night, Duncan scored a career-high 26 points, made a career-high six three-pointers (his previous high was three) and was generally unstoppable, including on his two converted three-and-1s.
First-half deficit
As per usual, Pitt fell behind in the first half Tuesday night. The Panthers scored the first points of the game with two free throws by Ishmael Leggett, but Georgia Tech scored two quick baskets to get ahead and never trailed again until Cummings drained a three to give Pitt a one-point lead with 5:34 left in the game.
The biggest lead of the game came when GT guard Lance Terry drained a three at the 11:13 mark of the first half. That gave the Yellow Jackets a 12-point advantage, marking the ninth time in 17 ACC games that Pitt has trailed by double digits in the first half.
Bench usage
In Saturday’s loss at Notre Dame, Jeff Capel made very little use of his bench. Freshmen Brandin Cummings and Amsal Delalic were the only reserves to see the court; Cummings logged 10 minutes and Delalic played three.
The bench got a lot more time on Tuesday night. In fact, the reserves - in this case Cummings and Jorge Diaz Graham - saw 16 minutes in the first half alone. And while Delalic didn’t play against Georgia Tech, Cummings finished with three points on 1-of-3 shooting in 22 minutes of playing time.
Cummings’ three points actually stood as the only bench points in the game; Georgia Tech’s reserves combined to play 36 minutes but took just one shot (and missed it).
Shutting down the lineup
Lowe scored 25 points, Leggett had 20 and Cam Corhen put up 12 on Tuesday night, but perhaps the most impactful stats came from the players who didn’t produce.
Austin, for instance, scored four points on 1-of-9 shooting and 1-of-7 from three. And Guillermo Diaz Graham scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting (with all of his shots from beyond the arc).
Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said after the game that preventing Austin and Diaz Graham from producing was key to the Yellow Jackets’ victory.
More rebounding issues
As Capel acknowledged after the game, Pitt has not been a good rebounding team all season, and that continued Tuesday night when the Panthers were out-rebounded 37-27 by a Georgia Tech team that has been more or less dead even with its opponents on the glass this year.
The low light of Pitt’s rebounding efforts on Tuesday night came from Corhen, who had just two rebounds; both of those were in the second half.
In the meantime, Georgia Tech grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and turned them into 17 second-chance points. Pitt actually had 10 offensive boards, but was only able to get two points out of them.
A long end
After each team had five fouls called in the first half, the referees fired up their whistles in the second half. All told, Pitt and Georgia Tech were called for 27 fouls after halftime - 12 on GT and 17 on Pitt - leading to 42 free throws and an interminably long second half. Those free throws also accounted for 36 of the 75 points scored in the second half.
Up next
Tuesday night’s loss dropped Pitt to 16-12 overall and 7-10 in the ACC. On Saturday, the Panthers will travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals, who entered Tuesday night’s game at Virginia Tech with a 21-6 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the ACC.
The teams: Pitt (16-12, 7-10 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech (14-14, 8-9 ACC)
Top performers
Jaland Lowe - 25 points, 7/21 FG, 2/9 3 FG, 9/10 FT, 8 assists, 2 turnovers
Ishmael Leggett - 20 points, 5/14 FG, 3/6 3FG, 7/8 FT
Duncan Powell (GT) - 26 points, 8/15 FG, 6/10 3FG, 4/4 FT
Lance Terry (GT) - 20 points, 6/14 FG, 2/9 3FG, 6/7 FT
Baye Ndongo (GT) - 11 points, 17 rebounds
Storylines
A chance at the end
Pitt trailed for virtually the entire first half and most of the second half before a Brandin Cummings three with 5:34 to go gave the Panthers their first lead.
After that, Pitt kept the score within four points and had a chance to win in the final minute, but a series of misfortunes befell the Panthers. After Jaland Lowe hit a three to tie the game at 67-67 with 1:14 left, Cummings committed a foul to give Georgia Tech two points and the lead. Back on the offensive end, Lowe drove to the basket and kicked out to Zack Austin, who missed a three.
Lowe grabbed the offensive rebound, though and kicked to Ishmael Leggett, who had a clear path to the basket. But the senior guard had a rare miss from close range, Georgia Tech collected the rebound and Yellow Jackets guard Lance Terry converted to put the lead to four.
Pitt even had one more opportunity in the final 20 seconds - four opportunities, actually. After Terry’s layup, Leggett and Lowe missed back-to-back three-point attempts, Austin missed a layup and Lowe missed one more three to seal the loss.
Duncan goes off
In every game, it seems there is a player who scores well above his season averages against Pitt, and that was certainly the case on Tuesday night. This time, it was Georgia Tech forward Duncan Powell, who averaged 10.7 points and 1.2 made three-pointers per game in the Yellow Jackets’s first 27 contests. Against Pitt on Tuesday night, Duncan scored a career-high 26 points, made a career-high six three-pointers (his previous high was three) and was generally unstoppable, including on his two converted three-and-1s.
First-half deficit
As per usual, Pitt fell behind in the first half Tuesday night. The Panthers scored the first points of the game with two free throws by Ishmael Leggett, but Georgia Tech scored two quick baskets to get ahead and never trailed again until Cummings drained a three to give Pitt a one-point lead with 5:34 left in the game.
The biggest lead of the game came when GT guard Lance Terry drained a three at the 11:13 mark of the first half. That gave the Yellow Jackets a 12-point advantage, marking the ninth time in 17 ACC games that Pitt has trailed by double digits in the first half.
Bench usage
In Saturday’s loss at Notre Dame, Jeff Capel made very little use of his bench. Freshmen Brandin Cummings and Amsal Delalic were the only reserves to see the court; Cummings logged 10 minutes and Delalic played three.
The bench got a lot more time on Tuesday night. In fact, the reserves - in this case Cummings and Jorge Diaz Graham - saw 16 minutes in the first half alone. And while Delalic didn’t play against Georgia Tech, Cummings finished with three points on 1-of-3 shooting in 22 minutes of playing time.
Cummings’ three points actually stood as the only bench points in the game; Georgia Tech’s reserves combined to play 36 minutes but took just one shot (and missed it).
Shutting down the lineup
Lowe scored 25 points, Leggett had 20 and Cam Corhen put up 12 on Tuesday night, but perhaps the most impactful stats came from the players who didn’t produce.
Austin, for instance, scored four points on 1-of-9 shooting and 1-of-7 from three. And Guillermo Diaz Graham scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting (with all of his shots from beyond the arc).
Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire said after the game that preventing Austin and Diaz Graham from producing was key to the Yellow Jackets’ victory.
More rebounding issues
As Capel acknowledged after the game, Pitt has not been a good rebounding team all season, and that continued Tuesday night when the Panthers were out-rebounded 37-27 by a Georgia Tech team that has been more or less dead even with its opponents on the glass this year.
The low light of Pitt’s rebounding efforts on Tuesday night came from Corhen, who had just two rebounds; both of those were in the second half.
In the meantime, Georgia Tech grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and turned them into 17 second-chance points. Pitt actually had 10 offensive boards, but was only able to get two points out of them.
A long end
After each team had five fouls called in the first half, the referees fired up their whistles in the second half. All told, Pitt and Georgia Tech were called for 27 fouls after halftime - 12 on GT and 17 on Pitt - leading to 42 free throws and an interminably long second half. Those free throws also accounted for 36 of the 75 points scored in the second half.
Up next
Tuesday night’s loss dropped Pitt to 16-12 overall and 7-10 in the ACC. On Saturday, the Panthers will travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals, who entered Tuesday night’s game at Virginia Tech with a 21-6 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the ACC.
