Pitt couldn’t afford to lose to Virginia at the Petersen Events Center on Monday night, but another first-half hole left the Panthers with their worst defeat of the season in a 73-57 loss to the Cavaliers.
The teams: Pitt (14-8, 5-6 ACC) and Virginia (11-12, 4-8 ACC)
Stat leaders
Ishmael Leggett: 17 points, 7/11 FG, 6 rebounds
Jorge Diaz Graham: 9 points, 3/7 FG, 3/6 3FG
Dai Dai Ames (Virginia): 27 points, 11/16 FG, 3/6 3FG
Another first-half hole
11 games in, the pattern has moved to a trend, and it might be a defining characteristic. Pitt has trailed in the first half of every ACC game this season by at least six points, and that continued on Monday night when the Panthers fell behind by 20 when Virginia went up 30-10 with less than five minutes to go before halftime.
That was the fifth time in 11 ACC games that Pitt has trailed by double digits in the first half, and the Panthers have been down by at least eight in 10 of those 11 games. They have won five of those 10.
Big first-half run
The 20-point hole was built largely on a really long run by Virginia. After Pitt jumped out to a 4-1 lead with the Cavaliers missing their first three shots in the first three minutes, Virginia got hot, making six of its next nine shots while holding the Panthers without a basket for a 17-0 run.
That run covered more than six minutes and two media timeouts, and when Pitt finally answered with a free throw from Cam Corhen and a tough layup from Ishmael Leggett, Virginia’s Dai Dai Ames and Ishan Sharma hit back-to-back three’s to stall the momentum.
Consecutive baskets
That was the theme all night:
Anytime Pitt even got close to building momentum, Virginia responded. The Panthers made back-to-back field goals just once in the game; that came in the final six minutes, when the game was firmly out of reach, and the Cavaliers promptly answered that with a fast break dunk by Ames.
Earlier in the game, Pitt got a three-pointer from Jorge Diaz Graham to cut the lead to 14 with less than three minutes left in the first half, and Blake Buchanan answered with points in the paint on the very next possession.
And in the second half, Pitt made six three-pointers. The Cavaliers answered the first two with three’s of their own. The Panthers' next three was followed by Pitt free throws, which was answered by a Virginia three, and the same thing - free throws and then a Virginia three - happened after the Panthers’ fourth three-pointer. And their final three was Damian Dunn’s make with 5:11 left; that was the second of the two consecutive baskets mentioned above, and it was answered by an Ames dunk.
Rotation changes
While Pitt went with the same starting lineup it has used for the last three games, Jeff Capel made some changes as Monday night’s game progressed. In the final six minutes of the first half, he brought in Brandin Cummings, Jorge Diaz Graham and Papa Amadou Kante; Cummings came into Monday averaging 11 minutes per game in ACC contests, Diaz Graham was averaging 7.9 and Kante was averaging 5.9.
By the end of the game, Cummings had played five minutes, Kante had played 15 and Diaz Graham had played 22. Incidentally, those four plus Amsal Delalic, who entered the game in the final 2:24, were Pitt’s only players with positive plus/minus ratings.
Conversely, starting center Cam Corhen played just 17 minutes, with four in the second half; Jaland Lowe played 28 minutes, the fewest he has played since the opener against Bradford; and Dunn played 26 minutes, less than he played since getting back into a full workload after returning from injury.
Starter scoring
Perhaps connected to the low minutes - or perhaps as a result of it - Pitt’s starters didn’t contribute much outside of Leggett. The senior guard had a team-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, but the Panthers’ other four starters - Lowe, Dunn, Corhen and Zack Austin - combined to score 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting while committing six turnovers.
Lowe was held to just seven points, marking the fourth time this season and the second time in ACC play that he has scored in single digits. And with three turnovers against Virginia, he has committed at least that many in 10 out of 11 conference games.
Bad loss
If nothing else this season, Pitt had avoided taking a bad loss.
Until Monday night.
Virginia entered the game with a 10-12 overall record, a 3-8 record in the ACC and a NET ranking of 134, which was 15th in the conference.
Now the Panthers’ resume has taken a major hit, because they have compounded the problem of only having one quality win by adding a bad loss that makes the road to the NCAA Tournament even tougher.
With this loss on the record, Pitt is probably going to need to win at least three of the five remaining road games (at North Carolina on Saturday, at SMU next Tuesday, at Notre Dame on Feb. 22, at Louisville on March 1 and at N.C. State on March 5).
Breakout game
Virginia junior guard Dai Dai Ames came into Monday night averaging 6.2 points per game on the 2024-25 season, and the transfer from Kansas State had scored in double figures in 11 of his 33 career games, with his career high in points being 16 (which he did twice - once at Kansas State and once earlier this season).
Prior to Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech, when Ames scored 11, his high against ACC teams was eight, and he had five conference games with three or fewer points.
On Monday night against Pitt, he blew up. Ames scored a game-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three.
Up next
Pitt’s going to have to big challenge if it wants to bounce back, as the Panthers are off until Saturday when they’ll face North Carolina in Chapel Hill for a 4 pm tipoff. Pitt beat the Tar Heels 73-65 at the Petersen Events Center last Tuesday.
The teams: Pitt (14-8, 5-6 ACC) and Virginia (11-12, 4-8 ACC)
Stat leaders
Ishmael Leggett: 17 points, 7/11 FG, 6 rebounds
Jorge Diaz Graham: 9 points, 3/7 FG, 3/6 3FG
Dai Dai Ames (Virginia): 27 points, 11/16 FG, 3/6 3FG
Another first-half hole
11 games in, the pattern has moved to a trend, and it might be a defining characteristic. Pitt has trailed in the first half of every ACC game this season by at least six points, and that continued on Monday night when the Panthers fell behind by 20 when Virginia went up 30-10 with less than five minutes to go before halftime.
That was the fifth time in 11 ACC games that Pitt has trailed by double digits in the first half, and the Panthers have been down by at least eight in 10 of those 11 games. They have won five of those 10.
Big first-half run
The 20-point hole was built largely on a really long run by Virginia. After Pitt jumped out to a 4-1 lead with the Cavaliers missing their first three shots in the first three minutes, Virginia got hot, making six of its next nine shots while holding the Panthers without a basket for a 17-0 run.
That run covered more than six minutes and two media timeouts, and when Pitt finally answered with a free throw from Cam Corhen and a tough layup from Ishmael Leggett, Virginia’s Dai Dai Ames and Ishan Sharma hit back-to-back three’s to stall the momentum.
Consecutive baskets
That was the theme all night:
Anytime Pitt even got close to building momentum, Virginia responded. The Panthers made back-to-back field goals just once in the game; that came in the final six minutes, when the game was firmly out of reach, and the Cavaliers promptly answered that with a fast break dunk by Ames.
Earlier in the game, Pitt got a three-pointer from Jorge Diaz Graham to cut the lead to 14 with less than three minutes left in the first half, and Blake Buchanan answered with points in the paint on the very next possession.
And in the second half, Pitt made six three-pointers. The Cavaliers answered the first two with three’s of their own. The Panthers' next three was followed by Pitt free throws, which was answered by a Virginia three, and the same thing - free throws and then a Virginia three - happened after the Panthers’ fourth three-pointer. And their final three was Damian Dunn’s make with 5:11 left; that was the second of the two consecutive baskets mentioned above, and it was answered by an Ames dunk.
Rotation changes
While Pitt went with the same starting lineup it has used for the last three games, Jeff Capel made some changes as Monday night’s game progressed. In the final six minutes of the first half, he brought in Brandin Cummings, Jorge Diaz Graham and Papa Amadou Kante; Cummings came into Monday averaging 11 minutes per game in ACC contests, Diaz Graham was averaging 7.9 and Kante was averaging 5.9.
By the end of the game, Cummings had played five minutes, Kante had played 15 and Diaz Graham had played 22. Incidentally, those four plus Amsal Delalic, who entered the game in the final 2:24, were Pitt’s only players with positive plus/minus ratings.
Conversely, starting center Cam Corhen played just 17 minutes, with four in the second half; Jaland Lowe played 28 minutes, the fewest he has played since the opener against Bradford; and Dunn played 26 minutes, less than he played since getting back into a full workload after returning from injury.
Starter scoring
Perhaps connected to the low minutes - or perhaps as a result of it - Pitt’s starters didn’t contribute much outside of Leggett. The senior guard had a team-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, but the Panthers’ other four starters - Lowe, Dunn, Corhen and Zack Austin - combined to score 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting while committing six turnovers.
Lowe was held to just seven points, marking the fourth time this season and the second time in ACC play that he has scored in single digits. And with three turnovers against Virginia, he has committed at least that many in 10 out of 11 conference games.
Bad loss
If nothing else this season, Pitt had avoided taking a bad loss.
Until Monday night.
Virginia entered the game with a 10-12 overall record, a 3-8 record in the ACC and a NET ranking of 134, which was 15th in the conference.
Now the Panthers’ resume has taken a major hit, because they have compounded the problem of only having one quality win by adding a bad loss that makes the road to the NCAA Tournament even tougher.
With this loss on the record, Pitt is probably going to need to win at least three of the five remaining road games (at North Carolina on Saturday, at SMU next Tuesday, at Notre Dame on Feb. 22, at Louisville on March 1 and at N.C. State on March 5).
Breakout game
Virginia junior guard Dai Dai Ames came into Monday night averaging 6.2 points per game on the 2024-25 season, and the transfer from Kansas State had scored in double figures in 11 of his 33 career games, with his career high in points being 16 (which he did twice - once at Kansas State and once earlier this season).
Prior to Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech, when Ames scored 11, his high against ACC teams was eight, and he had five conference games with three or fewer points.
On Monday night against Pitt, he blew up. Ames scored a game-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three.
Up next
Pitt’s going to have to big challenge if it wants to bounce back, as the Panthers are off until Saturday when they’ll face North Carolina in Chapel Hill for a 4 pm tipoff. Pitt beat the Tar Heels 73-65 at the Petersen Events Center last Tuesday.
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