Pitt overcame a sluggish start and a short bench to secure an 86-74 New Year’s Day win over the Cal Golden Bears at the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, but a late surge to close the half spilled past halftime as Pitt was able to win somewhat comfortably after a poor start to this one.
Pitt was able to ride the sensational Jaland Lowe, as the sophomore point guard produced 27 points, one off his career-high. Lowe took over in the second half with 18 points to help keep Cal at arm’s length and help improve his team’s record to 11-2 on the season.
Cam Corhen supplied 19 points, a season-high for the junior big man. Freshman Brandin Cummings added 15 himself, as he made his first career start in place for the injured Ishmael Leggett. Pitt was able to build the lead to 17 points with a little over two minutes left in the game, but a late foul by Pitt allowed Cal to have three free throws near the end to set the final.
The Panthers are now 2-0 in ACC play this season and improved to 8-0 at home following Wednesday’s contest.
Technically the turning point
Pitt started to wake up a little bit before the game got crazy, but the technical foul sequence seemed to wake up the entire arena. Following a Guillermo Diaz Graham fast break dunk, Pitt forward Zack Austin as well as Cal guard DJ Campbell were hit with double technicals. During a review, Pitt head coach Jeff Capel also drew a technical.
That whole moment woke up the crowd and the team, as Pitt never really looked back from this moment. The team started to play better before this, but this also seemed to be the moment where they forged ahead for good as well.
Avoiding disaster
In college basketball, avoiding a bad loss is sometimes equally as important as securing a big win. Pitt flirted with that a bit on Wednesday, by coming out a little sluggish and letting an average Cal team gain confidence and build a lead. The Golden Bears entered this game slotted as the No. 127 in the NET rankings. Cal was also picked to finish near the bottom of the ACC as well.
Needless to say, this would have been the type of loss that would stick out on an NCAA Tournament resume. However, once Pitt started to focus a bit more near the end of the first half, the Panthers were able to ambush the league newcomers, but that’s obviously not a sustainable approach for the remainder of conference play.
Short handed
Prior to the start of Wednesday game, Pitt announced that senior guard Ishmael Leggett would not play with a ‘lower body injury’ which was later confirmed to be a rolled ankle he sustained on Saturday at practice. Leggett was going to try to give it a go, but Pitt held him out of the game. His status for Saturday is unclear, but the injury does not appear like it will keep him out of the lineup for too long. Leggett’s injury was magnified a bit because Pitt is already down a starter in Damian Dunn, who is still out after suffering a dislocated thumb in November.
Scorin’ Corhen
Cam Corhen had a little bit of a four-game slump offensively in December, but was able to bounce back nicely today with 19 points, a season-high for the Florida State transfer. Corhen certainly has more of an offensive touch than some of Pitt’s more recent big men, and showed it off early this season. The 6’10” junior did hit a wall of sorts, but has since stacked two solid scoring games since which is exactly what Pitt needs from him.
Corhen’s strength needs to be offense. His rebounding has been up and down this season, but can really shine through for this team when his scoring is on like it was against Cal. On Wednesday, he was highly efficient, going 7-of-8 from the floor and actually hit some needed shots when the game was not going so well.
Second half Lowe
Pitt is in a pretty good position, because when the team is trailing or in a close game at halftime, the game plan can become very simple and direct: Give it to Jaland Lowe.
Lowe is undeniably one of the best point guards in college basketball, and good players can have a takeover effect, especially late in games. On Wednesday, Lowe sort of just did what he normally does. The sophomore guard scored 27, with 18 of those coming in the second half on 7-of-14 shooting. Lowe just created havoc in the second half when Pitt put him in ball screen scenarios and Cal had little answer for the lighting quick guard when he turned the corner.
Beebah’s world
Pitt freshman guard Brandin ‘Beebah’ Cummings made the first start of his career on Wednesday and kind of kept things rolling on a personal level. Cummings has started to break out a bit over Pitt’s past few games and notched another strong showing on New Year’s Day.
Cummings has now reached double figures in three straight games and in four of Pitt's last five as well.
The freshman from Midland produced 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting with four rebounds and three assists while playing a career-high 38 minutes of action. Cummings has been surging of late, but his performance was needed with the absence of Leggett casting a shadow on this game. The Panthers are going to look like a very different team once they reach full health and a big reason in that has been Cummings’ emergence of late.
Up next
Pitt will host Stanford on Saturday for a 6:30 tip at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers will get both California schools out of the way early on in ACC play, but there is a big one looming for Jeff Capel’s team. Pitt travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday to take on No. 4 Duke.
Pitt was able to ride the sensational Jaland Lowe, as the sophomore point guard produced 27 points, one off his career-high. Lowe took over in the second half with 18 points to help keep Cal at arm’s length and help improve his team’s record to 11-2 on the season.
Cam Corhen supplied 19 points, a season-high for the junior big man. Freshman Brandin Cummings added 15 himself, as he made his first career start in place for the injured Ishmael Leggett. Pitt was able to build the lead to 17 points with a little over two minutes left in the game, but a late foul by Pitt allowed Cal to have three free throws near the end to set the final.
The Panthers are now 2-0 in ACC play this season and improved to 8-0 at home following Wednesday’s contest.
Technically the turning point
Pitt started to wake up a little bit before the game got crazy, but the technical foul sequence seemed to wake up the entire arena. Following a Guillermo Diaz Graham fast break dunk, Pitt forward Zack Austin as well as Cal guard DJ Campbell were hit with double technicals. During a review, Pitt head coach Jeff Capel also drew a technical.
That whole moment woke up the crowd and the team, as Pitt never really looked back from this moment. The team started to play better before this, but this also seemed to be the moment where they forged ahead for good as well.
Avoiding disaster
In college basketball, avoiding a bad loss is sometimes equally as important as securing a big win. Pitt flirted with that a bit on Wednesday, by coming out a little sluggish and letting an average Cal team gain confidence and build a lead. The Golden Bears entered this game slotted as the No. 127 in the NET rankings. Cal was also picked to finish near the bottom of the ACC as well.
Needless to say, this would have been the type of loss that would stick out on an NCAA Tournament resume. However, once Pitt started to focus a bit more near the end of the first half, the Panthers were able to ambush the league newcomers, but that’s obviously not a sustainable approach for the remainder of conference play.
Short handed
Prior to the start of Wednesday game, Pitt announced that senior guard Ishmael Leggett would not play with a ‘lower body injury’ which was later confirmed to be a rolled ankle he sustained on Saturday at practice. Leggett was going to try to give it a go, but Pitt held him out of the game. His status for Saturday is unclear, but the injury does not appear like it will keep him out of the lineup for too long. Leggett’s injury was magnified a bit because Pitt is already down a starter in Damian Dunn, who is still out after suffering a dislocated thumb in November.
Scorin’ Corhen
Cam Corhen had a little bit of a four-game slump offensively in December, but was able to bounce back nicely today with 19 points, a season-high for the Florida State transfer. Corhen certainly has more of an offensive touch than some of Pitt’s more recent big men, and showed it off early this season. The 6’10” junior did hit a wall of sorts, but has since stacked two solid scoring games since which is exactly what Pitt needs from him.
Corhen’s strength needs to be offense. His rebounding has been up and down this season, but can really shine through for this team when his scoring is on like it was against Cal. On Wednesday, he was highly efficient, going 7-of-8 from the floor and actually hit some needed shots when the game was not going so well.
Second half Lowe
Pitt is in a pretty good position, because when the team is trailing or in a close game at halftime, the game plan can become very simple and direct: Give it to Jaland Lowe.
Lowe is undeniably one of the best point guards in college basketball, and good players can have a takeover effect, especially late in games. On Wednesday, Lowe sort of just did what he normally does. The sophomore guard scored 27, with 18 of those coming in the second half on 7-of-14 shooting. Lowe just created havoc in the second half when Pitt put him in ball screen scenarios and Cal had little answer for the lighting quick guard when he turned the corner.
Beebah’s world
Pitt freshman guard Brandin ‘Beebah’ Cummings made the first start of his career on Wednesday and kind of kept things rolling on a personal level. Cummings has started to break out a bit over Pitt’s past few games and notched another strong showing on New Year’s Day.
Cummings has now reached double figures in three straight games and in four of Pitt's last five as well.
The freshman from Midland produced 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting with four rebounds and three assists while playing a career-high 38 minutes of action. Cummings has been surging of late, but his performance was needed with the absence of Leggett casting a shadow on this game. The Panthers are going to look like a very different team once they reach full health and a big reason in that has been Cummings’ emergence of late.
Up next
Pitt will host Stanford on Saturday for a 6:30 tip at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers will get both California schools out of the way early on in ACC play, but there is a big one looming for Jeff Capel’s team. Pitt travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday to take on No. 4 Duke.
