Pitt and Wake Forest have had some close calls over the years, and on Saturday, it held true yet again with the Demon Deacons prevailing 76-74 over the Panthers at Joel Coliseum. The game was tied at 65-all with 2:22 remaining, but a Hunter Sallis three-pointer followed by a Cameron Hildreth layup put Wake Forest in control, and they buried their free throws down the stretch to keep the Panthers at arm's length thanks to that quick five-point swing.
In the late game sequence, Pitt was trailing by three points with Wake Forest inbounding the ball underneath the basket. Pitt guard Ishmael Leggett seemed to get in there and deflect it off Hildreth, but the officials ruled the ball was off of Pitt, and the subsequent replay did not change that call.
Wake Forest, the worst three-point shooting team in the ACC, did not follow that trend on Saturday. The Demon Deacons went 8-of-19 from deep, well above their 28% average coming into the game. Hildreth led the way with 24 points. Wake's leading scorer, Sallis, closed strong with 11 of his 13 points coming in the second half.
The Panthers won the rebounding battle (28-27) for the first time in six games, shot a perfect 20-for-20 from the foul line, and received a 24-point performance from senior guard Damian Dunn. All of those positives were not enough to come up with a key ACC road win for Jeff Capel's team, which slipped to 14-7 overall and 5-5 in the ACC following the defeat.
House of horrors
In Pitt's time in the ACC, there have been some weird streaks that have plagued the program. Pitt has really struggled against some peer teams in the league, and one of those instances is playing Wake Forest on the road. The Panthers are now 0-7 all-time inside of Joel Coliseum. Wake Forest has not necessarily been a perennial tournament team through the years either, making the losses in that building a point of frustration for Pitt.
Late game miscues
There were some bad calls that did not go in Pitt's favor, but late in the game there were a few instances that Pitt simply shot itself in the foot. Jaland Lowe took an NBA range three-pointer when his team was trailing 68-65, but the off-balance shot also meant nobody from Pitt was back deep, and it led to a Hildreth breakout layup that went uncontested.
Later on, as Pitt was playing out a Wake Forest possession rather than choosing to foul immediately. Cameron Corhen got tangled with Wake Forest point guard Ty-Laur Johnson late in the shot clock, bailing out the Demon Deacons with some free throws and killing valuable time for the Panthers. At that point of the possession, Wake did not have much cooking with a contested shot looking like its best outcome before the foul occurred.
Dame time
Damian Dunn scored a season-high 24 points for the Panthers, and at times, kept the offense afloat for the Panthers in the first half. There has been some lineup tinkering and since he returned from a thumb injury earlier this month. On Saturday, Dunn started the game and was engaged early and played a pretty flawless offensive game, going 8-13 from the field, 3-5 from three, 5-5 from the line, and also recorded four assists against Wake Forest.
A missed opportunity
Wake Forest is going to flutter around the No. 75 mark in the NET rankings for the remainder of the season, meaning this potentially was a Quad-1 opportunity that Pitt missed out on with the loss. The Panthers still only have one of those to date, the road victory at Ohio State back on Black Friday. Pitt has still managed to not have a bad loss yet, as the Panthers sit at 13-0 against Quad 2-3-4 opponents this season. Still, at some point, the Panthers will need to add some more quality wins to the mix. Next Saturday at North Carolina will be that chance, and following today's loss, the importance on that one has gone up significantly for Pitt.
Up next
Pitt will return to action quickly, as the Panthers host Virginia for a 7:00 ESPN game on Monday night. Virginia is 10-11 (3-7) this season, and of course the year for the Cavaliers took an unexpected turn at the start. Legendary coach Tony Bennett abruptly retired, thus making a usually formidable Virginia program down for the first time since Pitt joined the ACC.
In the late game sequence, Pitt was trailing by three points with Wake Forest inbounding the ball underneath the basket. Pitt guard Ishmael Leggett seemed to get in there and deflect it off Hildreth, but the officials ruled the ball was off of Pitt, and the subsequent replay did not change that call.
Wake Forest, the worst three-point shooting team in the ACC, did not follow that trend on Saturday. The Demon Deacons went 8-of-19 from deep, well above their 28% average coming into the game. Hildreth led the way with 24 points. Wake's leading scorer, Sallis, closed strong with 11 of his 13 points coming in the second half.
The Panthers won the rebounding battle (28-27) for the first time in six games, shot a perfect 20-for-20 from the foul line, and received a 24-point performance from senior guard Damian Dunn. All of those positives were not enough to come up with a key ACC road win for Jeff Capel's team, which slipped to 14-7 overall and 5-5 in the ACC following the defeat.
House of horrors
In Pitt's time in the ACC, there have been some weird streaks that have plagued the program. Pitt has really struggled against some peer teams in the league, and one of those instances is playing Wake Forest on the road. The Panthers are now 0-7 all-time inside of Joel Coliseum. Wake Forest has not necessarily been a perennial tournament team through the years either, making the losses in that building a point of frustration for Pitt.
Late game miscues
There were some bad calls that did not go in Pitt's favor, but late in the game there were a few instances that Pitt simply shot itself in the foot. Jaland Lowe took an NBA range three-pointer when his team was trailing 68-65, but the off-balance shot also meant nobody from Pitt was back deep, and it led to a Hildreth breakout layup that went uncontested.
Later on, as Pitt was playing out a Wake Forest possession rather than choosing to foul immediately. Cameron Corhen got tangled with Wake Forest point guard Ty-Laur Johnson late in the shot clock, bailing out the Demon Deacons with some free throws and killing valuable time for the Panthers. At that point of the possession, Wake did not have much cooking with a contested shot looking like its best outcome before the foul occurred.
Dame time
Damian Dunn scored a season-high 24 points for the Panthers, and at times, kept the offense afloat for the Panthers in the first half. There has been some lineup tinkering and since he returned from a thumb injury earlier this month. On Saturday, Dunn started the game and was engaged early and played a pretty flawless offensive game, going 8-13 from the field, 3-5 from three, 5-5 from the line, and also recorded four assists against Wake Forest.
A missed opportunity
Wake Forest is going to flutter around the No. 75 mark in the NET rankings for the remainder of the season, meaning this potentially was a Quad-1 opportunity that Pitt missed out on with the loss. The Panthers still only have one of those to date, the road victory at Ohio State back on Black Friday. Pitt has still managed to not have a bad loss yet, as the Panthers sit at 13-0 against Quad 2-3-4 opponents this season. Still, at some point, the Panthers will need to add some more quality wins to the mix. Next Saturday at North Carolina will be that chance, and following today's loss, the importance on that one has gone up significantly for Pitt.
Up next
Pitt will return to action quickly, as the Panthers host Virginia for a 7:00 ESPN game on Monday night. Virginia is 10-11 (3-7) this season, and of course the year for the Cavaliers took an unexpected turn at the start. Legendary coach Tony Bennett abruptly retired, thus making a usually formidable Virginia program down for the first time since Pitt joined the ACC.
