3-Pointers: Three things that stood out in Pitt's 78-76 loss to Miami
Pitt’s bid for its first-ever ACC Championship came up short on Saturday night. The Panthers dropped a heartbreaker to No. 16 Miami by a score of 78-76, as Blake Hinson late three-point heave was off the mark. With the loss, Pitt concludes its regular season slate with a 21-10 record overall and will head into the ACC Tournament next week with some work to do.
Here are three takeaways from Pitt’s loss to Miami.
A deflating end to the season
One week ago the Pitt basketball program was riding high after an emotional win over Syracuse on senior day. Not only did the Panthers secure a big win in the home finale, they slid into first place in the ACC standings and cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2016. All Pitt had to do was win one of their remaining two games to secure at least a share of the regular season crown.
Pitt lost both games, however.
The Panthers came out with an uninspired effort against Notre Dame on Wednesday, which raised the stakes even higher heading into Saturday's showdown against the Miami Hurricanes. Pitt battled for 40 minutes against the 16th ranked team in the country, but came up short with a two-point defeat.
Losing to a good team like Miami on the road by two points is not much to hang your head over, but there were areas in the game, and even the last couple of games, that certainly bring cause for concern heading into the postseason. The Panthers have not been as good defensively of late, to put it mildly. Jamarius Burton has been held in check, Federiko Federiko has not played well lately on either end, and sharpshooter Greg Elliott only made one basket in both games this week.
Pitt’s 2022-23 season has been a big success overall and the turnaround from last year is obviously staggering. Having said that, the final week of the regular season has been a dud, and not the exclamation point this program was hoping for given the momentum they had following that Syracuse game.
Pitt looked destined to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament one week ago, but that status is certainly murky at the moment. The Panthers looked poised to claim a double bye in the ACC Tournament for weeks now as well, but the late season slide has dropped the Panthers to 5th place in the league standings. Pitt will likely need to win at least one game in the ACC Tournament next week to feel confident heading into Selection Sunday.
Defense and rebounding
Pitt has not been as prolific on offense in either game this week against Notre Dame and Miami, but really that has not been the biggest issue of late. The Panthers have shot well from the field in both contests and even with some pieces of the team struggling on the offensive end, they have been able to put the ball in the basket enough to be competitive.
Pitt scored 81 points against Notre Dame and that should be enough to beat a bottom feeder in the league. The Panthers posted 76 points on 47% shooting on the road against a good Miami team and those are numbers worthy of a win as well.
The losses to Notre Dame and Miami this week were very much tied to Pitt's effort on the defensive end. The Irish only had two ACC wins heading into Wednesday, and failed to score more than 60 points in three consecutive games prior to that, but Pitt allowed them to topple 40 points in each half on Wednesday. Notre Dame certainly has some skilled offensive players, but they are an 11-win team for a reason. The Irish torched Pitt and had them chasing them around all night.
And on Saturday, Miami posted 42 points in the first half. It was the fourth straight half of basketball Pitt allowed more than 40 points to the opposition. The Hurricanes shot 46% from the field for the game, and had multiple unlikely players shred the Pitt defense.
Pitt limited Miami star Isaiah Wong to just 9 points on 1-of-9 shooting, which is a commendable effort, but the Panthers allowed Wooga Poplar to go off for 18 points on Saturday. Entering the game, Poplar was averaging just 7.9 points per game, but he was lethal from the three-point line against Pitt, with some of his shots going uncontested.
The Panthers’ defense was poor, but the rebounding was abysmal.
Miami out-rebounded Pitt 42-20 for the game, including 14 offensive boards. The Hurricanes top post player, Norchad Omier, stands in at only 6’7”, but he posted 15 points and 13 rebounds on Saturday night and controlled the glass all game long.
Pitt center Federiko Federiko had been one of Pitt’s most valuable players in the month of February, but he only posted 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 26 minutes of action on Saturday.
The Panthers have had issues on the glass all season, and that's no secret, but to get out-rebounded by 20 in the biggest game of the year against a team that is not exactly beaming with height is a pretty lackluster effort on their part.
Miami totaled 30 points in the paint for the game and posted 25 second chance points.
The stat that stuck out the most in the loss to Notre Dame was the 16 missed free throws, but on Saturday it was the rebounding. In two crucial games down the stretch, Pitt did not show up in two very important statistical departments and ultimately it cost them wins, and also at least a share of an ACC Championship.
Work to be done in Greensboro
At this point in time, nobody knows what the NCAA Tournament selection committee is thinking. We can refresh Joe Lunardi’s bracket 100 times in the next week, but it will all come down to what is said on Selection Sunday.
As we all know, Pitt’s metrics and computer rankings have lagged behind all year. The Panthers had a rough 1-3 start to the season, and seemingly that has held them back all season long. In fairness to Jeff Capel’s squad, a lot of those numbers has had to do with the overall strength of the ACC.
The league is not thought of too highly at the moment by the computer rankings. The one redeeming quality Pitt had in their favor, however, was being atop the league standings, even if the ACC was thought to be down this season.
So, now what?
Pitt started the week all alone in first place, but following a pair of losses, the Panthers will begin the ACC Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will be playing on Wednesday afternoon rather than receiving a double bye. Everything fell Pitt’s way last week in terms of help from other teams in the league, but those fortunes changed this week, and now Pitt has a different path if it wants to win the ACC Tournament.
Again, nobody knows how the selection committee will view this team. It is unlikely, even on a down year, that an ACC team with 14 conference wins will be left out of the NCAA Tournament.
Does Pitt absolutely, positively need at least a win in Greensboro? It’s hard to say, but Pitt probably shouldn’t test it out with a loss on Wednesday either.
Pitt needs to go into Greensboro with the mindset that they need some more wins to bolster the resume, but aside from that, this team needs to just play some better basketball overall if they are indeed heading to the big dance. The win over Syracuse was impressive, but the two games that followed left a lot to be desired. The Panthers need to clean up the defensive side of the ball in a big way and also get the offense clicking on all cylinders again. The ACC Tournament is a fresh slate of sorts. Pitt is a team capable of going on a run in Greensboro, and if they can string together a couple of wins, then there shouldn’t be much to worry about next Sunday.