The Pitt basketball team finally snapped a 13-game losing streak on Saturday with a win over Notre Dame. On Tuesday night, 14th-seeded Pitt won a second second consecutive game with a 80-70 victory over 10th-seeded Boston College. It marked the first time Pitt has won back-to-back games since December 20th and 29th with those wins coming over New Orleans and Colgate, respectively.
It also marks Pitt first win in the ACC Tournament since March 7, 2017 - a 61-59 win over Georgia Tech in the first round. Jeff Capel's squad also avenges a February 12th loss, when the Eagles won 66-57 in Chestnut Hill.
Pitt used a similar recipe for success that it used to pull upsets over Louisville and Florida State earlier this year - and that was to let the two true freshmen guards takeover the game. Trey McGowens followed up a strong performance on Saturday with 26 points tonight. Xavier Johnson finished with 23 points. The tandem went a combined 19-of-26 from the free-throw line.
Pitt pretty much controlled the game following a 23-5 run in the last six minutes in the first half. Pitt extended the lead all the way to 27 points on a Malik Ellison acrobatic layup to make it 57-30. The Eagles cut it to 9 points with 58.1 seconds remaining, but for the most part the Panthers were in comfortable control throughout the entire second half.
Pitt not only got solid contributions from the two freshmen guards, but also 16 points and 9 rebounds from senior Jared Wilson-Frame. Kene Chukwuka provided a season-high 9 rebounds. Even the three guys off the bench provided some contributions, including 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 blocks from Terrell Brown.
It was a team win, plain and simple. This is a young group that somehow found confidence and kept fighting despite enduring a pretty brutal 13-game losing streak that extended from January 19th up until Pitt's win on Saturday. It was a losing streak that could have ended this season on a pretty sour note. Many young teams would have folded with that kind of thing hanging over them, but Pitt turned the negatives into a positive in the season's final days.
The task ahead is daunting, of course. Up next Pitt will take on Syracuse tomorrow night at 9 p.m. The Orange beat Pitt twice this season and will likely be hearing it's name called on Selection Sunday. Nobody will be expecting Pitt to win, but with two positive performances going into tomorrow and a reinvigorated Trey McGowens - who knows what will happen? Pitt needed some momentum heading into the offseason, and this mini-run is doing just that if nothing else.
