Duke throttles Pitt 96-69 in ACC Tournament
Duke scored the first 12 points of the game in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament against Pitt, and really that opening sequence defined the entire afternoon. The fourth-seeded Blue Devils crushed Pitt 96-69 on Thursday and made it look easy. Duke grabbed a 24-13 lead on a Dariq Whitehead bucket with 7:42 remaining in the first half, and the lead never got to single digits for the remainder of the game.
Duke put on an offensive clinic on Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum, but at the same time their defensive effort limited Pitt's high powered offense from the start and never allowed them to find rhythm. The Panthers came into this game with 299 made three-pointers in the first 32 games of the season, but only finished 5-of-18 on Thursday. Pitt's leading three-point shooter, Blake Hinson, finished with 5 points and 1-of-4 from three. The Panthers' second best shooter, Greg Elliott, only got off one three-point attempt in this game, which he missed.
The Panthers opened the game just 1-of-8 from the field, and never found any kind of sustained success on the offensive end in this one. Pitt got a brief spark at the end of the first half with 5 points by the Diaz Graham brothers, but any momentum ended right there at the break.
Duke opened the second half on a similar 12-0 spurt and put the game out of reach for good. The lead in the second half got as high as 36 points, as the Blue Devils had it basically in cruise control for the final 20 minutes of the game and likely would have scored 100 if the reserves did not enter in the final minutes
Pitt was led offensively by Nike Sibande, who finished with a team-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but had to work for everything he got, as did the rest of the team. Sibande was 6-of-11 from the floor. Jamarius Burton finished with 13 points, but needed 12 shots to get there. Hinson, Elliott, and Nelly Cummings finished with a combined 11 points on 1-for-13 shooting.
Guillermo Diaz Graham posted 14 points and 8 rebounds off the bench, as he and his brother, Jorge, both got extended playing time in the second half with the game well out of reach.
Pitt's two biggest issues of late have been rebounding and defense, and Duke exploited both weaknesses on Thursday. The Blue Devils out-rebounded Pitt 30-25, and grabbed a total of 8 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 second chance points.
Duke also shot a scorching hot 62% from the floor for the game.
Kyle Filipowski, the ACC Rookie of the Year, had a strong game against Pitt back in January and picked up right where he left off in that one. Filpowski paced the Blue Devils with 22 points. Despite an early ankle injury that forced him to go to the locker room, Filpowski returned, but it's not like he was needed.
Duke also got 13 from Dereck Lively, 12 from Mark Mitchell, and 11 from Tyreese Proctor. As a team, Duke connected on 11 three-pointers. The Blue Devils improved to 24-8 on the year and have now won seven straight games and are starting to resemble the team that many tabbed as a top-10 team to start the year
Pitt dropped to 1-2 all-time in the ACC quarterfinal round. In Pitt's ten years in the league, the Panthers have only made it out of this round once, back in their first year in the league. The Panthers now fall to 22-11 on the year and will leave their NCAA Tournament fate to chance heading into Selection Sunday. Most projections have Pitt in as of today following the win over Georgia Tech on Wednesday, and the tournament pairings will be announced on Sunday evening.