A shorthanded Pitt team put forth a spirited effort against Louisville, but the Panthers came up short by a score of 64-54 at the Petersen Events Center on Tuesday evening. Prior to tip-off, the school announced that Pitt's two leading scorers: Justin Champagnie and Au'Diese Toney would be unavailable due to injury. Chamapgnie is out 6-8 weeks, while Toney is day-to-day.
Pitt was also without head coach Jeff Capel, who tested positive for COVID-19 and it was previously announced he would be unavailable for Tuesday's contest.
The news seemed to affect the Panthers in the early going. Louisville jumped out to a 24-9 lead. Pitt struggled to find offense and started the game 3-of-14 from the floor. The game took a turn around the 10-minute mark of the first half, thanks to a spark from freshman guard Femi Odukale. The Brooklyn native connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to cut into the Louisville lead and get Pitt going.
He finished with a team-high 16 points, with 12 of those coming in the first half. In total, Pitt closed the first half on an impressive 19-6 run to cut Louisville lead to 30-28 at halftime.
The Panthers never held the lead on Tuesday, but came close multiple times, but seemingly could never cut over the proverbial hump. Pitt had it down to 40-39 in the second half following an Xavier Johnson dunk, but the Cardinals responded and never let it get that close again.
Johnson finished with 10 points, including 8 in the second half, but once again he had to spend long spurts on the bench due to foul trouble. He later fouled out in the closing minutes and did not record an assist on the night.
Louisville held a significant rebounding edge at 45-26. Pitt of course was without Chamapgnie, who leads the ACC in rebounding. His presence was missed around the rim and it allowed for Louisville to grab 1t offensive rebounds that led to 15 second-chance points.
The injuries forced some new lineup combinations on Tuesday. Nike Sibande, playing in only his second game with Pitt, earned the start, as did freshman forward Noah Collier. Sibande poured in 8 points, while Collier provided 4.
Pitt had it down to a six-point deficit following a John Hugley layup with 5:21 remaining, but Louisville extended the lead to double-figures, as Pitt ran out of steam in the closing minutes.
Louisville star Carlik Jones returned to action on Tuesday after missing the team's last game, but he was held to just 3-12 from the floor. He finished with 12 points. The Cardinals were led by David Johnson, who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Pitt will now have the next seven days off, before returning to action next Tuesday at Duke. Pitt will take a 5-2 record into Cameron Indoor Stadium, as Jeff Capel is tentatively set to make his second trip to his former school to square off against his mentor Mike Kryzewski.
