The Pitt basketball team started and finished the first half with bad stretches of play, and ultimately those lapses did the Panthers in on Tuesday evening, as Miami defeated Pitt by a score of XX-XX at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt has now lost two straight games since an upset win over North Carolina last week, and saw their record drop to 11-18 on the season.

Miami opened the game with a 14-2 advantage in the first 3:33 of the game. The Panthers committed three turnovers in the opening minutes, a trend that followed them throughout the night. Miami scored an incredible 30 points off of turnovers for the game.

After the Miami run to start the game, the Panthers settled in thanks to Mo Gueye. The Panthers senior forward got the crowd going with a putback dunk and a pair of triples to spark a 10-0 run. Unfortunately for Pitt, Gueye only played nine minutes in the opening half. Gueye attempted an aggressive dunk, but was called for a charge, which was his second foul and was forced to sit the remainder of the first half. He also went to the locker room, and eventually returned with a taped wrist.

The senior finished with 11 points and five rebounds.

The Hurricanes took advantage of his absence in the final three minutes of the half. Pitt struggled to find scoring options, and did not make a field goal in the 3:38 of the half. Miami stretched out a 36-26 lead to a 47-27 advantage during that span, and the Panthers never were able to recover.

Pitt started the second half down 20 points. Sophomore big man John Hugley opened with a basket to make it 47-29 — the last time the Miami lead was under 20 points until 1:20 left in the game. The Hurricanes dominated the entire second half, leaving Pitt without many answers on either side of the ball.

Miami improved to 20-8 on the season with the victory. The Hurricanes are looking to improve their tournament resume, and avoided a letdown against Pitt. Miami has a key home game with Virginia Tech on Saturday.

Four different Hurricanes reached double figures, including senior point guard Charlie Moore. The veteran Moore controlled the tempo and game and finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He also issued five assists. Leading scorer Kameron McGusty also chipped in with 19 points of his own.

The Panthers' backcourt trio of Femi Odukale, Jamarius Burton, and Ithiel Horton combined for 28 points on just 12-of-34 shooting, and committed 11 of the team's 20 turnovers.

Hugley led Pitt in scoring with 20 points and 7 rebounds, his eighth 20-point performance of the season.

Pitt is off this weekend, and will return to action next Tuesday against Duke. It will be the Panthers' home finale for the year, and it is a highly-anticipated matchup due to it being Mike Kryzewski's final away game as the head coach of Duke. The Panthers won the lone meeting with the Blue Devils a season ago.