The 2021-22 Pitt basketball season came to a close on Tuesday afternoon, as the Panthers fell to Boston College 66-46 in the opening day of the ACC Tournament at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn. The 13th seeded Panthers let the game get away in the final minutes of the first half and never recovered after that, and fell victim to 13th-seeded Boston College for the second time this season.
Pitt senior Mo Gueye drilled a three-pointer at the 4:52 mark of the first half to give Pitt its last lead of the game at 22-21. It all went downhill from there. Boston College closed the half on a 12-0 run to take a 33-22 advantage at the break.
Pitt finished the first half with nearly a five minute scoring draught, and the struggles continued after the break. Boston College outscored the Panthers 12-3 in the opening minutes of the second half, and stretched the lead to 21 points before Pitt's first field goal, a John Hugley jumper at 13:48.
Hugley was a bright spot for the Panthers. He finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds, and looked engaged early in the game. He picked up his second foul just ahead of Boston College's big run to close out the half, and his presence was missed on both sides of the court and the Eagles took advantage.
Foul trouble proved to be a common theme for Pitt on Tuesday. In the early stages of the second half, Pitt guard Femi Odukale got tangled with a Boston College player and was eventually assessed a flagrant and a technical foul on the same play, giving him four fouls. Moments later, Jamarius Burton was hit with his second charge of the game, and his fourth foul overall giving Pitt both of its starting guards four fouls with over 17 minutes left in the game.
Gueye had a strong performance and continued his torrid pace at the end of the season. The Stony Brook transfer produced 12 points and 6 rebounds. Burton bounced back from a rough showing on Saturday with 10 points, but Odukale went scoreless and fellow guard Ithiel Horton added six.
Boston College has only won six games since December 3rd, but two of those victories have come against the Panthers. First year coach Earl Grant received a strong, balanced attack with six players scoring at least 8 points, led by 13 points from big manJames Karnik.
Common themes that have plagued Pitt all season surfaced in the season finale. Pitt only shot 3-of-11 from three-point range. The team committed 14 turnovers, and the bench contributed just 3 points despite added playing time due to foul trouble from the starters.
Once the Boston College lead ballooned to around 20 points, Pitt never really threatened to get back into the game. Typically an anemic offensive team, Boston College made 7 three-pointers for the game.
Boston College advances to tomorrow afternoon's game against 5th seeded Wake Forest. The Eagles will look to play spoiler against one of the surprising upstart teams in the league this season in Wake Forest, who boasts the ACC Coach of the Year in Steve Forbes along with Player of the Year Alondes Williams.
Pitt's season ends with a 11-21 mark and with a five-game losing streak to boot. It is the sixth straight losing season for this program, and the fourth under Jeff Capel's watch. Pitt has played on the opening day of the ACC Tournament as a bottom-six seeded team for all six of these losing seasons, and have lost on the first day in 2018, 2021, and now in 2022.
Jeff Capel will now enter a murky offseason starting now with questions surrounding his job security, buyout, and overall tenure all over the place. Capel now owns a 51-69 record in five seasons with a 21-53 mark in league play.
The Panthers are set to lose just one player in Mo Gueye, but the transfer portal could also subtract from the roster as well in the coming days. As it stands now, Pitt does not have one player committed in the class of 2022 and will likely lean heavily on the transfer portal to try to reshape the roster ahead of next season.
