In Pitt’s two games prior to Sunday’s trip to Georgia Tech, the Panthers showed they could hang with anyone in the ACC when they play their best.

But in the games prior to that, they showed that they could lose to anyone in the conference if they didn’t play their best, and on Sunday, facing another middle-of-the-pack ACC team in Georgia Tech, Pitt didn’t play its best.

As a result, the Panthers will fly back to Pittsburgh on Sunday night with a losing record in conference play after dropping a 71-65 loss to the Yellow Jackets.

After beating Virginia Tech and giving Virginia everything it could handle, Pitt seemed to need more than a half of Sunday’s game to get going. The Panthers were fairly awful in the first 20 minutes, with more turnovers (12) than made field goals (8), six missed free throws and just 22 points to trail Georgia Tech by nine at halftime.

Junior guard Xavier Johnson was at the forefront of Pitt’s issues. He committed five turnovers in the first half and played just seven minutes after picking up two fouls - including a double-technical with Georgia Tech forward Jordan Usher.

Those problems continued in the second half. Johnson picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first four minutes after halftime and promptly headed to the bench with seven turnovers and nine points.

Johnson returned at the 6:28 mark and had a strong stretch, including a fast-break layup off a steal to tie the game 55-55 at 4:36, but Georgia Tech answered with a three-point basket and the Panthers never got closer than one point from there on.

With Johnson sidelined, Pitt got significant production from Ithiel Horton. The redshirt sophomore guard scored just three points in the first half, but he hit 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three to score 15 points in the second half.

Horton finished as Pitt’s leading scorer with 18, ahead of Au’Diese Toney, who scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Justin Champagnie, the ACC’s leader in scoring and rebounding, had 13 points and six boards in 38 minutes while struggling with a hand injury.

As a team, Pitt shot 60.7% in the second half, but they couldn’t overcome 19 fouls and 18 turnovers.

Georgia Tech was led by forward Moses Wright, who scored 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

Pitt (9-7 overall, 5-6 ACC) will now look to regroup before hosting N.C. State for a 4:30 pm tipoff on Wednesday.