Pitt falls to No. 1 Louisville 64-46

The Pitt Panthers went into the KFC Yum! Center and challenged the No. 1 Louisville Cardinals for the first 32 minutes of the game on Friday night, but ultimately came up short by a score of 64-46. The Panthers were led by Xavier Johnson, who finished with 15 points.

The game appeared to be fading from Pitt at halftime with Louisville leading 35-21. The Panthers came out strong in the second half and cut the deficit to 47-42 on the strength of an 8-0 run. Pitt forward Au'Diese Toney was whistled for a foul at the 8:44 mark of the game, and the Pitt bench was subsequently called for a technical.

That sequence of events shifted the momentum in favor of home team. Louisville then ripped off a 17-4 run for the remainder of the game to eventually cruise to an 18-point victory. Preseason ACC Player of the Year Jordan Nwora paced Louisville with 19 points and 6 rebounds.

The story early on was the outside shooting by the Cardinals. Louisville connected on 11 3-pointers overall, including 8 in the first half. All eight Louisville players that played on Friday made at least one 3-pointer, including centers Steven Enoch and Malik Williams.

Pitt received a strong showing yet again from graduate transfer forward Eric Hamilton. He finished with 10 points, and came up with multiple clutch shots. Toney was inserted back into the starting lineup and responded with 7 points and tied a team-high 7 rebounds.

Pitt was playing with Louisville throughout much of the first half, but went into a scoring drought in the final 5:26 of the half. Louisville went on an 8-0 run during that stretch to assert a commanding halftime lead.

Pitt kept a tight bench for the second consecutive game as only Justin Champagnie and Terrell Brown saw action off the bench. The two combined for 5 points and 11 rebounds. It marks the second straight game Champganie was held without a field goal as he was 0-for-7 from the field.

Pitt falls to 7-3 on the season and 1-1 in ACC play. The Panthers have now lost 22 consecutive road ACC contests dating back to 2017. Pitt's record agains the No.1 team in the country now falls to 2-18 all-time as well.

Pitt has a bit of a layoff until its next game The Panthers will resume action on Monday December 16th against Northern Illinois for a 7 p.m. tip at the Petersen Events Center.