Shooting Fails Pitt in Loss at Notre Dame

The Pitt Panthers missed 16 free throws and 15 3-pointers in a seven-point defeat at Notre Dame.

PITTSBURGH -- All that stood between the Pitt Panthers and the first overall seed in the ACC Tournament was a date on the road with Notre Dame, a squad that's won two games in conference this season and was riding a league-long seven-game losing streak into long-time head coach Mike Brey's final home game. 

Simply beat a struggling team and Pitt would head to Greensboro next weekend in a prime position to make a deep run in the postseason. But the Panthers didn't. Their defense and shooting failed to show up as they suffered one of their worst losses of the season - an 88-81 drubbing at the hands of the Irish. 

The Panthers got off to a sloppy start, particularly on the defensive end. They fell behind 9-12 at the first media timeout after Cormac Ryan scored a quick nine points in the first four minutes. Blake Hinson scored seven points on 3-4 shooting to keep Pitt close but they couldn't find enough stops to overtake the Irish. 

Pitt found open shots - especially from deep - but couldn't knock them down. They were 2-13 from 3-point range before Nike Sibande knocked down a 3-pointer to pull the Panthers within one at 24-25 with six minutes to play in the first half. Meanwhile, Notre Dame shot the lights out from deep, making seven of 14 attempts from 3-point range and four of their final six triples to take a 14-point lead into halftime. 

Behind 13 points from Marcus Hammond and 12 from Ryan, the Irish arrived at intermission riding a 14-2 run and scored the last 11 points of the half over the final 3:29 of game time. Pitt ended the first 20 minutes having shot just 35% from the floor and 20% from both the free throw line and 3-point range. 

Coming out of halftime, the Panthers forced misses on Notre Dame's first three attempts from 3-point range in the second half and made three of their first five attempts from the field to trim the deficit slightly. But twice when Pitt looked like they were going to spark a run, Ryan and Hammond knocked down back-breaking triples to keep the lead north of 15. 

The game was about to move to a media timeout with under 12 minutes left when head coach Jeff Capel earned a technical foul for complaining about calls to the referees. The ensuing free throws put Pitt down 20 at 61-41, but it was able to rally and cut the lead to just 14 two minutes later. But five straight points from Trey Wertz later and the lead was back to 19. 

The Panthers' struggles from the free throw line - they had made just seven of 19 attempts at the nine minute mark of the second half - persisted, making any shot at mounting a comeback drastically more difficult. 

Pitt tried to mount one final push late in the second half. They cut the deficit to 74-60 with just under four minutes to play behind some tough drives and miraculously made free throws. After going scoreless for more than two minutes, Notre Dame had allowed Pitt to claw back within 11 after Nelly Cummings knocked down a triple as the clock wound under three minutes. 

The Irish responded, however, shutting the door with clutch free throws from Nate Laszewski and Wertz and a timely layup from Ryan, made right before an expiring shot clock sounded. 

Cummings hit another triple with 1:14 left to cut the lead under 10 for the first time since the 2:41 mark of the first half. The Panthers simply could not stop committing fouls and Notre Dame made them pay at the line, but Burton got the Panthers to within five with a 3-pointer from the corner. Wertz made two free throws, Burton missed a triple and an open layup and then Ryan converted a wide-open dunk to all but ice the game. 

Burton, Sibande and Cummings each scored a valiant 19 points in the comeback effort, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 55.6% mark from the free throw line. 

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