Pitt Blown Out in Rematch With Wake Forest
PITTSBURGH -- With the Pitt Panthers firmly entrenched on the NCAA tournament bubble, the stakes were high going into their road matchup against another postseason hopeful in the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The game over before it started, however, as the Demon Deacons ran the Panthers off the floor in a 91-58 blowout win and maintained their perfect record at home this season.
Pitt turned in arguably its worst offensive performance of the season, shooting 29.0% from the field and 27.3% from behind the arc while Blake Hinson was effectively erased by Wake Forest's defense. On the other end, the Demon Deacons tore through the Panthers' defense en route to shooting 60.8% overall with 38 points in the paint and 10 three-pointers.
A Zack Austin second chance layup on Pitt's first possession of the game set it off on the right foot, though the Panthers wouldn't score again until the 15:59 mark. That slump led to an 8-0 run for Wake Forest that set up an 11-5 lead for it before the first media timeout at the 15:25 mark.
A Federiko Federiko layup and Jaland Lowe three cut the Panthers' deficit to three points following the break, which began a 4-of-4 shooting stretch. The Demon Deacons remained hot on the offensive end as well, using a 7-0 run to keep Pitt at bay as they carried a 24-17 lead into the second media timeout at the 8:55 mark.
A 6-of-8 spell for Wake Forest expanded its lead to 32-18 at the 7:16 mark, forcing Jeff Capel to burn a timeout. The Panthers responded with a pair of quick buckets, though the Demon Deacons kept pace and held a 35-25 lead going into the third media timeout at the 3:34 mark.
A 6-0 run expanded Wake Forest's lead to 16 points, but three-pointers from Bub Carrington and Ishmael Leggett in the closing minutes helped the Panthers close the gap to 45-33 at halftime.
The Demon Deacons' strategy of face guarding Blake Hinson and challenging the rest of Pitt's roster to carry the load was an effective one in the first half as Hinson shot just 1-of-3 while the Panthers as a whole went 11-of-30 from the field. Pitt was active on the offensive boards, coming away with six rebounds on that end, but so was Wake Forest, who recorded five of its own while shooting 58.3% overall and 53.8% from behind the arc. The Panthers' struggled to contend with the Demon Deacons in the paint as well, allowing them to register 14 points from that area of the floor.
Lowe led Pitt with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the first half as Hunter Sallis and Kevin "Boopie" Miller each shot 3-of-6 for Wake Forest and matched Lowe's scoring output.
Pitt came out flat in the second half, missing its first eight attempts from the field and tallying just two points over the first four minutes as the Demon Deacons grew their lead to 53-35 before the first media timeout at the 15:56 mark.
Wake Forest never slowed down, breaking off an 11-0 run while making five-straight field goals as its lead expanded to 64-37 going into the second media timeout at the 13:13 mark. During that same span, Pitt missed four shots in a row and was without a point for over two minutes.
Hinson's first three-pointer of the contest came at the 11:55 mark, though it was too little too late. The Panthers' defense found a way to hold the Demon Deacons without a field goal for over four minutes, but it did little in the long run as Wake Forest held a 73-50 lead before a media timeout at the 7:19 mark.
The Demon Deacons further added insult to injury by extending their lead to 29 points on a Cameron Hildreth jumper at the 5:41 mark. The outcome was a formality from that point forward as Wake Forest snapped Pitt's five-game win streak and left the Panthers with a lot to reflect on moving forward.
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