Pitt Dominated by Duke in Ugly Loss
PITTSBURGH -- The Petersen Events swelled with energy as a big game feel took over Oakland ahead of a massive home game for the Pitt Panthers against No. 11 Duke.
The Panthers were game for a short period in the first half but they were overwhelmed and ultimately routed by a Duke team with designs of winning an ACC Championship and more. The Panthers looked too young and too small in a 75-53 loss at home to the Blue Devils for the sixth time in seven attempts under head coach Jeff Capel
Duke won the tip and took an early 4-0 lead behind a tip-in from Kyle Filipowski and a layup from star freshman Jered McCain. Filipowksi got the Blue Devils off to a hot start with four points and four rebounds - three of which were offensive. They led 9-4 at the first media break with Pitt having made just one of six field goal attempts to that point.
Blake Hinson knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night to make 9-7, Duke but Tyrese Proctor entered the game and immediately nailed a triple himself, followed by one more from McCain to make it 15-7 in favor of the visitors with just under 14 minutes to go until halftime. A 10-2 run made it 19-9, Duke by the 11:33 mark.
Pitt went more than four minutes without scoring but over that same period, the Blue Devils only scored seven points, keeping the game within reach for the Panthers. Ishmael Leggett, making his return from a shoulder injury, broke a 7-0 Duke run and scoreless streak at the 8:43 mark with a fadeaway jumper. But the Blue Devils answered with five quick points and extended their lead to 27-11, forcing Pitt to call timeout with 7:45 to play until halftime.
The Devils then unleashed a barrage of 3-pointers, making five in a row to open up a 39-19 lead by the 4:35 mark of the first half. They then closed the half with a 9-4 burst, capped by another Filipowski triple, that gave them a 25-point advantage - 48-23 - at halftime.
A 12-2 run for Duke spanning just over two minutes put the Blue Devils up by 32 with 13:16 left to play in regulation and sent the first wave of Pitt fans heading for the exits.
Duke continued to simply flatten Pitt on the offensive end, finding open shots from wherever, whenever they wanted and making them at a 60% clip as they maintained a lead north of 30 points through the eight-minute mark.
Consecutive triples from Will Jeffress and Guillermo Diaz Graham cut the deficit to just 66-39 by the under-eight media timeout of the second half.
But with the game never in doubt, both squads turned to lineups made up mostly of reserves. Pitt found some late buckets from Bub Carrington to make the final score look somewhat respectable, but 30-point deficits aren't overcome often for a reason.
The Panthers limped to the finish of a 75-53 defeat and fell to 1-4 in ACC play. Only a home game against Syracuse stands between them and another date with the Blue Devils and that game will come on the road inside the vaunted Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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