Pitt Falls to Fifth Seed in ACC Tournament
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers entered their regular season finale against No. 16 Miami in control of their own destiny, needing just one win over No. 16 Miami to secure a share of the ACC regular season title and the top overall seed in next week's ACC Tournament.
The Panthers ultimately lost in the final seconds to the Hurricanes on the road after a valiant comeback effort and, as a result, needed some help from other ACC foes to hang on to their top-four seed. But Duke edged Carolina narrowly, 62-57, at the Dean E. Smith Center and Clemson blew out Notre Dame at home, bumping Pitt down to fifth place.
Pitt entered the evening in a tie for first with their foes from South Florida. The loss put them at risk of falling as low as the five seed and out of a double-bye. They could have locked the top seed up earlier in the week by beating 14th-place Notre Dame, but failed to do so. It proved a costly fumble for the Panthers, whose fantastic turnaround has lost some steam in the waning days of the regular season.
The Panthers will now likely need to play their way into the NCAA Tournament. Losing two in a row, especially on the road, was not necessarily fatal to their postseason hopes. But losing to Florida State or Georgia Tech, the two teams currently slated to play for another shot at Pitt, would be.
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