Slow Start Dooms Pitt in ACC Tournament Loss to Duke
GREENSBORO -- Amid the thousands of local Duke fans who packed the arena in their home state to watch their team, the Pitt Panthers were buried quickly, efficiently and without any doubt. 12-0 runs opened both halves and Pitt was unable to recover, instead suffering a 96-69 drubbing at the hands of Duke in the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Blue Devils were off to a fast start thanks to a pair of wide-open 3-pointers from star freshman Kyle Filipowski. Penetration from the guards drew wing defenders in and created loads of space for him to let it fly.
Filipowski had to be helped off the floor after colliding with Blake Hinson, but his substitute, Dariq Whitehead, hit a 3-pointer of his own immediately after checking in. Pitt found themselves down 11-0 less than three minutes into the game.
The Panthers scored their first points on a pair of Jamarius Burton free throws at the 16:25 mark of the first half and after a dunk from Federiko Federiko, they had stabilized things. But Duke scored consecutive buckets again, forcing Jeff Capel to call timeout down 16-4 at the 13:58 mark of the first half.
Pitt started to find their footing defensively after that timeout. They forced turnovers on three straight possessions and held the Blue Devils scoreless for nearly 2:30. A driving layup from Blake Hinson and a 3-pointer from Nike Sibande cut the deficit to nine, but Duke continued to answer with easy scores from the paint and they entered the under-eight media timeout leading 25-13.
Duke expanded their lead to 18 as the first half clock wound inside of four minutes. Prior the final media timeout, Pitt had shown some life by making five of their last seven shots, but so had the Blue Devils and that was the crux of the problem - every time the Panthers began to steal some momentum back, their opponents had an answer.
Jeremy Roach hit a triple from the left wing with just over a minute to go as time ran out on the shot clock to stretch the lead to as large as 19 and the Panthers cut into the deficit every so slightly with some free throws from both Diaz Graham twins and a dunk from Guillermo had the Panthers headed to halftime down 48-32.
But whatever positive momentum Pitt built at the end of the first half, Duke stole it right back at the start of the second. Another half-opening 12-0 run had the Panthers down 60-32 less than two minutes after halftime ended.
Things only got worse from there. Pitt's best counterpunch - a 5-0 burst spanning 30 seconds - was met immediately by five straight points from the Blue Devils that put them up 74-44 with 11:46 to play. By the 8:18 mark, Duke led 83-52 and it only got worse. Duke had 90 points by the six-minute mark and head coach Jon Scheyer emptied his bench.
Reserves played out the waning minutes of the Blue Devils' dominating win and Pitt bowed out of the ACC Tournament with a 96-69 loss to still red-hot Duke.
The Panthers will now have to sit on their hands over the weekend. Instead of working to solidify their NCAA Tournament standing, they will have to rely on the grace of the Selection Committee and pray on other bubble teams losing in their own conference tournament.
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