The last time the Pitt men’s basketball team faced off against Louisville was last January in a 106-51 defeat. While the deficit never got up to 50, Pitt’s most recent game with Louisville was similarly uncompetitive as Louisville beat Pitt 77-51 on Tuesday night.

After starting conference play with a 67-53 loss against Miami on Saturday, the Pitt men’s basketball team (8-7) went to Louisville (11-3) looking to change course and get their first ACC win this season. The first change the team made was in the starting lineup. For the first time in program history Pitt started five first-years.

The starters got out to a a competitive start, as the Panthers held an early 12-11 lead five minutes into the first half, but the game turned quickly as the Cardinals went on a 17-0 run over the next eight minutes. The Cardinals run was finally ended by a three from first-year Parker Stewart with 6:52 left in the half to make it 28-15.

Stewart led the Panthers in scoring in the first half with eight points. The Cardinals took a decisive 41-23 lead into the half.

Pitt showed signs of life after the break, starting the second half with a 7-0 run and bringing the deficit down to 11 points at a score of 41-30. That was as close as the game would get as Louisville continued to dominate the game thanks in large part to their defense.

Louisville forced Pitt into difficult shots all night. Pitt once again struggled to score, going only 17-49 from the field. Leading scorer, junior forward Jared Wilson-Frame, had a poor shooting night going only 2-13 from the field and 0-9 from three. Of Pitt’s 51 points, 39 were scored by first-years. Parker Stewart led the team for the game with 12 points.

Next up, the Panthers head to Blacksburg, VA to play Virginia Tech on Jan. 6. Tipoff is at noon.