Men’s Basketball: Panthers lose fifth-straight game

Travon Woodall’s questionable decision-making down the stretch stifled any hope of a late… Travon Woodall’s questionable decision-making down the stretch stifled any hope of a late comeback for the Panthers as Pitt dropped its fifth-straight game on Sunday to Louisville.

On Pitt’s second-to-last possession, the point guard took a contested jumper with 17 seconds left in the game and the Panthers trailing 53-52. Following the miss, Louisville freshman Chane Behanan hit two free throws to boost his team’s lead to three points. Woodall drove to the hoop for a quick two points on the next possession to cut Louisville’s lead to 55-54 with 4.1 seconds remaining.

The risky decision backfired as Peyton Siva hit two foul shots for the Cardinals shortly after and Pitt senior Ashton Gibbs’ shot from just past the half-court line hit the back of the rim.

The final buzzer sounded, signaling a 57-54 win for Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center in Kentucky.

Woodall provided a spark for the Panthers in late January when the team went on a four-game winning streak. Woodall — coming off abdominal and groin injuries — led his team to big wins over Georgetown and at West Virginia.

Gibbs also benefitted from the point guard’s return to the lineup, as Woodall began to draw defenders off the sharp-shooting senior. The Panthers became a trendy pick to make a complete turnaround and earn a tournament bid.

But when Woodall’s play took a turn for the worse, so did the team’s record.

Woodall scored just four points Sunday, going 2-10 from the field. The redshirt junior had two assists and turned the ball over six times.

The Panthers struggled against Louisville’s full-court press. Pitt turned the ball over 18 times — a normal occurrence for this year’s Panther squad — and the Cardinals took advantage by scoring 24 points off the mistakes.

The latest loss dropped Pitt to a dismal 4-12 record in the Big East and moved its overall record to 15-14. With two games remaining, the Panthers must win one to avoid their first losing regular season since the 2000-2001 season.

Over Pitt’s decade of success, shutdown man-to-man defense has been a staple. The Panthers played good defense in the first six minutes of Sunday’s contest, holding the Cardinals to only three points. But after the first media timeout, the Cardinals went on a 18-3 run to take a 21-11 lead.

Then the Panthers’ offense and early defensive execution began to disappear.

Down 10 points, the Panthers showed some fight leading up to halftime. J.J. Moore made a quick layup and a jump shot, separated by one free throw by Louisville’s Russ Smith, to narrow the score to 22-15.

Powered by a 13-4 run, Pitt pulled within a point and trailed the Cardinals 25-24 going to the locker room. Moore scored seven of the 13 points during the scoring streak.

The past two games might have revealed a player with the potential to score consistently for the Panthers. Moore has shown flashes of crucial talent in his past two games, scoring a career-high 21 points against South Florida and dropping a team-high 16 points against the Cardinals while grabbing seven rebounds.

Fellow small forward Lamar Patterson scored four points and grabbed three rebounds in only 14 minutes Sunday. The sophomore was in foul trouble for most of the game. Since his 18-point performance against No. 10 Georgetown, Patterson has been a relative non-factor.

In the second half, Louisville started slow again. Pitt scored the first six points and jumped out to a five-point lead on the Cardinals. But Cardinal senior Kyle Kuric’s 3-pointer capped a quick six points that put Louisville back in the lead, 31-30.

Smith followed with a run of his own for the Cardinals. He was the only Louisville player to score from just under the 14 minute mark until 8:31 remained in the game.

During that five-and-a-half-minute stretch, Smith scored 11 points. Three more points by Kuric and an offensive rebound and layup by Behanan earned Louisville’s its biggest lead of the second half, an eight-point margin of 49-41.

Smith finished the game with 18 points to lead the Cardinals. He added four steals as the man pressuring Pitt’s guards in the full-court press. The pesky Smith caused most of the troubles that Woodall and Gibbs had bringing the ball past midcourt.

Kuric’s day ended with 17 points as the 3-point specialist went 4-7 from beyond the arc. The senior also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals for a well-rounded performance.

The Panthers surged back to within two, but Kuric nailed another 3-pointer bringing the score to 53-48 with one second remaining on the shot clock and 3:25 left in the game.

Pitt fought back.

With just more than a minute remaining, Woodall hit a tough jumpshot with Kuric in his face. A missed front end of a one-and-one by Gorgui Dieng led to a smart pass by Patterson to a wide-open Dante Taylor for a dunk with 28 seconds remaining, making the score 53-52 in favor of Louisville.

With the Panthers down one, Woodall’s late-game decisions sealed the win for the Cardinals, and Louisville completed the season sweep over Pitt. Louisville is 15-3 at home this season.

Pitt returns home to the Petersen Events Center Wednesday to host St. John’s in its final regular-season home game of the year.

A potential NIT or CBI bid could bring postseason basketball to Pitt for the first time since that same losing 2000-2001 season