No. 4 Blue Devils beat down on Pitt: Can men’s basketball hang with the nation’s top dogs?

For a Pitt squad that was the first team out of this week’s AP Top 25, the game against No. 4 Duke stood as a prime opportunity for the Panthers to prove that they could play competitively with the country’s top teams. When the final buzzer sounded in a 76-47 loss, however, the theme of Pitt beating down on weaker teams but falling to the sharks became more and more true. Pitt’s first loss came early in the season to then-No. 19 Wisconsin, the second to now-No. 14 Mississippi State and now the third to No. 4 Duke. See the pattern here? 

Taking a deeper look into these games, though, the Panthers lost much in part to injuries, specifically to senior guard and 10 plus points per game scorer Damian Dunn. The impactful transfer left the court in the first two minutes against Wisconsin. Still injury ridden, Dunn sat on the bench in the Panthers’ 33-point loss to the Bulldogs. 

While Dunn played on Tuesday night, it was obvious that he wasn’t fully healthy — evident in fans noticing him shaking out his hands during the game and the fact that the game was played just as his original six-week rehabbing timetable came to a close. After senior forward Zack Austin went down late in the game against Duke with an apparent shoulder injury, fans held their breath at the thought of another star player relegated to the sidelines until the high-flying forward stayed in the game.

Obvious work to do

The necessary work is clear. Shot-making and taking advantage of scoring opportunities are two things that Pitt struggled with throughout both halves against Duke. The Panthers shot a measly 31% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc. While this is an easy nit-pick, Duke is the third-highest team in the country in defensive efficiency. While the Panthers struggled to put the ball in the net, it came at the hands of the cream of the crop. 

On many occasions, Pitt failed to convert off of fast-breaks which trashed potential momentum shifts and simply didn’t put points to the board — something the team desperately needed down the stretch. Pitt did not score in the final 7:59 minutes of play. This type of drought is unheard of for a winning team and this simply can not happen in the latter parts of the season. Not falling victim to runs and droughts is important and game-dictating. 

At the end of the second half, Pitt lost out on two one-and-one opportunities — a chance to go into the locker room down three, but instead the Panthers went into the second period down seven — a big difference as the game seemingly slipped out of their hands during the final half.

The Panthers need to work on keeping their chins up and regrouping to cut opposing momentum or get a necessary bucket. Duke went on multiple runs of 10-plus points to Pitt’s zero — stretches that the Panthers were not able to recover from.  

Another aspect of the game centered around defense, and three-point defense at that — albeit Duke stands as the 16th-best team in three-pointers made per game, which again raises the concern for Pitt when facing a top program. The good teams are going to shoot the ball well, and if Pitt wants to beat those teams, defending the three ball has to become a priority.

Undersized Panthers often outmatched

Pitt, undersized as a whole, struggled to match up with the lengthy Blue Devils which showed in the box score and the final result. Duke out-rebounded Pitt 41-26 and 32-17 on the defensive end. The Panthers’ issue here stems from the fact that they do not have a true center on the team. 

Pitt’s big men are all listed as forwards and, when shot into the five position, are often mismatched with either taller or heavier players in opposing jerseys. Despite this, junior forward Cameron Corhen made nice defensive plays including three blocks, two steals and seven rebounds. Pitt’s guards struggled with the same sentiment, outmatched by Duke’s taller guards which added to the Panthers’ friction on the scoring end.

Silver linings 

Some highlights from the game came from Austin and first-year guard Brandin Cummings. Austin continued his season of upgraded play and kept up his swiss army knife-like role, snagging steals and loose balls, making scrappy plays, hitting shots and overall flying around the court. Cummings, the youngest player in all of division one college basketball, showed flashes of experienced stardom late in the game on back-to-back fast break acrobatic layups, giving fans more of a taste of what the kid can do with more playing time. 

Fans shouldn’t worry though. Despite not having a signature win and failing to optimize their quad-one opportunities thus far, Pitt has many chances to rewrite the script left and is still currently well on track as a tournament team. The Panthers are a tough team and have a lot to look forward to. Pitt currently has no more ranked opponents on their schedule, and if the Panthers can dominate through the next two months, they’ll most definitely book their ticket to the Big Dance in March. 

The Panthers hit the court next on Saturday at home as they look to get back in the win column against Louisville at noon. Catch the game on ESPN.