Pitt men’s basketball dropped their third-straight game 82-70 to Florida State. The Panthers are now 12-5 and 7th in the ACC.
After an abysmal first half, Pitt found a much-needed offensive spark from junior forward Jorge Diaz Graham, who scored a career-high 17 points including four three-pointers in his 18 minutes off the bench. But the spark wasn’t enough to overcome only 23 points and 14 turnovers in the first half. Sophomore guard Jaland Lowe led the Panthers with 22 points but also had eight turnovers.
The Panthers had three turnovers before they scored a single point and committed five turnovers in the first five minutes, four off the hands of Lowe. Pitt’s first field goal was a jumper from redshirt senior forward Zach Austin with 14:54 left in the first half to cut Pitt’s deficit to 8-6.
Pitt’s defense made up for their looseness with the ball by forcing five Florida State turnovers in the first seven minutes of the game.
Poor rebounding has killed the Panthers in all four of their losses this season. While the Panthers were turning the ball over they did a much better job rebounding in the first half—an effort that would wane as the game progressed Austin grabbed five rebounds early in the first half and wouldn’t grab another for the rest of the game. Junior forward Guillermo Diaz Graham grabbed the Panthers’ first offensive rebound with 11:48 left in the first half and scored on a put-back hook shot to tie the game 10-10.
A baseline floater from first-year guard Brandin “Beebah” Cummings gave the Panthers their first lead of the game 12-10 with 11:14 in the first half. Although still early, points were hard to come by for both teams. With eight minutes left in the first half, the Panthers were 4-for-14 from the field and 0-4 from deep. The Seminoles were 3-for-16 from the field.
Junior forward Cameron Corhen, who transferred from Florida State to Pitt in the offseason, was poised to add an interior presence the Panthers had missed in previous seasons. In his return to his former school, Corhen made a pair of free throws to take the lead 14-12, the two free throws were the only points Corhen would score all game long.
Then, everything unraveled for the Panthers. Austin fouled Florida State sophomore forward Taylor Bol Bowen on a three-pointer giving the Seminoles a four-point play. Graduate student guard Damian Dunn, who recently returned from recovering from thumb surgery, turned the ball over on the next possession. Lowe and Corhen each committed a turnover on the subsequent possessions leading to buckets for the Seminoles. Florida State led 14-21 with 4:43 left in the first half.
With 2:24 left in the first half, Leggett made a wide-open three-pointer in the corner to cut the deficit to 24-19. It was the first bucket for the Panthers since Cummings’s floater almost nine minutes earlier. Pitt picked it up near the end of the half, but they certainly did not find a formula to take into the second half. With the buzzer about to sound, the Seminoles threw up a floater and extended their lead 28-23.
Pitt came out of the locker room with some positives—Lowe split a pair of free throws and Austin drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 28-27. Another lay-up from Lowe were the only points the Panthers would drain for the next 2:33 while the Seminoles ran away with it.
Four straight empty possessions from the Panthers were matched by four straight buckets from Florida State junior forward Malique Ewin, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Ewin’s third bucket involved two offensive rebounds and a punishing putback. Once trailing 40-29, Pitt head coach Jeff Capel called a timeout.
Capel’s adjustment was to sub in redshirt first-year forward Papa Amadou Kante for Corhen. Immediately, Kante made a lay-up with his defender in the air to cut the deficit 40-31.
On the next possession, Austin was called for his fourth foul while standing under the basket and was forced to come out of the game.
Making matters worse, Cummings missed badly on consecutive shot attempts giving the Seminoles easy fast-break offense. A dunk from senior guard Justin Thomas gave Florida State its biggest lead of the game, 49-35 with 13:20 to play.
The Seminoles stayed in control. First-year guard Daquan Davis shook Leggett and drained a three-pointer off the dribble to give Florida State a 55-39 lead.
The Panthers needed a spark soon for any chance of completing a comeback on the road. They found it in junior forward Jorge Diaz Graham. Before the game against the Seminoles, Diaz Graham was shooting 57.1% from deep. With 9:17 left in the game, Diaz Graham got a steal, pushed the ball down the court, relocated and drained a three-pointer from the corner. Less than a minute later, Diaz Graham made another three-pointer. He shot four free throws on the next two possessions and made two.
Austin helped out Diaz Graham’s heater with a three-pointer of his own. On the next possession, Lowe kicked out to the corner and found Diaz Graham for another three-pointer, cutting Pitt’s deficit to 59-54 with 5:34 to play.
Ewin’s run early in the second half and Pitt’s poor play in the first half might have put the Panthers in too deep of a hole if it weren’t for superb deep shooting. Lowe made a three-pointer off the dribble and Diaz Graham made another from the corner to cut the deficit to 68-62 with 2:26 to play. The shooting was key to offset the 17 free throws the Seminoles made in the final five minutes.
Lowe made two free throws to cut the deficit to 69-64 with 1:58 remaining, making it a two-possession game. But the Panthers struggled to grab defensive rebounds and consistently fouled the Seminoles who consistently made their free throws.
To make the loss hurt even more for Pitt, Ewin dunked as time expired and tempers flared between the two teams after a sloppy, physical ACC contest.
The Panthers have now lost three straight games in the ACC. The Panthers will look to avoid an avalanche of losses as they host Clemon on Saturday, Jan. 18, at noon at the Petersen Events Center.