Pitt basketball may find a way known to basketball to lose by a single possession. Coming into Wednesday night's game against Louisville at KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Ky., three of Pitt's last four losses came by single point. After putting up a fight and going back-and-forth with the lead, Pitt faltered late against the Cardinals, losing 75-72 as Jamarius Burton couldn't knock down a buzzer beater three-pointer.
But the game was won and lost before that, as Louisville bounced back from Pitt's four-point lead in the second half to take control in the final three minutes when the Cardinals took the lead and never relinquished it back to the Panthers. Louisville would make 8 of its final 9 shots compared to Pitt making only 1 of its final 9. Before that, Pitt's struggles included a hurdle that left it without its top scorer in John Hugley IV for almost the entire first half. Just a minute and twelve seconds into the game, Hugley picked up a personal foul and then was part of a double-technical foul between him and Louisville forward Malik Williams.
The call baffled Pitt's bench, and Jeff Capel drew a technical foul for his response, as did Pitt's bench. The result was handing Louisville four free throws, the ball, and having to sit Hugley for the rest of the half, just slightly over a minute into start of the game. That allowed Louisville to score 14 paint points to Pitt's 4 in the first half.
"Another tough loss for us," Capel said after the game. "Very weird game with how it started. Really unlike any game I've been part of for it to start. I apologized to my team at halftime for my, I guess, whatever, in that. Our guys put ourselves in a position to win, but again, we've got to be smarter and have to be able to finish. Their guys made big plays and shots but I'm proud of our fight. We have to be smarter."
But Pitt bounced back in the first half, even fighting off a 9-1 run that gave the Cardinals an eight-point lead with 3:27 left in the half. But Pitt saw a familiar face return to the court, as Ithiel Horton, back off suspension, came off the bench to score eight consecutive points for Pitt, including back-to-back three-pointers. He finished the night with 13 points and four rebounds, looking poised and like he hadn't just missed two months of practice with the team.
"I thought Ithiel was terrific in the first half," Capel said of Horton. "Our guys played well to put us in a position to win. We were down eight when (Horton) hit a big three to give us some life there and we got it down to three points at halftime. We showed flashes today, but that's not enough."
Horton's efforts combined with Noah Collier replacing Hugley for 19 minutes in the first half, Mouhammadou Gueye's eight points and Burton's six points with four rebounds, kept Pitt in the first half. After forcing several stops on defense, Pitt kept Louisville from taking over the game and kept the deficit to a single possession with the Cardinals up 35-32 at the half.
"It was great to see him out there after so long," Burton said of Horton. "Tonight he played well and he helped with our floor spacing, he was aggressive and unselfish. I look forward to playing with him as the season goes on."
It wasn't lost on the Panthers that they might've had the lead had Hugley not been in foul trouble, and if Pitt didn't suffer two more technical fouls.
"I was tempted," Capel said when asked if he thought about putting Hugley back in the first half. "With how the game was being called, I didn't want to do it. I wanted us to keep it in a distance where it didn't get away from us. If it had, maybe I would've done that because I don't believe in normally sitting a guy with two fouls for an entire half. But with the way the game was being called early I thought it wouldn't be smart for our guys. We defended well during that time. We spread the floor and we had lineups out there we hadn't practiced with. Because of that, guys were in different positions that limited what we could run because guys wouldn't know the positions. So we just tried to spread the floor out, put them in ball screens, make the correct reads and make plays."
Hugley had been the focal point of the Panthers' offense this season, and without him, the players had to find new answers. Burton knew Pitt couldn't slow down in those moments or Louisville would run away with the game.
"When John got in foul trouble, we knew it was next man up," Burton said. "That's Noah with how he gives us a different look and different energy along with different ball screens we can use. One of our weapons were down but we had new ones out there and we had to take advantage of it."
When Hugley returned in the second half, Pitt fed off his energy to take control with a 10-3 run in the first five minutes of the half. Hugley scored all 11 of his points in the second half to go along with his seven rebounds. As the second half wore on, Hugley's presence in the paint changed the dynamics of the game with the Panthers outscoring the Cardinals 16 to 14 in the paint during the second half. That presence got Louisville's starting forward Malik Williams to foul out of the game with 1:55 to go. Hugley's return gave the Panthers control of the paint, and that inspired his coaches and teammates.
"It really just shows John's fight," Burton said of Hugley. "I see a no-back-down type of energy from him. He accepted the challenge and he was ready in the first half while also ready in the second half. He showed up strong in the second half, but I challenged him that it would be a great day to have him out there for both halves."
Hugley's control of the paint helped Pitt spread the court even better, as Burton led the team with 21 points on the night while Gueye scored 15, Horton 13, Femi Odukale seven, and Collier four.
But Louisville showed how it's positioned itself as one of the better ACC teams early on this season, now 10-4 overall and 4-0 in the ACC after beating Pitt. The Cardinals' top guards got active, with El Ellis leading the way with 18 points and Noah Locke right behind with 13 points. Together they combined to hit 5 of 11 three-pointers on the night, with several of them coming at pivotal moments of the second half.
That's when Pitt became ice cold with its shooting, hitting only 1 of 9 on its final shots while Louisville hit 8 of its last 9 shots. It came as a result of breakdowns on defense for the Panthers, and on the other end, poor shot selection or missed open opportunities by Pitt's scorers.
"In the second half, he was out there for most of it," Capel said of Hugley. "He played with force, power, and made some good passes. He gave us a presence down there to play with energy and emotion. Coming into this game John was in the top five in the country in drawing fouls. That's what he does. This isn't the first time he's gotten an opposing big guy in trouble. But we need him longer on the court than 19 minutes. We have to do a better job of helping him, because we're a better basketball team when he's on the court for us."
Similar to how Notre Dame sank five consecutive three-pointers late to beat Pitt 68-67 last week, the Panthers were just overwhelmed by a more experienced team executing in the final minutes while the Panthers looked around for who might be their best player to rise up and take charge in the end. It's a familiar feeling for Pitt this season, as it's the fourth loss by a single possession since Nov. 30.
"I wouldn't say the frustration is starting to build," Burton said. "In the locker room, we still understand we're a good team. We just have to get to the point where we stop beating ourselves night in and night out. We'll start winning some of these games."
Pitt had other hurdles to overcome as well, as Dan Oladapo had to miss the game because of COVID-19 protocols. Burton almost missed the game, but was able to return to practice Wednesday morning before the game and wore a mask all game, albeit under his chin. When asked if the wearing of the mask not covering the face and nose was part of protocol, Capel seemed exasperated by the process.
"I don't understand any of this stuff and I'm not sure anyone does," Capel said. "We just try to do what they tell us to do."
Capel wouldn't specify if Oladapo would be back for Pitt's Saturday game at home against Boston College, but seemed hopeful that would happen.
"It's been an interesting week for us," Capel said. "We had guys in protocol, guys who got here this morning and hadn't practiced since Saturday. This was our first time dealing with that this year, but I'm proud of how we fought even though it was a disappointing loss."
The loss drops Pitt to 5-9 on the season, 0-3 in the ACC. But it's also another example of the team not finding a way to close out an opponent. Pitt has now allowed Minnesota and Virginia to hit buzzer beaters that defeated the Panthers while Burton's missed three-pointer at the buzzer against Louisville and a missed layup against Notre Dame also decided those contests. Burton's also responsible for a buzzer beater that helped Pitt win St. John's, but that's just one of five very close matchups.
But what can't be denied is that Pitt is playing more composed basketball of late. What may determine if the Panthers can steal some ACC games this year could be if Capel can get one or more of his players to learn how to take charge in the final minutes as scorers and defenders to win those crucial moments and close out games. If Pitt flipped the results of those five games I listed, the Panthers would be 8-5 and in a much stronger position heading into the bulk of ACC play.
Eventually the Panthers should come out on top in more of these close contests. But who becomes the catalysts of those moments and how they occur could become the defining moments of a season that's primarily about Capel finding leaders for the next few years of the program who can set a winning tone and change the direction of Pitt basketball.
