DAYTON, Ohio -- This was March Madness plus.
Twenty-one lead changes. Nine ties. All the drama and excitement one expects, topped with climactic twists at either end of the court and at least a smattering of a Cinderella feel.
And by the time the buzzer sounded Tuesday night at at UD Arena, it was Pitt that earned its first NCAA Tournament win since March 20, 2014, by staving off Mississippi State, 60-59.
The Panthers, who'd been forecast to finish near the bottom of the ACC, now advance as the No. 11 seed in the Midwest Region and have a date with No. 6 Iowa State Friday at 3:10 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C.
"We showed toughness, resiliency," Jeff Capel said. "We were who we've been all year, and it wasn't pretty, but it was beautiful. We just feel so grateful, so thankful, and so excited to be able to advance and get to Greensboro."
KEEP. ON. DANCING. pic.twitter.com/RaZyNCe1UN
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) March 15, 2023
The moments came down to massive lifts from every angle. It was a Blake Hinson 3-pointer hoisted from Toledo, followed by the eventual game-winning jump shot from Jamarius Burton with 10 seconds remaining, and it was the final blow dealt by -- of all players -- Guillermo Diaz Graham in the form of a block of Mississippi State end-all, be-all Tolu Smith with 2.7 seconds remaining which left for one final moment to separate the Panthers from the end of the road or the continuation of the journey on it.
A missed corner 3 by a wide-open Shakeel Moore. An errant tip-in attempt from Smith. The final horn.
Jubilation, highlighted by a tight hug shared by the true freshman Guillermo and twin brother Jorge Diaz Graham at the halfcourt line to symbolically send Pitt into the next round.
"Just all the energy coming out of my body," Guillermo said. "I did a block, I don't even know how, with my left hand. I usually don't use my left hand. And I blocked it, and I knew it was a big play, so I just let the energy go out. It's not that good, but I got it locked in back to the two seconds left, but I just couldn't contain it inside me. ... Just after the shot clock sound and he come to me and hug me, all the emotions I've been feeling during the game. I've got to keep my face straight, all the emotions at the end. When I hug him, they just come out, and it's a great feeling."
Leave it to the team which was left without starting center Federiko Federiko, who missed the game with a knee injury -- and which found out former star forward John Hugley IV was going to enter the transfer portal the same afternoon -- to stymie a team which can be unstoppable inside the paint at times.
As nearly expected, Mississippi State (21-13) hammered Pitt (23-11) inside to the tune of a 49-28 rebounding margin, an 18-6 margin on the offensive glass, a 13-6 advantage in second-chance points, and a 30-14 scoring margin from within the paint.
But, for not having Federiko available, the Panthers -- led by Guillermo and particularly in the second half -- relatively contained Smith, who entered Tuesday's game tied for seventh in the SEC in scoring at 15.7 points per game, second in the SEC in rebounding with 8.5 per game, and led the team with 0.7 blocks per game.
Smith finished with 13 points on 5 of 11 shooting and eight rebounds, and he was forced to commit a team-high five turnovers.
"Man, I'm exhausted," Guillermo said. "That was a hell of a fight. He's a really good player, and he was trying to attack me every time. Of course he's bigger than me. Just fighting, he's bigger than me but I'm going to fight more than you. It's exhausting, but we won, so it was worth it.
Of the 12,453 college basketball fanatics which packed UD Arena, the Panthers fans were highly noticeable. Loud -- at times louder than at the Petersen Events Center -- chants of "Let's go Pitt!" reverberated throughout the building at multiple corners. Capel even complimented the Panthers fanbase as far to credit it for helping Mississippi State's final shot go out of the basket:
"Really want to give a huge shout-out to our fans that made the trek here to Dayton," Capel said. "We felt them. They gave us energy when we were a little bit tired. I thought they willed that shot, those last two shots from Mississippi State not to go in."
Added Guillermo about the fan support: "Yeah, I think the people of Pittsburgh deserve this. They're really great. They come all the way here to support us, and I feel like they deserve this feeling again."
Guillermo, a true freshman from the Spanish Canary Islands, has etched his name firmly into Pitt lore with his performance. He played a season-high 37 minutes, grabbed five rebounds, blocked two shots, and recorded two steals. Included in that was a rebound from a rocky first half in which he made just 1 of 7 from the field.
"One of the coolest things for me for this game, besides winning, was how his teammates were with him throughout the game," Capel said of Guillermo. "There were times when he wanted to put his head down, that he didn't feel good about maybe an assignment or missing a shot. And those guys kept telling him, 'don't do that. We've got your back, we're with you.' It's who they've been all year.
"I'm just -- again, for a freshman to step up on this stage and to play like he did, five rebounds, two blocks, his ball screen defense at the end, for the last, I'd say, about eight minutes, we tried to trap every ball screen with the 5. And for him to be able to do that and get back in there and to fight and to battle, this is the most minutes he's played all year, and just really, really happy for him."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Leave it to one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation to open the game by making 4 of 5 from that range. Mississippi State entered Tuesday by shooting 27% from deep this season, but you would not have recognized it in the opening five minutes of the game.
The issue for Mississippi State, though, was it cooled off back to its roots -- drastically -- after Moore made a 3 to give the Bulldogs a 14-8 lead with 15:14 left in the first half. From that point, the Bulldogs made 1 of 10 from deep to close the half, the lone make from Dashawn Davis to put them ahead 34-32 with 1:14 left. Nelly Cummings -- who finished with a team-high 15 points -- answered on Pitt's next possession with a 3 of his own with 48 seconds left in the opening 20 to give his team a 35-34 lead at the break.
Mississippi State made 6 of 23 3s throughout the game. Do the math, that is a 2-for-18 slump after the red-hot start.
"It's a dogfight," Cummings said. "Coming into this game, we were prepared for that. But when you're in the dogfight it's a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotion, a lot of attention to detail, and I think today we did a really good job of that and staying on task and understanding our assignment."
• Burton likely caused a few Lunatic Bricks to be thrown at the television after he committed two fouls within 12 seconds of each other, sending Pitt's first-team All-ACC guard to the bench with 10:55 left in the opening half up to the 5:24 mark. Burton ended the first half with four points on 2 of 4 shooting to go with a rebound and two assists in 11 minutes. Burton accrued his third foul with just 1:16 off the clock in the second half, went to the bench, and picked up his fourth foul with 12:26 to play after spending 1:11 on the floor. He sat out 12 of the opening 14 minutes of the second half with foul trouble.
But, he made that clutch shot with 10 seconds left and ended the game with six points, three rebounds, and three assists while being limited to just 19 minutes on the floor.
"Yeah, for me, I was just talking to God most of the time, being engaged with my teammates, encouraging them the whole time, and just understanding that I'll have a moment and have a chance of getting back out there and making an impact for the team," Burton said.
GETTY
Pitt's Jamarius Burton handles the ball Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.
• Greg Elliott scored his 1,000th career point on this jumper with just under four minutes to play:
Greg Elliott hit 1,000 career points on this shot 🔥 @Pitt_MBB pic.twitter.com/OGVjV74pyW
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 15, 2023
Elliott finished with 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting while making 5 of 7 free throws. He was one of three Panthers to grab five rebounds.
"Me, personally, this is my first win in March Madness, so that's super exciting for me," Elliott said. "The team's super excited because of all the work we put in this year. A lot of people were doubting us. Not a lot of people believed in us, and we just kept going. We just wanted to show what kind of team we are."
• Capel said after the game Federiko "wasn't close" to playing Tuesday, as he is working through a knee injury sustained in the ACC Tournament against Georgia Tech. He added there is a chance Federiko could be cleared to play Friday.
"We knew yesterday he wasn't playing," Capel said. "I shouldn't say we knew -- we knew it was going to be a long shot. And when we went to shoot-around today, he tested it again just one more time, but in my mind, I had the feeling when I watched him try yesterday that it was just too soon. If we would have played later in the week, Thursday or Friday, maybe there was a chance he could have been ready for that. There's a chance he could be ready for Friday. We're very, very hopeful. But once we got to this morning's shoot-around, I knew right then that he wasn't going to be able to go."
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE 5s
• Mississippi State: G Shakeel Moore, G Dashawn Davis, F Cameron Matthews, F D.J. Jeffries, F Tolu Smith.
• Pitt: G Nelly Cummings, G Greg Elliott, F Jamarius Burton, F Blake Hinson, C Guillermo Diaz Graham.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scores
• Schedule
• Statistics
• NCAA Tournament bracket
THE INJURIES
• Out for the season: F Will Jeffress (foot).
THE SCHEDULE
• Pitt advances to face No. 6 seed Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 Friday at 3:10 p.m. in Greenboro, N.C.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page for more coverage.
