GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The magic has run dry in Greensboro.
No. 3-seed Xavier's up-tempo and potent offense was one step ahead of No. 11 Pitt's defense throughout the majority of the 40 minutes of basketball at Greensboro Coliseum Sunday, leading to an 84-73 victory for the Musketeers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing them to the Sweet 16 in the Midwest Region and a date with No. 2 Texas in Kansas City later in the week.
The Panthers' once-unforeseen run comes to a close, as ACC Coach of the Year Jeff Capel resurrected his program from four sub-.500 seasons to a run atop the ACC and resulting in a 24-12 record and its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016.
"When you get to this part of the season, you know, it's cruel," Capel said. "Like, the ending is cruel because you're together, you're doing all these things, and then for everyone except for one team it comes to an abrupt end. I know our guys are hurting. There is a game that we really wanted to win, and we had a chance, but we just came up short. But I'm just so proud of them. I'm so proud of -- I feel so lucky that I've had a chance to be around them every day and to watch them, to watch each of they are individual journeys, to watch our collective journey. These are a group of guys and especially these four right here that will always hold an incredibly special place in my heart."
Sometimes, the other team is just better.
Xavier (27-9) shared the basketball to a pristine effect. It was about the 22 assists on 30 made field goals to just eight turnovers, including a clinic of 17 assists on 19 makes while committing just three turnovers in the first half. It was about Adam Kunkel's sharp shooting to the tune of a 5-for-8 day from 3-point range, including with him making each of his first five. It was about setting up Jack Nunge on mismatches and taking advantage of slow hedges from Pitt defenders, as the Musketeers big man totaled a game-high 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting before fouling out with 3:18 remaining.
"First half I think we really rode the wave of Adam Kunkel," Xavier coach and former Pitt player Sean Miller said. "He was 5-for-5 from the 3-point line. We really shared the ball and played at our pace throughout the game. We talked a lot about that before the game. Then defensively for the most part taking away their 3-point shooting and staying together on defense, I thought we made it difficult at times for them to score, but, you know, our goal was to really make their 3-point shooting tough."
Pitt made just 6 of 20 from deep. Three of those makes (on eight attempts) came from Blake Hinson.
"We're thrilled to be in the Sweet 16," Miller said. "It's a hard journey to get here, and I'm really thrilled for these guys right here, each of them, because it's their first opportunity, and they'll remember it forever."
It was just about one team simply being better and one step ahead at nearly all times.
At times this season, Pitt was the offensive aggressor. It had to be the aggressor in a flipped matchup in styles in a contrast from their NCAA Tournament wins over Mississippi State and Iowa State leading into Sunday.
This game was always going to be about offense, which is why there was at least a shade of good feeling going into Sunday about Pitt's chances to be fitted for a glass slipper and make it to its first Sweet 16 since its Elite Eight run in 2009. Given the heightened level of play from Guillermo Diaz Graham in two NCAA Tournament games leading into this, it was left up to Pitt's cast of guards to pick up in front of strong guard play from Xavier.
"Like I said before this game, Iowa State was not as good of an offensive team as Xavier," Capel said. "Xavier has been an elite offensive team all year. So, again, I just thought they were really good offensively. They were moving with great pace. They made seven threes in the first half. The ball had energy."
But, Pitt's guards -- Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, and Nike Sibande -- combined to score 21 points on 7 of 29 attempts from the field. Sibande's nine rebounds led the Panthers.
The brand of basketball on which Pitt thrived at many points this season was that finesse style. Xavier, though, was the exact same. And, Sunday's performance by the Musketeers came without the usual production from All-Big East guard Souley Boum, who missed all six of his shots in the first half but still finished with 14 points by virtue of making 7 of 8 free throws, all in the second half.
Pitt could not have a slow night from its guards, but that's exactly what happened. Aside from the game-winning shot in the closing seconds of the First Four, Jamarius Burton stayed cold throughout this NCAA Tournament and was noticeably rattled -- at times frustrated -- and completely out of this game.
Burton finished with 16 points on 7 of 18 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, two assists, and two turnovers Sunday.
Pitt made the game a fight to the finish, including by cutting the deficit to eight on an Elliott 3 with 1:45 remaining. Pitt had a run of 10-0 to cut a 20-point deficit to 74-64 with 2:58 left, but Xavier made 8 out of 10 free throws in the game's final 2 minutes to ice it away.
"When we were down 14, we talked at the half," Capel said. "We talked about some of the things we didn't do well. We wanted to come out and gradually chip away. Obviously, we needed to play better defense and especially guard the three-point line. When we were down 20, the same thing. Keep fighting, stay together, be who we've been all year.
"And, obviously, it didn't work out well for us. We lost, but I thought we kept fighting. We had a chance down the stretch. We got it to ten. We had a couple of really good looks that we just missed that we could have put a little more game pressure on them. We started fouling. We had a guy that hadn't been a good free-throw shooter all year, and he missed some, but he stepped up and made some for them."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Guillermo started ahead of Federiko for the third consecutive game, as Federiko continues to recover from a knee injury sustained against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament. Federiko first checked in with 13:34 in the first half and left the floor less than one minute later.
He did not return to the game beyond that point. Capel said after the game he didn't like what he saw from Federiko's knee, so he shut it down.
"When Federiko came in the game, he was limping as he was running up and down the court," Capel said. "I'm not going to put him in a position where he could cause any further damage, so I made that decision not to play him any more the rest of the game."
Federiko ended without taking a shot from the field.
One of the darlings of the first round action from Thursday and Friday, Guillermo scored 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds Sunday.
• Take a couple of moments to listen to Hinson in the locker room after the game. I will have some of his words broken up in a separate, follow-up story, but you will want to listen to this in full. Trying to lead into his powerful words about what this team means to him simply would not do it any justice:
• Burton, along with Elliott, Cummings, Sibande, and Aidan Fisch all depart the program as seniors.
"I'm just grateful for this group," Burton said. "We're definitely leaving it better than we found it, and that's the goal. As seniors, as guys in our last year. The future is bright. We put Pitt on the national stage. They're going to be able to get transfers out of the portal, and it's up to the guys that come in to believe in Coach and believe in the program and take it from here."
Added Sibande: "I agree with what Jamarius said. We definitely brought Pitt back to, you know, a national stage to where it has a lot of attention now. So I think in our future it's going to be bright for Pitt. I think a lot of people should come here and believe in Coach. He did an amazing job this year with this group, and I appreciate everything, every experience we had this year for sure."
Added Cummings: "I agree with what both of them guys said. To add to that, like JB said, we put Pitt back on the map, so we're definitely proud of what we did here, and the future is really bright because the coaching staff and everybody in this program, they all have a belief about themselves that can translate to guys who come in, like transfers like me. So I think there's going to be a lot of guys who will see that and understand that Pitt is definitely a place to be."
Added Elliott: "You know, just like my teammates just said, the future is definitely bright for Pitt basketball because we have Coach Capel at the helm. He wasn't ACC Coach of the Year for nothing. He knows what he is doing. You know, like they just said, we're back on a national stage now. Everybody knows who Pitt is again. So if you want to come make noise, why wouldn't you come to Pitt?"
And, last but not least, Fisch, from the open locker room after the game: "Sad and just reflective on such a great year that we had and the long career that I had. It's just hard to put into words how I'm feeling right now. ... Obviously with any team you're going to have some type of bond, but I think we've built something stronger than just with your regular team. The ups and downs that we had, the adversity, and the odds stacked against us, to make it as far as we did was unbelievable."
• For your viewing, I grabbed this video of the Pitt introductions prior to tip-off.
For one final time:
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE 5s
• Xavier: G Souley Boum, G Colby Jones, G Adam Kunkel, F Jerome Hunter, C Jack Nunge.
• 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
• Played, but did not start: C Federiko Federiko (knee).
• Out for the season: F Will Jeffress (foot).
THE SCHEDULE
• The Panthers' season has come to an end, at 24-12 overall and 14-6 within the ACC. Pitt won two games in the same NCAA Tournament since is run to the Elite Eight in 2009.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page for more coverage of the NCAA Tournament.
Much more to come from Greensboro.
