Panthers await their NCAA fate
Duke started on a 12-0 run, nailing each of its first four shots from the field. While the Blue Devils found easy looks at the basket, Pitt struggled to score in any form. The Panthers didn’t make their way onto the scoreboard until the 16:25 mark, when Jamarius Burton made two free throws.
It would take nearly another minute for Capel’s team to make its first shot from the floor, which came from Fede Federiko with 15:15 remaining in the opening half. Although it improved a bit as the game progressed, Pitt’s opponent never slowed down, taking a 48-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“We could never really get into a rhythm offensively,” Capel said. “We missed some shots early, and I just thought for the first time in a really, really long time we got knocked back and did not respond.”
Things only became worse in the final 20 minutes. Duke continued to roll against an outmatched Pitt squad that came out of the break with no answers for its struggles on either end of the floor.
ACC Rookie of the Year Kyle Filipowski led the charge for the Blue Devils, scoring a game- best 22 points. The 7-foot star exited the game early with an ankle injury but returned with 11:16 left in the opening half, picking up right where he left off. Fellow freshman big man Dereck Lively II was also a handful for the Panthers, contributing 13 points, which tied his season high.
Nike Sibande finished as Pitt’s leading scorer, ending with 17 points. Burton and Guillermo Diaz Graham both reached double-figures in scoring, as well, tallying 13 and 12, respectively.
Key stat
The Panthers’ defensive struggles have been clear in the past few weeks, but Thursday was a new low. Duke shot a smoldering 62% from the field, the best any opponent has done against Pitt this season.
The Blue Devils’ offensive success came in all areas. Duke shot 42% from 3-pointrange, tallied 46 points in the paint and even made the most of its opportunities at the foul line, converting on 13 of 17 attempts.
“If they can shoot the basketball like they shot it today, especially from 3, that makes them even more difficult to guard,” Capel said. “They have a lot of weapons. They’re really talented, and they’ve gotten a lot better.”
Quotable
There have been numerous
times this season when Capel highlighted his team’s willingness to continue fighting, following a loss. The Pitt head coach had a different analysis for how his group battled Thursday after falling behind early.
“I thought we put our heads down, and we just didn’t collectively as a group,” Capel said. “Individually some guys did, but collectively as a group, and that’s been a hallmark of our team all season since after the fourth game of the year. For whatever reason we did not do that today, and they made us pay for it because they’re really talented and they’re good.”
Capel wasn’t the only one who felt the Panthers lost their mental edge against the Blue Devils. Numerous players agreed with their head coach’s words, saying they need to be better moving forward.
“I feel like they hit some contested tough shots over us and guys started to hang their heads,” Sibande said. “We can’t afford to do that.”
The Panthers had a players-only meeting after their loss last weekend in Miami to ensure the group’s collective mindset would be correct heading into the postseason. Pitt will look to do the same once more as it waits to find out its postseason fate.
“I would just say we’ve got to flip the switch,” Burton said. “We’ve got more basketball to play, and we’ve still got an opportunity to continue to write our story. And that’s the biggest thing moving forward is just taking what we can learn from this experience and move forward in the right direction.”
Up next
Pitt will now have to wait to find out when and where it will play next. The 68team field for the 2023 NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m. on a live broadcast televised by CBS. Should the Panthers receive an at-large bid, it would mark the program’s first appearance in college basketball’s biggest event since 2016.