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Long Scoring Droughts Sink Pitt at Georgia Tech

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ATLANTA — As they’ve done all season, a couple of long stretches without making a shot from the floor doomed Pitt on Wednesday night against Georgia Tech.

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The Panthers went 7:54 without a made field goal in a first half stretch that allowed Georgia Tech to build its lead up to as many as 18 points, and then had a stretch of 6:12 in the second half without a bucket after they cut the deficit to four.

Tech outscored Pitt by 19 during these two runs, and that was the difference in an 73-57 victory for the Yellow Jackets on senior night at McCamish Pavilion.

Pitt never led in the game, turning the ball over four times in the early going as the Yellow Jackets built a quick 7-0 lead.

It didn’t get much better from there for Jeff Capel’s team as Jose Alvarado took over the game. The Tech guard yielded his spot in the starting lineup to senior Shembari Phillips, but was back in the game after just 70 seconds and scored eight quick points on the Panthers. Alvarado led all scorers for the game with 23 points and added nine rebounds.

The lead reached as many as 18 when Georgia Tech took a 30-12 advantage with 3:41 remaining in the first half. Pitt closed the half on a 9-0 run behind three three-pointers in the final 3:24, and they cut the score to 34-30 in the opening minutes of the second half.

But that was as close as they came, as the shooting dried up again and Georgia Tech slowly seized control. Three more Tech players joined Alvarado in double figures as Michael Devoe, Jordan Usher and Evan Cole combined for 33 points.

The young Panthers ran out of gas down the stretch with a short rotation that was depleted by Xavier Johnson fouling out, and never made a push in the closing minutes. The loss ended Pitt’s regular season with a 15-16 overall record and a 6-14 clip in ACC play.

It also meant the Panthers will likely take the court next Tuesday on the opening day of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, with the opponent to be determined based on action in the final weekend of ACC play.

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
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Rob
Rob
4 years ago

Long scoring droughts is the theme of the season. As long as Johnson keeps playing playground ball and continually taking bad shots, driving into double teams and worried about his stats, nothing will change. Same goes for McGowens who never met an off balance bank shot he didn’t like.

PittBand
PittBand
4 years ago
Reply to  Rob

Johnson and McGowens should be college freshmen and Champagnie thinking about his high school prom. You projected too much for this team. It’s going in the right direction but the trainwreck of KS is all too evident. Champagnie and Murphy were not even mentioned in the article. Bad news.

Terrence Otoole
4 years ago
Reply to  PittBand

I agree with rob especially about trey he’s really regressed from last yr ,x man i feel has gotten better lately at getting his teammates involved, but pitt’s biggest problem is they have zero inside game and no depth

Richard Johnson
4 years ago

All points above are valid, too many bad shots, missed free throws and poor defense. There is no true leader on this team. X and Trey need to realize Champagnie needs to be the focal point of the offense, he is their best scorer. Until Pitt gets a TRUE point guard turnovers will continue to be high. Hopefully with more depth coming in people will play more in control or sit. You never want to take away players confidence but its hard to sit people down when you have no bench. Better times are ahead just not this year.

Rob
Rob
4 years ago

True, there is no threat to these guys behind them so they basically can do what they want for the most part. The biggest enigma has been Terrell Brown. He is the most unaggressive big guy offensively I think I have ever seen. It’s like he waits for contact to happen.

 
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