Pitt’s Comeback Effort Comes up Short in Loss to Clemson, 79-70

PITTSBURGH — On Sunday afternoon, Pitt dropped its second loss of the year and first conference matchup of the year to Brad Brownell’s Clemson Tigers, 79-70.

After trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, Jeff Capel’s Panthers battled back to cut the deficit down to two points with 3:41 remaining. Hinson led the Panthers with 22 second-half points, but his run was not enough as Pitt went cold, failing to hit a field goal in the final 3:41.

Clemson closed out the win with a pair of Joe Girard III free throws, sending Pitt to 5-3 on the year and 0-1 in ACC play.

Despite an early 6-0 run from the Tigers, Pitt quickly let Clemson know that it came to play, hitting four of its first eight field-goal tries to tie the game at nine with 15:20 to go in the half. The two teams battled it out throughout the next of the half, but Pitt once again cooled down towards the end of the half. The Tigers went on a run of their own, hitting five of six field-goal attempts to increase their lead up to eight points with six minutes to go in the half. For Clemson, forward PJ Hall was doing it all early on, hitting four of his first six shot attempts, including a deep three, to lead the Tigers.

Pitt trailed by just three points, 23-20, with seven minutes to play in the first. However, the Panthers once again limped into the half as the Tigers caught fire.

Girard — the former Syracuse sharpshooter — took over the game by hitting four of his five attempts in the first half including three three pointers. At the half, Clemson led 37-26. Girard led with a team-high 12 points, while Hall followed with nine. For Pitt, all five starters scored at least four points in the half. However, the Panthers received zero points from their bench and struggled to find clean looks.

Bub Carrington and Ishmael Leggett attempted a team-high seven field goals in the first half — with Carrington making two and Leggett sinking three.

Leggett opened the second half with a three — his first of the game, and the Panthers began their quest for a comeback victory. However, after two early stops and corresponding buckets from the Panthers, Clemson took its lead to new heights, building it up to 14 points by the 14:41 mark in the half.

Girard continued to shoot the lights out, draining another three with just over 11 minutes to play and waving to the Oakland Zoo shortly after in celebration.

With just over 10 minutes to play, Hinson drained his fourth three pointer of the night, cutting the deficit down to eight. Once again, Clemson responded quickly on a floater by Hall. The Tiger lead hovered around ten points for the next few minutes, as Pitt tried all it could to climb back in. Hall continued to dominate inside, hitting four of his first five shots in the frame.

Trailing by seven with six minutes to play, Pitt’s Carrington hit a pull-up mid-range jumper, cutting the deficit to five. Carrington was in double-digits for the seventh time of the year, and the Petersen Events Center was rocking.

In the final five minutes, Hinson delivered yet again, nailing his sixth three of the night to trim the lead to four with over four minutes to play.

Out of a late timeout, Leggett drove to the basket and hit a finger-roll layup to cut the lead all the way down to two with 3:30 to go. However, after two missed free throws off the hands of Federiko and a missed three by Leggett minutes later, the Panthers found themselves down six points and heading towards

Hinson finished as Pitt’s leading scorer with 27 points on 9-for-16 shooting (6 for 10 from three). Leggett followed with 17 points, while Carrington added 13 points on 5-for-16 shooting. Zack Austin grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the loss. Pitt shot 43% from the field and 35% from three-point range in the loss.

Pitt will now take on West Virginia on Wednesday, Dec. 6 in Morgantown. That game will tip off at 9 p.m. on ESPN2.