Pitt fell to Mississippi State 90-57 in a stunning result on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs dominated from start to finish, out-rebounding the Panthers by a significant amount and taking over the paint from the tip.
In the first half alone, Mississippi State out-rebounded Pitt 27-14, nearly doubling the Panthers total. Cam Corhen turned the ball over four times in the half, while Lowe scrapped his way to nine points. Aside from Jaland Lowe, the rest of the Pitt team shot just 6 for 21 from the field in the first half, with Ishmael Leggett going 1 for 7.
Pitt shot just 31% from the field compared to Mississippi State’s 58%. Pitt made more three pointers in the loss. Mississippi State out-rebounded Pitt, 49-27, and outscored the Panthers in the paint 52-14. Pitt falls to 7-2 with the loss, while Mississippi State improves to 7-1 on the year. The win for the Bulldogs continues the SEC’s dominance in this year’s ACC/SEC Challenge.
Last week, the Panthers opened up at No. 5 in the country in the NET rankings. Now, with a 30-point loss to another high-major opponent, they have dropped in the rankings. But, they haven’t dropped very far.
Pitt is now ranked No. 12 in the NET rankings after the loss to Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 10 in the country, jumping 16 spots with the win over Pitt.
The quad-1 loss shouldn’t hurt Pitt too much on paper. However, the Panthers will need to quickly rally together to beat Virginia Tech, once again on the road, to finish off this road trip. Pitt will have to address its rebounding deficiency against the Bulldogs, and improve in that department going forward.
Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech will tip off at 2 p.m. on ESPNU.
