Pitt Misses Potential Game-Winning Shot in Heartbreaking Loss to UNC

Pittsburgh (14-9 , 5-7 ACC) and North Carolina (14-10, 7-5 ACC) both entered Saturday’s showdown on the bubble and in need of a win to keep an at-large tournament berth within reach. Despite trailing by 11 points at one point in the game, the Panthers had a chance to win it at the buzzer but Ishmael Leggett’s shot bounced off of the rim as Pitt fell at the Dean Smith Center, 67-66.

After a three from Guillermo Diaz-Graham at the 15:32 mark of the second half made the score 47-44 in favor of the Tar Heels, that three-point differential would be the biggest for either team for the remainder of the game. The Panthers and Tar Heels witnessed nine separate ties and the 11 lead changes during that span.

The Panthers opened the game up with a deep three from Jaland Lowe but then it was all Tar Heels over the next few minutes as they jumped out on a 12-0 run to take a nine-point lead. The run was highlighted by three straight finishes at the rim from Ven-Allen Lubin.

The Panthers finally stopped the bleeding and answered with a 7-0 run to pull back to within two after Lowe hit his second triple of the game and Cam Corhen followed it up on a layup at the rim.

Later in the half, the Tar Heels found themselves back up by 10 points after a three from Drake Powell capped off a 7-0 run for North Carolina.

The Panthers started to make a surge with about five minutes left in the half as Corhen’s free throws cut the deficit to nine. Pitt followed his free throws up with two more trips to the line as Brandin Cummings and Damien Dunn made a combined 3-of-4.

The four converted free throws pulled the Panthers to within six before Guillermo Diaz-Graham hit a three to bring it back to a three-point game. Diaz-Graham’s triple made the score 30-27 after the Tar Heels held a 30-19 lead three minutes prior.

The Panthers tied it later on a three from “Beebah” Cummings but a couple of free throws from the Tar Heels gave North Carolina a lead of 35-32 at halftime.

Pitt started the second half on a 7-2 run which helped them get their first lead since the score was 3-0. The Tar Heels answered with an 8-0 run immediately after to re-claim a six-point lead. The Panthers stopped the run with the three-pointer from Diaz-Graham that made the score 47-44.

Over the next five minutes, the Tar Heels scored just one point and failed to convert a field goal yet the Panthers managed to take just a three-point lead. The Tar Heels broke out of their slump with another huge three from Powell which tied the game at 51 points a piece.

The teams would go on to trade points back-and-forth until a tough left-handed layup from Lowe gave the Panthers a 66-65 lead with 2:03 left in the game. Pitt’s defense responded with a stop as Lubin missed a jumper. This gave the Panthers the ball back and the chance extend their lead.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, they turned the ball over halfway through the shot clock as Powell stole it off of Diaz-Graham. The Tar Heels called a timeout following the turnover and drew up a play for their star guard, RJ Davis.

Davis, with Lowe defending him at the wing, dribbled towards the free throw line and hit a step-back jumper over the defense to give the lead back to North Carolina with 52 seconds left.

On the ensuing Panthers possession, Lowe drained the shot clock before he drove left and as he forced up a tough shot which he missed. The ball bounced right back to him and he took another contested shot right away which was missed and rebounded by the Tar Heels.

The Panthers were forced to foul Lubin upon the rebound which played into Pitt’s favor in a sense. While it was Lowe’s fifth foul, it sent off the worst Tar Heel free throw shooters to the line in Lubin. It payed off as he missed the free throw but it was rebounded by North Carolina and the Panthers were forced to foul again.

The Tar Heels sent Seth Trimble to the line for another one-and-one but he missed the frontend of it which gave the Panthers one more chance with 13 seconds left. Austin tried to inbound the ball to Corhen but it was knocked away before a Tar Heels player eventually knocked it out of bounds.

This error gave the Panthers just seven seconds to go three-quarters of the court and score but Leggett’s shot failed to go in for the Panthers as they lost their third in a row and seventh out of their last nine.

Pitt was paced by Corhen’s team-high 17 points. Lowe added 15 points on a 5-of-15 shooting day before he fouled out late in the contest. Austin scored 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Leggett added 9 points in the loss and made just 3-of-10 field goal attempts against the Tar Heels.

The Tar Heels were led by Davis who scored a game-high 18 points. He went 6-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Lubin scored on eight of his 12 shots and finished as the second-leading scorer with 17 points in just 22 minutes. Trimble scored 15 for the Tar Heels.

Pitt will try to break it’s three-game skid in another Quad 1 opportunity on Tuesday night when it travels to Texas to take on a new ACC-foe in SMU. The Mustangs are one of just two Quad 1 chances left for the Panthers who now likely find themselves on the outside of the bubble.