Pitt Loses Again: Shorthanded Notre Dame Beats Panthers, 76-72

On Saturday afternoon, Pitt took on Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana.

Cam Corhen paced the Panthers early, opening the game with a mid-range jumper that would foreshadow his upcoming performance. Corhen continued to out-perform Notre Dame’s bigs throughout the first half, scoring 14 points in the half on 6-for-7 shooting.

Notre Dame’s Braeden Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco did not play in Saturday’s game due to injuries. Pitt’s Damian Dunn — who is out for the season with an elbow injury — was in attendance but did not play.

In their absence, guard Markus Burton scored nine points in the first half to lead the Irish back court. At the break, the two teams were locked in a tie, 30-30.

Notre Dame scored six of the first eight points in the second half, but Pitt quickly answered. After Leggett missed a layup, Corhen, Pitt’s top scoring threat of the day, tipped in the two pointer to tie the game at 36.

Guillermo Diaz Graham hit his third three pointer of the game with over 15 minutes to play, giving Pitt its first lead of the second half.

Then, Notre Dame had a surprise player steal the show. Freshman Cole Certa — who came into the game with two three pointers on the season — hit three against the Panthers, catching fire early in the second half. He paced the Irish as the two teams traded baskets. Tae Davis, the team’s leading scorer on the year, also played a strong game offensively. He made his seventh shot of the game to give ND a two-point lead with less than seven minutes to play. Then, Burton drained a three, quickly building Notre Dame’s lead up to five with 6:28 to play.

Two minutes later, Burton made back-to-back layups, and Davis followed them up with a layup of his own to extend the lead to nine points with four minutes left.

To summarize the day for Pitt, Jaland Lowe overthrew a pass to Leggett straight out of bounds with three minutes remaining, earning Pitt’s tenth turnover of the game. Burton, once again, made a layup on the other end, and the game was all but over.

The Panthers continued to battle late, trimming the lead down to three with 25 seconds left on a Leggett three. Then, Beebah Cummings scored Pitt’s first bench points of the game with 9 seconds to play on a tip-in after a missed free throw. However, the effort was too little, too late. ND closed out the win with two free throws from JR Konieczny.

Corhen, Leggett, Lowe, and Diaz Graham all scored in double figures for Pitt, with Corhen pacing the team with 19 points. The Panthers’ bench scored two points.

With the loss, Pitt falls to 16-11 (7-9 ACC). This was a Quad-2 loss for the Panthers, as Notre Dame was ranked No. 107 in the NCAA NET Rankings heading into the matchup.