Pitt Basketball
Louisville Beats Pitt, 79-68, Giving Panthers Third-Straight Loss
On Saturday night, Pitt lost to Louisville, 79-68, after going ice cold down the stretch at the KFC Yum! Center in Kentucky.
Louisville’s Chucky Hepburn was unconscious in the first half, as he made all six of his three-point attempts in the frame. Hepburn paced the Cardinals, making some incredibly difficult threes, en route to 24 points at the half and a six-point Cardinal lead.
In the second half, Pitt continued to get off the mat. The Panthers answered Louisville’s momentum-building runs and competed hard early in the half, earning big three pointers from Zack Austin and Beebah Cummings, among other baskets that kept them in the game. Pitt regained the lead for the first time in the second half, 48-47, with just under 15 minutes to play as Austin threw down a putback dunk off a Lowe miss.
However, Louisville was not done. Out of a timeout with over 11 minutes to play, Reyne Smith knocked down a corner three to give the Cardinals a 54-50 lead. To answer, Guillermo Diaz Graham flew down the lane for a slam dunk on the other end.
As the clock ticked below nine minutes remaining, Diaz Graham hit his third three pointer of the game to cut the Louisville lead down to two points. That three kicked off a quick 8-0 run by the Panthers, whose defense held Louisville without a field goal for four minutes. Diaz Graham had six of the eight points in the run and Austin hit another three pointer to cap it off and give Pitt a 62-59 lead with 7:39 to play.
However, after getting up to 62 points, the Panthers couldn’t quite get higher. Pitt surrendered a 9-0 run from the 6:52 mark down to the 3:34 mark. Pitt went scoreless when the game mattered most. Cam Corhen put an end to the scoreless streak with a pair of free throws for Pitt to trim the deficit down to four. However, Terrence Edwards Jr. got right to the rim on the next possession for a layup.
Lowe tried to reply with a layup of his own, but was swatted at the rim by James Scott. The ball ricocheted off of Lowe, and the Cardinals took over.
Down six points, Pitt had multiple looks at cutting the lead. Diaz Graham missed a corner three and the ball bounced around. After Corhen couldn’t corral the rebound, he fouled the Louisville rebounder and fouled out of the game. Louisville ran away with the win in the final minute, with Hepburn finishing as the game’s leading scorer with 36 points.
For Pitt, Lowe finished with 16 points and ten rebounds, while Austin had 15, and Diaz Graham had 13 points. Pitt missed 11-straight threes in the final minutes, and finished the game shooting 10 for 37 from three-point range.
With the loss, Pitt drops its third-straight game and falls to 16-13 overall and 7-11 in ACC play.
