Not exactly an awe-inspiring Senior Day, right?
Pitt fell to Florida State 71-66, and was just flatter than I could possibly imagine. The team was pretty lifeless and that played into the fans as well. At several times, I just found myself thinking that it was one of the quietest games I can remember at The Pete for a conference game.
Beyond that, though, the team just didn't show up. The biggest disappointment I had was that they had a week off to get prepare and get ready for this stretch run. I mean, seven days off and that's what you come up with? You've got one game in eight days (at home, no less). It's hard to imagine they didn't come out and play better.
For Pitt, poor shooting again plagued them. The Panthers shot only 37% and that's really not good enough. 1-4 for Talib Zanna. 8-21 for Lamar Patterson. 0-4 for Mike Young. 2-7 for James Robinson. None of the starters shot above 50% from the field (Cam Wright was the closest at 5-11) and combined, they were at 34%. Just really hard to win games that way and it's really been a recurring theme this year. Too few guys doing enough and even Patterson, who filled up the box score, had a disappointing game overall.
Regarding the loss itself, it's not real good, obviously. Since Florida State could still conceivably get into the tournament, I'm not sure it's a 'bad' loss. But playing at home against a team that has struggled so much in conference play, it's as close to one as you can get. Pitt didn't do themselves any favors here.
The big problem, of course, is that it puts Pitt into more must-win positions down the stretch. If they win all four of their remaining games, there's no bubble talk to be had. But after today's debacle (and, really, the way the team has played lately in general), how confident are you that Pitt pulls off a sweep ... especially with three games on the road?
Yeah, same here.
3-1 over these last four could get the Panthers in, but they also might need to win an ACC Tournament game to make it a lock.
Either way, ugly loss here.
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