There are five seconds left, and the game is tied at 54 a piece. Notre Dame sophomore guard Markus Burton drives to his right and rises up in an effort to send Pitt home and advance the Fighting Irish to the second round of the ACC tournament.
The ball flies through the air and bounces off the rim. In the same second, junior Notre Dame forward Tae Davis grabs the miss and hoists the ball back up in a buzzer-beating attempt. He misses.
0:00 marks relief for Pitt. The Panthers’ season lives on after a back-and-forth, no-quit game heads into overtime.
But then, chaos ensues. In what Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy called “The worst call in the history of basketball,” Davis was awarded two free throws after the referee whistled Panthers’ senior forward Zack Austin for a shooting foul.
Notre Dame wins 55-54, and Pitt heads into the locker room for what is the last time for many beloved seniors. The Panthers’ faithful is devastated … and pissed.
“I’ve been coaching for 25 years, [it was] the worst way to end a ball game … Still can’t believe it. Shocked,” head coach Jeff Capel said following the game.
Following the game, my phone blew up. F this, f that — my mom even called me venting of the BS she had just witnessed. Then, I went to X. My timeline flooded with anger and disgust.
“Wowwwwww Pitt just got robbed, @theACC that foul call is totally and unquestionably wrong .. 100% wrong,” X user @Sentownsfinest said.
“What a joke of a foul called on Pitt to end it,” X user @minipoker2 said.
But let’s take a step back. The call, as horrible as it was, did not decide the season, despite what you might read from the X page of a heated 65-year-old alum.
This game wasn’t the fault of anyone — not Austin, not Capel and not the referee who may or may not need to check into the UPMC Vision Institute sometime soon. This season, in all its glory, was decided months ago.
As painful as this reminder might feel, Pitt started the season 12-2 and was nationally ranked, flying through the early parts of their ACC schedule and sitting near the top of the conference. Then, everything slipped downhill. Pitt lost 12 of their next 17, slipping right out of tournament projections and ending the season at a flat 17-15.
So to say that the season ended because of one call would sound not only immature, but totally false. In early January, Pitt faced its biggest challenge against then No. 4 Duke in what The Pitt News called a “Potential preview of the ACC Championship.” After what ended up as a 29-point loss, questions as to whether the Panthers could keep up with the nation’s best started to arise. These questions would soon find obvious answers, as Pitt failed to match up with conference competitors — even middle-of-the-pack programs where wins would have kept them afloat.
Fans can claim that the call halted a possible tournament run reminiscent of N.C. State’s Cinderella streak from last year, but to think that Pitt would have beaten UNC, Wake Forest, Duke or let alone win the damn thing is simply ludicrous. Just let it go.
After the game, Austin received so much hate on Instagram that he temporarily took down his public account. This is just inexcusable behavior for a fanbase that prides itself on its loyalty and love for the team.
Austin shared “not even half” of the messages on X, which contained vulgar language, slurs and death threats.
To blame one player and one call for a season that ended shortly after it began is crazy. After a year that failed to avenge the prior’s snub from the tournament and started off so perfectly, we can only look to the future and hope that the team can build a good enough repertoire come the spring so that fans don’t feel the need to grasp at hypotheticals and cheating allegations to compensate for their teams’ lackluster play.
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