A bad loss for the Panthers drops them to 6-3 in ACC
Welp, that is a huge blow to their tournament chances. Florida State’s NET ranking is in the 200s.
FSU couldn’t miss from three in the first half and were up by 10 at the break. Pitt made a second half surge and actually took a 48-45 lead at some point, but poor shooting doomed them in the closing minutes. Let’s talk about the players (Note about player grade’s: They are in part based on the expectations for that particular player)
Jamarius Burton – He was Pitt’s leading scorer with 20 points on 8-13 shooting. He seemed to be the only player willing to get into the lane. He added five assists against three turnovers. His layup at 2:19 left cut the lead to 65-64, but Pitt woudn’t score again.
Grade: A-
Federiko Federiko – He made all four of his shots, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked three shots, had one steal and didn’t commit any turnovers. He also only committed one foul in 34 minutes. He did absolutely everything asked from him today.
Grade: A
Guillermo Diaz-Graham – He had an offensive rebound that led to a bucket, I think by Hinson. He attempted a baseline drive at a different point but couldn’t get past his man.
Grade: C
Nate Santos – He had a rebound, but Pitt was outscored by 12 points in his five minutes on the floor. That’s not really his fault, and I’d like to see him try to get involved offensively when he’s in there, but today wasn’t the day for it, I guess.
Grade: C-
Greg Elliott – Elliott made two early threes (including a four point play), but he only had 2 second half points despite not coming out the entire half.
Grade: C+
Blake Hinson – Hinson caught fire in the second half and was the reason Pitt was able to take the lead back at some point. He made four threes (all after the break), but he had several frustration fouls after missed opportunities on offense. He fouled out in the closing seconds. I worry he has become one dimensional on offense. When he’s hitting threes it’s fantastic, but when he’s not, he seems to get frustrated. He had a three blocked in the final two minutes that really seemed to be the final blow to Pitt’s chances.
Grade: B-
Nike Sibande – He had a nice drive at some point in the second half and made both of his free throws, but he was 0-4 from three and a horrendous -22 in his 14 minutes.
Grade: F
Nelly Cummings – He shot 2-12 from the field (1-8 from three). You can’t win games when your starting PG shoots 2-12 from the field. Just a terrible performance.
Grade: F