Vanderbilt free throws with a second left snap Pitt’s winning streak
Tyrin Lawrence made two free throws in the closing seconds to give Vanderbilt a 75-74 win against the Panthers tonight. A Nelly Cummings jumper had given Pitt a 74-73 lead with 15 seconds left but the Panthers could not get one final stop. Greg Elliott scored 20 points off the strength of a 6-9 shooting performance from long-range to lead the Panthers. Nelly Cummings (18), Blake Hinson (14) and Jamarius Burton (10) also scored in double figures.
The story of this one is simply rebounding and turnovers. Pitt shot incredibly well (24-50) from the field but Vanderbilt had 20 more shot attempts (28-70) off the strength of 18 offensive rebounds. Vanderbilt held a 39-31 rebounding edge. Pitt had no answer for seven-footer Liam Robbins who had 14 and 9 to go along with 6 blocks. Vanderbilt took a 73-66 lead with under two minutes left before a furious Elliott-led comeback put Pitt up 1.
Takeaways:
- John Hugley is not playing well at all. He did not have a single rebound in 23 minutes. I am not sure what it’s going to take, but Pitt has to obviously get him going. The team can’t withstand such empty minutes like that.
- This was obviously a sloppy performance from Pitt, but it would be interesting to think how the perspective changes had Pitt escaped with a win. They did not put forth a winning performance and the schedule will now reflect that, but it would have been nice to to get lucky for once.
- This is the 237th one-point loss for Pitt in the Jeff Capel era*
*Probably not, but it feels like it.
Pitt is back home on Saturday afternoon against Sacred Heart. Let’s see if they can bounce back.