Coming off its statement win against the Syracuse Orange, Miami looked to snag another victory at Pitt. As the Hurricanes have played more team basketball as of late, they showed a strong showing against the Panthers. However, late in the game, poor defense and good ball movement from Pitt allowed them to seal a 74-65 win. This loss for Miami minimizes its chances of sneaking into the ACC tournament as they hoped to go on a bit of a run following the win versus Syracuse.
Even with the loss, select Hurricanes players put up good numbers. Graduate center Lynn Kidd put up 16 points on 5-6 shooting. He also boasted 15 rebounds, 10 on the defensive boards. After a zero-point performance against Syracuse, senior forward Brandon Johnson tossed up 12 points going 4-9 from the field. A.J. Staton-McCray, the redshirt junior, tallied 13 points going 3-6 from downtown.
After Lynn Kidd won the tip, both teams started sloppily with turnovers and missed shots in the first two minutes. Pitt (15-10, 6-8 ACC) hit the scoring column first on a Cameron Corhen hook shot. Corhen, the junior guard, would play a pivotal role in his team’s victory, scoring 17 points.
Shortly after, Miami’s (6-19, 2-12 ACC) freshman guard Divine Ugochukwu would use his speed to drive to the basketball for the easy layup.
This marked the beginning of a competitive first half. Each team would trade buckets, but Pitt would have the slight advantage, leading as much as seven and as little as one throughout the half. Amsel Delalić, the Pitt freshman guard, would bury a deep three-pointer right before the first-half buzzer sounded. Delalić would go on to score his career-high 14 points. With 20 down and 20 to go Pitt was up 32-30.
The first 15 minutes of the second half were eerily similar to the first. Pitt steadily led, but Miami was in striking distance thanks to the 12-point 2nd half effort of Lynn Kidd. Miami had chances to tighten the gap or even take the lead if they didn’t shoot the three-ball at 11% (2-11) clip.
In the last five minutes, you could see the Hurricanes slow down and wear out, something that has been an issue in many games past. This resulted in Pitt seizing a favorable advantage down the stretch. Pitt would bring the lead to as much as 11 and win by nine, 74-65.
Miami will look to get back on track as they face off against an in-state rival, Florida State, in Tallahassee on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 9 p.m. The game will be televised on ACC Network.