GREENSBORO, N.C. — It wasn’t the ending the Pitt Panthers had planned, but given the way they ended the regular season, it was probably a fitting one.
North Carolina State beat the Panthers in just about every category, knocking them out of the ACC tournament with an 81-70 victory Wednesday. Now Pitt is left to wonder what exactly happened in the final few weeks that turned a promising season into a bit of a disaster.
The Panthers, who lost the past four games, went from a team on the brink of an NCAA tournament berth to one that likely won’t even be one of the top seeds in the National Invitation Tournament.
“It is hard to really discuss right now, to be honest,” forward Michael Young said in the locker room after the loss. “We felt like we had things in our control, and then we lost the first one [to Wake Forest] and thought we would rebound at home [against Miami]. I mean, there is no finger-pointing, it isn’t one thing or one guy, we just all have to figure out what we can do to get better.”
He wasn’t alone trying to pinpoint the cause for Pitt’s late-season slide.
“We were going strong and on a run before the last three games,” forward Jamel Artis said. “Then we lost the last three and now four, and nobody was respecting that. We were expecting, all of us, to get back on a run and come down here and win at least this first game.”
That sentiment echoed around the locker room. The Panthers failed to make enough plays and failed to defend well enough to win consistently. And at some point, they became disheartened.
That much was clear after the loss to Wake Forest, a game they had all but won. They followed that with a home loss to Miami, again surrendering a lead.
Before the game against Wake Forest, the Panthers had a good shot at the NCAA tournament. They were 19-10 with an 8-7 ACC record, and were 39th in Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
Even after that loss, the Panthers still had a chance at an NCAA berth. Then they lost to Miami, and discouragement set in.
“Things didn’t go our way in the final games,” said Artis, who had 12 points and six rebounds in the loss to North Carolina State. “We felt like we were better than some of the teams we lost to and even [Wednesday], we had played them before, so we felt like we could beat them.”
The loss to the Wolfpack was a bit different from Pitt’s other losses in the past couple weeks, because North Carolina State was the most talented team of the bunch. North Carolina State’s guard tandem of Anthony Barber and Trevor Lacey combined for 55 points, and the Panthers had no answer for them. The Wolfpack’s rotation of big men was consistently more energized, more athletic and more active.
Pitt outrebounded the Wolfpack, but North Carolina State outscored the Panthers, 30-16, in the paint. Pitt had a hard time defending the Wolfpack guards, specifically Barber, from penetrating the lane.
“We are always trying to stop their two best guys from getting to the rim,” Artis said. “But then they got into rhythm at the start, and it didn’t stop. But that is on us. We didn’t make stops, we didn’t guard the perimeter. ... This is a team effort. We have to get stops, we have to stop their best players and when we don’t, this is what happens.”
The Panthers (19-14) will have to wait around to figure out where their next stop is, assuming there is a next stop.
It is clear they won’t be headed to the NCAA tournament, but they are a strong candidate to earn an invitation to the NIT, as several “NIT Bracketologists” have them projected to be a No. 4 seed in one of the regions.
The NIT starts Tuesday.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1720 and Twitter @paulzeise.
First Published: March 13, 2015, 4:00 a.m.