Pitt
12-4,3-2ACC
Louisville
12-5,5-1ACC
Pitt Falls to Louisville, 82-78, as Home Win Streak is Snapped
1/11/2025 3:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PITTSBURGH – Pitt had its 15-game home win streak snapped Saturday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center as Louisville made nine of its final 11 field goal attempts over the final 6:43 of action en route to an 82-78 win over the Panthers. Jaland Lowe led the Panthers with 24 points and six assists, while Damian Dunn came off the bench to register 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Reyne Smith paced the Cardinals with 25 points with a 7-of-11 effort from three-point range. The senior guard scored 11 points in the final 6:43 of action as Louisville improved to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in the ACC. The Cardinals grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and finished with 22 second chance points to go along with 11 made threes in the game.
Ishmael Leggett went 4-of-6 from three-point range and finished with 16 points, four assists, and two steals, while Cameron Corhen had 11 points and five rebounds in the game. Pitt made 10 three-pointers and were 20-of-22 (.909) from the foul line but could not overcome the rebounding deficiency.
Pitt used a 15-2 run to grab an eight-point lead and force a Louisville timeout with 13:27 left in the opening half. Leggett's three at the 15:19 mark gave Pitt its first lead and Corhen added a three-point play and a pair of lay-ins off lob passes from Lowe during the run.
Louisville used a 14-0 run as Pitt went through a scoreless stretch of nearly six minutes to pull ahead 24-18 at the under eight media timeout. The Panthers recovered to close the half on 16-11 run to enter the break trailing 35-34.
Pitt shot 48.1 percent (13-of-27) from the field in the first half, while Louisville was able to take advantage of 10 offensive rebounds for a 14-3 edge in second chance points.
Corhen led the Panthers at the break with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Lowe totaled nine points, two rebounds, and two assists in the opening 20 minutes of action. Smith knocked down three three-pointers to pace the Cardinals with nine points.
Pitt used a 6-0 run early in the second half to grab a 44-43 lead on a corner three from Leggett and Dunn hit a pull-up three to force a Louisville timeout with 15:22 remaining.
Smith drilled a deep three in transition to give the Cardinals a 55-54 lead. Zack Austin erased a Louisville fast break attempt with a pin off the backboard and Leggett buried his third three of the game as the Panthers regained the lead at 57-55 with 9:07 remaining.
After Louisville took a three-point lead on another Smith deep ball, Pitt countered with a stepback in the lane from Lowe before Dunn beat the shot clock with a three for a 62-60 lead with 6:59 left to play.
Louisville came out of the break with a 7-0 run to go up 67-62. The Cardinals carried the five-point lead for under four minutes before Lowe was knocked down on a three-point attempt with 3:32 remaining.
He knocked down all three to get it back to a one score game and the Panthers got a stop before Austin knocked down a corner three in front of the Panthers bench for a 73-72 lead with three minutes remaining.
Smith hit a three off an underneath out of bounds play to end the Pitt run before Leggett answered back with a pair of free throws to tie the game at 75.
Smith added a pullup and another deep three to give the Cardinals an 80-75 lead with under 90 seconds to play. Leggett answered with a three at the 1:06 mark and the Panthers forced a missed three deep in the shot clock but Louisville dug out a long rebound on the play to keep the clock moving.
Chucky Hepburn sealed the win for Louisville with an off-balance finish over a pair of Pitt defenders with eight seconds remaining for the final margin of 82-78. Hepburn finished with 15 points on just 5-of-16 shooting but hit a couple big shots late in the game to hold off the Panthers.
LOWE AT THE LINE
Lowe finished 13-of-13 from the foul line and has now made 25 consecutive free throw attempts. His 13 makes without a miss is tied for fourth best in a game at Pitt. The Missouri City, Texas native posted his sixth 20+ point game of the season.
GETTING BACK ON THE BOARDS
Pitt is now 0-4 on the season when being outrebounded. Louisville posted a 44-31 edge on the glass. The Panthers have a -12.5 rebound margin in their four losses this season.
UP NEXT
Pitt is on the road to face Florida State at the Donald L. Tucker Center Wednesday, Jan. 15.
