Pitt coach Jeff Capel couldn’t believe what he saw.

There were 21 seconds left in overtime Tuesday night in a game Pitt finally lost 73-68 to No. 11 Louisville.

With Pitt down two, 6-foot-10 center Terrell Brown reached over — or so he thought — Louisville’s 6-11 Malik Williams and tipped a missed shot through the cords.

The crowd of 9,221 at Petersen Events Center erupted in joyous noise.

Tie score, right? A chance for Pitt to play defense, score another basket and finally get its first victory against a ranked team in six tries. Nope.

The basket was called off. Brown was charged with a foul for going over Williams’ back. Williams hit both free throws, and Pitt (11-6) ended up with its fourth loss in six ACC games.

Five of the six have been decided by eight points or fewer, but that was of little consolation to Capel, who buried his head on the scorer’s table after the foul call (maybe to keep himself from screaming at the officials).

After the game, there was little talk of the play.

“I can’t,” Capel said. “I don’t want to lose money.”

Sophomore guard Trey McGowens was even less forthcoming.

“Next question,” he said, quietly and politely.

No matter the circumstances, it was a difficult loss for Pitt to accept for a variety of reasons.

The game was played 48 hours after an eight-point loss in Miami, giving Pitt little time to prepare for one of the nation’s best teams. Nonetheless, they stood toe-to-toe with the Cardinals (14-3, 5-1), who were ranked No. 1 for two weeks earlier this season.

“We took a lot of punches in the first half,” Louisville coach Chris Mack said.

The Panthers led for 33 minutes, 20 seconds — by as many as nine points in the first half and seven with 3:11 left in the second. But for just 21 seconds by one point in overtime.

When it mattered most, Pitt was unable to solve Louisville’s defense that clogged the paint and took away what Pitt does best: drives to the hoop.

McGowens, who has scored 123 points in the past seven games, led all scorers with 24. His total was 10 more than Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, who leads the ACC in scoring (20.8), but managed only 14 with McGowens and Au’Diese Toney dogging him all over the court.

Nonetheless, McGowens blamed “breakdowns on defense” for the loss, especially late. McGowens was asked if there was a lack of focus during Louisville’s 7-0 run to force overtime after Pitt held the Cardinals to 54 points for the first 37 minutes.

“You can say that,” he said.

Capel pointed to one key moment late in the second half that facilitated Louisville’s comeback.

McGowens made Pitt’s last basket in regulation to build a 61-54 lead, but Williams answered with a 3-point play (a basket and a free throw) 21 seconds later.

“We can’t go down and give up a 3 on the very next play,” Capel said. “That’s when you really have to hunker down and get a stop.”

In the end, it was another painful learning experience for the Panthers, who have won only six conference games over the past two-plus seasons.

“When you play an elite team, they make you pay when you make mistakes,” Capel said.

“For the most part, we (played well), but when we had some of those breakdowns they made us pay. That’s what talent does. That’s what guys who are older do. That’s what elite does.”

Capel said fatigue didn’t play a part in the loss, even though he used only seven players — Brown and Ryan Murphy were the subs — and Justin Champagnie, McGowens and Xavier Johnson played 44, 41 and 38 minutes.

“Guys deserved to play,” he said.

But Pitt won’t deserve to get recognized for playing tough against difficult opponents until it wins more of those games.

“To become really good, you have to be consistent,” Capel said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Get the latest news about Pitt basketball and all things Panthers athletics.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)