Pitt’s three most recent opponents have shot the basketball at a 56.8% success rate — 160 shots, 91 makes.

The past three defeats to Miami, No. 4 Duke and Notre Dame — part of a four-game losing streak the Panthers will drag into the ACC Tournament on Tuesday — occurred with margins of 21, 30 and 24 points.

That includes a 78-54 loss to the Irish on Saturday in South Bend, Ind. The outcome made Pitt (11-20, 6-14 ACC) a 20-game loser for only the second time since 1977.

Those foes are three of the best teams in the ACC, all most likely headed to the NCAA Tournament later this month.

Which raises the questions?

Have the strength of the opponents made Pitt look weak? Don’t forget: Georgia Tech (12-19, 5-15) started Pitt’s losing streak Feb. 19 and, then, proceeded to lose four in a row.

Or, is Pitt’s defense, worn down by a long season, just that bad?

“A lot of that was their shooting. Some of it was our defense,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said after the Irish shot 56.3%, including 14 of 24 3-pointers.

On the other end of the floor, Pitt’s shooting percentage was 35.9%, including 23 misses in 26 attempts from 3-point range. Those 26 attempts are one short of the Panthers’ season-high set Dec. 21 against Jacksonville.

Said Capel: “Some of it was their defense. Some of it was we just missed shots. We had some open looks.”

Capel wasn’t happy with the shooting percentage, but he endorses his team’s aggressiveness on offense.

“We do want to take shots when they’re there,” he said.

The trick now is to set aside the recent past and focus on Pitt’s opening game of the ACC Tournament at 2 p.m. Tuesday against Boston College (11-19, 6-14) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Pitt finished in a tie for 11th place in the ACC with Louisville and Boston College, but dropped to the No. 12 seed after the application of tiebreakers.

The teams split their two games during the season, with Pitt winning, 69-67, on Jan. 8 at Petersen Events Center before BC dominated the visiting Panthers on Jan. 30, 69-56. A storm that dumped 2 feet of snow on Boston forced Pitt to fly into Boston on game day while Capel didn’t make the trip because of covid complications.

Pitt had plenty of time to prepare and travel to South Bend, but the Irish were in command from start to finish. A 31-21 halftime lead ballooned to 43-23 within the first 3 minutes, 2 seconds of the second half.

Foul trouble plagued the Panthers in the first half. John Hugley, who shared team scoring honors (13) with Mouhamadou Gueye, picked up two fouls in the first 2:30 within six seconds of each other. Capel set Hugley on the bench for the rest of the half, hoping to keep the game close.

When Hugley returned, he played well on offense, but Pitt’s defense allowed Notre Dame to score 47 points in the final 20 minutes.

“I think fatigue has a little bit to do with it,” Capel said. But he also pointed to “not communicating as well as we need to on the court in real live situations. The help side (defense) hasn’t been as active as it needs to be.”

“No excuses. We just have to defend better,” said Gueye, who said he is playing through soreness in his wrist he sprained Feb. 22 against Miami. “That’s the bottom line.”

Capel made a minor adjustment to the starting lineup. He benched sophomore guard Femi Odukale at the outset of the game because he was late for a meeting. Former walk-on Onyebuchi Ezeakudo started, but Odukale still played 26 minutes.

Capel said he was not trying to send a message by punishing Odukale.

“I don’t know that there was a message there. If you’re late, you don’t start,” he said. “There are standards in our program that everyone has to do, and if you don’t, there are consequences of it.”

Pitt will finish Capel’s fourth season with the program’s sixth conseutive losing record. When he was asked to assess the past four years that started in 2018 when he inherited a team that was winless in the ACC, Pitt’s coach declined.

He remains focused on the present.

“Right now, it’s hard for me to think about (the past) because we are still in a season. We still have a little bit left,” he said. “I’ve been concentrating on trying to figure out what to do against Notre Dame. Now, my focus will shift on Brooklyn and move onto that.

“When our season’s over, I can maybe assess that after some time. When you’re in it, you’re not looking behind. You’re not looking ahead. I do still think our guys are fighting.”

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