Pitt men fail to overcome slow start, suffer upset loss to Quinnipiac at home

Pitt’s two games against Power Five opponents this season — West Virginia and Central Florida — resulted in double-digit losses.

However disappointing those defeats were, the Panthers were at least handling business against the low- and mid-major foes on their nonconference schedule.

That changed Sunday at Petersen Events Center, as Pitt was upset 83-75 by Quinnipiac of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the Panthers’ final game of the Legends Classic.

Pitt (4-3) trailed by 10 at halftime, tied the score with about 14 minutes to play but could not stop the Bobcats from long range and in general.

“They out-did everything from us tonight,” coach Jeff Capel said. “Out-coached us, out-prepared, out-played — I always want to give them the proper credit. With that being said, I’m really disappointed in us. It starts with me. … We were not worthy of winning this evening.”

Quinnipiac shot 57.1% from the floor, including 64.7% from deep.

Pitt was 44.3% (27 of 61) from the floor and 32.1% (9 of 28) from 3-point range.

Roman Siulepa led the Panthers with a career-high 20 points, along with eight rebounds.

Barry Dunning Jr. added 17, Nojus Indrusaitis scored 14 and Cam Corhen had 13.

Quinnipiac’s Amarri Monroe led all scorers with 25 points.

Pitt guard Brandin Cummings did not play because of an injury.

With 14:26 to play, Pitt had clawed its way back into things, tying the score at 51.

The Panthers kept the game mostly a one-basket affair over the next six minutes, and with 6:40 to play, Pitt was within 64-61.

But the Bobcats always had a basket — particularly from deep — to fully parry Pitt’s attempt to rally.

Pitt’s inability to get stops and the Bobcats’ inability to miss created a 77-64 hole for the Panthers with 3:47 to go.

Only with just over a minute remaining did Pitt claw to within 10 points, but by then, the bad start, Quinnipiac’s relentless offense and clutch free-throw shooting snowballed into impending defeat.

“It’s a painful lesson, but it’s something we have to learn from,” Capel said. “Our team is young and inexperienced, and all of that showed. Our immaturity, our understanding of how important every game, every moment (and) every practice is — it’s disappointing.”

Quinnipiac coach Tom Pecora liked how his team handled the moment, protecting the lead and closing out the win.

“When you’re playing a superior opponent from a superior league, you just want to hang around, hang around, hang around,” he said. “Then eventually, the pressure turns to them because everyone in the building understands they’re supposed to win the game.”

Heading into the under-12 media timeout of the opening half, a 7-0 Quinnipiac run put the Bobcats ahead 15-12.

With 8:58 to go before halftime, a slick baseline jumper by Monroe made it 21-14.

Moments later, Monroe drained a 3-pointer and a frustrated Capel called timeout, his team now trailing 24-14.

Quinnipiac maintained a 32-20 advantage at the 6:26 mark courtesy of a dunk by Grant Randall.

With 5:01 to go before halftime, Pitt crept within 32-29 via a 9-0 run, with Corhen drilling a 3-pointer.

But Tai Turnage hit a 3-pointer on Quinnipiac’s next possession, and another 3 at the 1:56 mark by Randall increased Pitt’s deficit to 43-33 in a recurring theme for the Panthers.

“We’ve got to be better on defense,” Siulepa said. “ … We just couldn’t guard tonight.”

Randall snuck in a backdoor layup in the closing seconds of the first half to hand the Bobcats a 47-37 halftime lead.

After an early Dunning 3-pointer in the second half, Siulepa powered Pitt back into the game with an emphatic fastbreak dunk and a layup.

With 15:05 to play, Pitt was down 51-47.

Pitt had tied it at 51 with 14:26 to go after a Siulepa bucket and a second-chance layup from Dunning.

At the under-12 timeout, Quinnipiac led 55-53.

Quinnipiac inched ahead to a six-point lead with 8:18 left, but a Dunning 3-pointer 22 seconds later trimmed the Bobcats’ lead to 62-58.

As the clock ticked to under six minutes, Pitt and Quinnipiac traded 3s, with the Bobcats maintaining a 70-64 lead with 5:21 to play.

From there, things deteriorated for Pitt, as the Bobcats continued to hit 3s.

With three minutes remaining, Quinnipiac led 77-64, riding a 13-3 run and hitting five straight field goals.

The Bobcats kept Pitt at bay by continuing to hit their shots, although the Panthers threatened with a minute left, coming within 81-73 on a Indrusaitis layup.

“We’ve got to take accountability,” Dunning said. “The coaching staff did a great job of prep. This is on us. … We’ve got to understand that we can’t be taking this for granted, and I think today, we took it for granted.”