Pitt earns 2nd straight ACC road win, defeating Georgia Tech

The box score from Pitt’s 72-64 victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday night shows Bub Carrington scored 19 points, his largest point total in five games.

But assistant coach Tim O’Toole was more interested in talking about Carrington’s defensive efforts after Pitt’s second consecutive road victory and third overall in the ACC.

“No matter what, defense travels,” O’Toole said on the 93.7 FM postgame show. “Bub Carrington defensively was absolutely spectacular.”

Carrington’s first assignment was Miles Kelly, who is Georgia Tech’s leading scorer at 15.1 points per game. Not only was he held scoreless, but he managed to put up only two shots in 17 minutes.

“In my opinion, (Kelly) is a pro,” O’Toole said. “He’s got range. He can score in a multiple of fashions, and he didn’t hurt us at all.”

Later, Carrington was given the task of defending Kyle Sturdivant, who had scored 16 against Pitt in two separate games last season. He finished Tuesday’s game with 14, but none in the final four minutes when the outcome was in doubt.

“Sturdivant is an older, confident guy,” O’Toole said. “When he started to cook, Bub took him and did a phenomenal job defensively all night long.”

Carrington said the victory was important for the Panthers, who took a 1-5 ACC record on the road last week and responded with consecutive victories at Duke and Georgia Tech. The road continues Saturday at Miami.

“This meant a lot to us,” Carrington said, “to come into someone else’s home again and get this win. It shows that we still have some fight in us.

“I want to say that we focused a lot on (the defensive) end. We are all scoring well. I feel like that’s what coach recruited us to do. But we just had to lock in (on defense) and say this is where we have to improve our game.”

Pitt and Georgia Tech were seeking an upward move in the ACC standings after each lost five of seven conference games. The score was tight for most of the game’s 40 minutes, with neither team holding a lead larger than six points until Pitt went up 55-48 with 6 minutes, 22 seconds left in the game.

With only 2:58 to play, Pitt (12-7, 3-5) built a 64-55 lead, but it didn’t look especially safe after Georgia Tech (9-9, 2-6) crawled back into contention. The Yellow Jackets trailed by only 69-64 with 49 seconds to play, but that’s when Ishmael Leggett stepped up. He answered with three foul shots to finish the game with 14 points and four rebounds.

With the basketball in his hands, Carrington was just as effective, hitting 6 of 10 shots (2 of 5 3-pointers). He hit a basket and two free throws in the final minutes to help stonewall a Georgia Tech rally.

After making all seven 3-point attempts in the victory at Duke on Saturday, Blake Hinson missed three of four from beyond the arc, including a desperation shot from near midcourt at the first-half buzzer. He finished with nine points — 15 off his total in the Duke game — and six rebounds.

He sat out with three fouls for nearly six minutes of the second half, but Guillermo Diaz Graham came off the bench and scored 10 of his 12 points. Jaland Lowe also scored 12.

The loss left Georgia Tech with seven losses in its past eight games, but the Yellow Jackets never allowed Pitt to feel comfortable with its lead.

After trailing, 31-27, at halftime, Georgia Tech opened the second half on a 7-0 run, finding its offensive rhythm in a span of 80 seconds. The Yellow Jackets’ lead grew to 40-35 in the first five minutes while 6-foot-9 freshman Baye Ndongo worked against Pitt’s Federiko Federiko and scored eight of his 12 points.

Later, Diaz Graham took over the defensive chores on Ndongo, who ended up leading his team with 17 points, but managed only one made free throw in the last six minutes.

“One of the big keys for us,” O’Toole said, “was we had to get hands on balls and deflect passes. (Diaz Graham) got his hands on a lot of balls. His energy was tremendous and we needed every bit of it.”

A key moment in the second half surfaced immediately after the Yellow Jackets went ahead 43-37 on a spectacular reverse dunk along the baseline by Kowacie Reeves. Pitt responded by scoring the game’s next nine points to take a 46-43 lead at the 11:12 mark on two 3-pointers by Diaz Graham and Lowe’s and-one. He drew a foul while scoring on a layup and added the free throw.

Pitt could have enjoyed a larger lead in the first half, but the Panthers committed eight turnovers in the game’s first 20 minutes. They settled down after intermission and turned the ball over only three more times.

Another key: Pitt made 11 of 15 free-throw attempts in the second half.