Pitt's momentum goes splat in loss to Georgia Tech

The fruit was juicy and hanging low for Pitt to pick. Or, so it appeared.

There was momentum from a three-game winning streak, the largest home crowd of the season (9,085) eager for a reason to get excited about basketball again and even a last-place team in town as the opponent.

None of it mattered. Pitt (11-17, 6-11 ACC) trailed for most of the night, teased everyone with a late, spirited rally, but ended up losing to Georgia Tech, 68-62, Saturday night at Petersen Events Center.

The hangover from the uplifting victory at North Carolina on Wednesday might be partially to blame.

“I just think maybe we walked into this game just a little bit lackadaisical,” said senior Mouhamadou Gueye, who scored a season-high 27 points.

“I could see it in warmups. The energy from the past three games wasn’t there. The first half (when Pitt fell behind, 37-28) wasn’t really surprising. It’s frustrating because throughout the whole entire season our biggest thing was trying to have consistency.”

Coach Jeff Capel pointed to a lack of physicality and an inability to communicate on defense that led to several open shots and 46.6% shooting (26 of 56) by Georgia Tech.

“We didn’t play with the force necessary in order for us to position ourself like we need to to win a basketball game,” Capel said. “We didn’t play with a sense of urgency. Nothing we did was physical. That’s who we have to be.

“They were able to get layups off of cuts and we didn’t have help. Those are the things we have been doing better. We didn’t have it (Saturday). When we missed shots at times, they were able to leak out and get baskets there.”

Gueye said Capel and his staff preached about turning the page almost from the time they boarded the airplane to return from Chapel Hill, N.C.

“Players have to be able to move on,” Capel said. “I didn’t do a good enough job getting us prepared for that. I’m disappointed in me. I’m disappointed in us. We had an unbelievable opportunity and we didn’t capitalize on it.”

Three players scored 55 of Pitt’s 62 points, with only John Hugley (18) and Ithiel Horton (10) supporting Gueye, who hit 10 of 15 shots while playing all 40 minutes.

Guard play was far below the standard. Jamarius Burton, Femi Odukale and Horton combined to try 25 shots and hit only four (16%).

Burton, who had scored 10 or more points in a team-high 20 games and was averaging 13.1, didn’t score until there were eight minutes left in the game. He finished with four points on 1 of 11 shooting.

“I don’t know if he’s a little bit fatigued, tired, whatever it is,” Capel said. “He didn’t do much in practice on Friday because of soreness.”

Still, Pitt was able to cut a 63-45 deficit with 5 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game to four (63-59) in a span of 3:32.

On Georgia Tech’s subsequent possession only six seconds later, Capel had a bad feeling when Michael Devoe had the ball at the 3-point line. Devoe lofted what appeared to be a questionable shot after he had missed a 3-point try 1 ½ minutes earlier. This time, it found its mark.

“I was afraid because he makes those type of shots,” Capel said. “That was the dagger. He’s not afraid of those moments. He has supreme confidence even after missing one a few plays prior to that.”

“Thank goodness, Michael Devoe was that open and took the shot and made it,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said. “Because it was getting hairy there. Goodness gracious, it was getting hairy.”

Pastner said he not only encouraged Devoe to shoot, but shouted at him to do it.

“Anytime he’s open he has to shoot it. Anytime he’s open, fire the ball,” Pastner said. “I don’t care if he shoots 30 of them. Chances are there are going to be a bunch going in. That stopped the bleeding, in a sense, and gave us a cushion to finally win the game.”

Devoe thought nothing of taking a chance with a long-range shot.

“That’s what I do, man,” said Devoe, who was MVP of last season’s ACC Tournament (won by Georgia Tech). “That’s something I’ve always done is take big-time shots like that.”

In the days before the game, Capel was concerned about more than Devoe, who ended up with 22 points. Pastner likes to constantly change his zone defense – sometimes within the same possession — and Capel knew it wouldn’t be easy for his team.

“It requires us to think,” he said. “We allowed the switching zone to make us hesitant and when they saw that they preyed on it.” Pitt finished the game with 16 turnovers.

“I was really concerned coming into this game. And I think I had a right to be, unfortunately.”