Pitt came out with the fire to get its first win over a power five opponent at the Petersen Events Center, but that fire fizzled in the second half and the Panthers lost in a 68-52 rout to Vanderbilt.
The Panthers opened the game playing stout defense that paved the way to an 18-9 lead with 7:00 to go in the first half. While Pitt wasn't shooting the ball all that well, it was forcing stops and turnovers at the right times to keep the game within reach.
"The defense was really good," Jeff Capel said of the first half. "The first 12 and a half minutes, they had nine points. We were able to finish some plays around the basket, but we had chances to get more points at that time."
"We were communicating," Jamarius Burton said of Pitt's 18-9 lead. "We were playing for one another and being a tougher team at that moment. It went down once we started turning the ball over."
But things took a quick turn when Nate Santos missed an open three-pointer and then Pitt committed two turnovers that led to transition points for Vanderbilt, and the Panthers' lead was shrunk.
"When we got up 18-9," Capel recalled, "we missed a wide open three and then turned it over twice. We stopped making strong passes and then all of a sudden it was 18-14."
Capel wasn't exaggerating, because after he missed that wide open three-pointer Pitt sunk into a hole. The Commodores took the lead back by halftime at 24-23 and bought time to address their mistakes.
"We were up 18-9 in the first half," Capel said. "We had done a really good job defensively and we missed a wide open three, but then we allowed that to impact our defense. We were fortunate to be down only by one at the half."
Capel's defense did keep Vanderbilt in check for a good while, but eventually it caved when Pitt's offense started to revisit its turnover issues. You could see the demeanor of the players sink and after the team missed several shots, shooting 36 percent on the night.
"We started the second half OK when it was 44 to 42," Capel said. "We just allowed our inability to make shots affect everything and that led to an unbelievable slide where our defense was non-existent. I'm not taking anything away from their execution, but we didn't help each other. They got to the basket and made shots. We went under on a screen against a guy we weren't supposed to and he made us pay for it."
Vanderbilt's scoring woke up as Pitt's defense started to show some cracks in response to their shooting well from beyond the arc. Collectively Vanderbilt hit 10 of 25 three-pointers during the game, but it was led by guard Trey Thomas' 14-point night hitting 4 of 6 on three-pointers.
Thomas had hit only 1 of 15 three-pointers on the season before Wednesday night, but got red hot against Pitt. But beyond his ability to drain deep shots, Pitt's defense started showing cracks that led to more open looks for Vanderbilt.
"We weren't connected like we were in the first half," Odukale said. "We saw them hit a couple shots and we got down ourselves. Good teams don't do that. We kept bickering at each other and we didn't play together."
While Pitt's players were struggling to keep their heads up, Vanderbilt's players were finding reasons to support each other. Scotty Pippen Jr. was the SEC preseason player of the year but was shooting poorly and having a rough night, but that didn't stop the son of the six-time NBA champion Chicago Bulls forward from feeling good about the team's night.
"We have to be mature," Capel said. "We have to be all about winning. Scotty Pippen Jr. is one of the best players in the country but even while he was shooting 5 of 12, but there was nobody happier when Thomas was shooting the basketball. All he cares about is Vanderbilt winning. He's their second-leading scorer this year and from the outside he seems content with it. That comes with maturity and we have to grow there."
Pitt's lack of maturity was on display for all to see. John Hugley IV, who was the team's leading scorer, averaging 16 points per game, scored a single point on the night. It was his worst performance of the season and he got pulled in the second half as you could hear Capel's displeasure with Hugley's effort.
"He's got to play harder," Capel said of Hugley. "He's got to play harder on every possession. Being a good player is not easy. He works hard in practice but he has to play harder, talk on the court and be engaged all the time in every play. And we need that from all of our guys, especially when things aren't going well."
Pitt did see Odukale lead with 14 points and hit all seven of his free throws when he had been shooting 14 percent from the stripe. Nate Santos was the team's second-leading scorer with 11 points, but he shot 5 of 14 from the field and 1 of 8 on three-pointers.
But outside of that, Pitt didn't have much presence on offense and it led to a 17-2 run in the second half as the Commodores asserted itself.
"We have to be better," Capel said. "We have to be able to play a 40-minute game. We cannot allow our inability to make shots to affect our defense because we have not been a good shooting team. We have to understand the dirty work stuff and helping each other to be connected has to be there all the time, not just when things are going well."
Capel indicated Pitt would be practicing on Thanksgiving and Friday before its 2 p.m. tipoff against UMBC at the Petersen Events Center. But these are the dog days when Pitt's players are going to have to learn tough lessons in bad losses to find their footing.
"It's just inexperience," Burton said when asked what leads to teammates bickering. "When adversity hit tonight, we didn't come together and fight down the stretch. We made no adjustments when Thomas got hot, but not only on him, on the whole team."
Burton and Odukale are two of Pitt's most consistent players and leaders on a team that lacks the experience needed to fight through adversity during tough games.
"For both of us, we just have to come together," Burton said of him and Odukale being leaders. "We have to be vocal and get everyone on the same page. Get everyone to understand the game's not over until the clock strikes zero. But again, it's inexperience in those moments. Tonight was a great learning experience. We'll look on film at how we responded in those moments."
Pitt's shooting is still abysmal, shooting 36 percent from the field, below the 43.1 percent mark on the season. It's already going to be a long season, but if Pitt can't at least band together to fight hard through these games, that season could be a lot longer.