Panthers don't back down after defensive lull, earn 15-point win

For a stretch of Pitt's Friday night matchup against Murray State, the Panthers didn't look like themselves. They were out of sync offensively, were allowing easy baskets on defense and lost their identity. But, a few key plays turned the tide for the Panthers and ushered them to an 83-68 victory as they went on a 17-3 run to end the game.

Jaland Lowe, who finished with a team-high 20 points, delivered the first game-changing play at the end of the first half moments after the Racers had taken their first lead of the game.

Then, on back-to-back plays in the second half, Brandin Cummings stole Murray State's momentum. At the 11:29 mark, Cummings knifed through the Racers' defense and found Guillermo Diaz Graham waiting on the perimeter for his lone three-pointer. 

After a 1-minute, 30-second scoring drought, Diaz Graham brought the house down with an emphatic dunk, but Cummings set him up to make the play.

From there, the Panthers outscored the Racers 21-11 and finished the game on a sizeable run that saw Murray State score its only three points from the free-throw line. 

"That got the crowd back in it and gave us a cushion," Jeff Capel said about Cummings' pass to Diaz Graham. "Then we were able to make some plays down the stretch. It was a heckuva win for us, really proud of our team, really proud of the group and this is a game that we can learn a lot from and take it as we move forward."

It was a back-and-forth battle that saw Murray State hang around for a lot longer than most might've expected. After Damian Dunn scored an early 11 points, Pitt jumped out to a 12-point lead midway through the first half. However, Lowe found himself on the bench for the majority of the first half and the Racers worked their way back into the game. 

Starting at the 10:59 mark, Murray State outscored the Panthers 17-7 over the next five minutes and tied the game at 32. 

"When he went out we were up, I think 10, and it hurt us," Capel said of Lowe's absence. "But I thought more than anything, we hurt us because we, defensively, we didn't play as hard and smart as we normally do. I don't know if because we were up 12, if we thought it was going to be easy ... but I thought our defense hurt our offense because we didn't really have much movement on offense, now that's an area where we missed Jaland. But, really the last 10 minutes of the first half what hurt us the most was our defense."

The Racers kept it close through the first 12 minutes of the second half and took a 63-62 lead with just over nine minutes remaining. After Diaz Graham hit a pair of free throws to make it 64-63, the Panthers went on a 19-5 run to finish the game. Murray State's five points came on one layup and three free throws.

Dunn said the Panthers started to take their matchups personally and their defensive effort improved from it. 

"The last 10-11 minutes of the first half really was what set the tone for us getting stops late in the second half," Dunn said. "Really, it was us just taking our matchups personal and doing our best to get stops, just doing stuff that we weren't doing in the first half which was getting stops. So, it was really just putting your heart in guarding at that point."

Also, with both Cam Corhen, who tallied a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Diaz Graham battling foul trouble, Zack Austin played a crucial role. The redshirt senior only scored two points, but he grabbed eight rebounds, seven of which came in the second half, and blocked five shots. They were all momentum-swinging type plays as well. Each one got a loud reaction from the crowd.

"He was a big time for us, he was the X-factor," Corhen said. "We just told him everything at the rim has gotta be his and he held it down."

Now, the Panthers move forward. They host Gardner-Webb on Monday but Capel said there is a lot to fix between now and then.

"We need to work on everything, we need to work on our defense, guarding the basketball, seeing the ball, off the ball, talking to the basketball, all of those things, rebounding the basketball, five guys going to do it, not being screened, all of those things we have to work on at a high level," Capel said.