Despite a strong second half, the Pitt Panthers men’s basketball season mercifully reached its conclusion with a 67-64 loss in the opening round of the ACC Tournament at the Barclay’s Center in New York.
The Panthers trailed, 36-24, at the intermission, but Pitt outscored the Fighting Irish, 40-31, in the second half. Pitt pulled within two points with 27 seconds remaining, but would get no closer.
Marcus Carr led Pitt with 18 points.
With the tournament loss, the Panthers finished 0-19 in ACC games. The last time Pitt won a basketball game was three days before Christmas when fans were wrapping up their Christmas gifts, as Pitt downed Towson, 63-59.
Now with the season wrapped up, the nightmare was the Panthers’ first winless conference campaign in their 49 years affiliated with a conference, and when Chicago State defeated UMKC this past weekend in their season finale, it left the Panthers as the only NCAA Division I men’s team to get blanked in conference play in the 2017-18 season.
University of Pittsburgh Athletic Director Heather Lyke sat behind the Pitt bench during the game, and now she faces the decision whether to bring back Head Coach Kevin Stallings for a 3rd season, or buy out his contract, which would reportedly cost the university upwards of $10,000,000.
Pitt finished the season 8-24.
