Pitt Drops Second High-Major Matchup of Season to UCF
Pitt men’s basketball was in search of a high-major victory when it traveled to Florida to take on the UCF Knights in the Legends Classic.
Pitt came up empty-handed against UCF, falling 77-67 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.
A UCF (5-1) team that ranked second in the nation beyond the arc at 47.7 percent entering the game, instead attacked the Panthers (4-2) down the lane all night. The Knights racked up 46 points in the paint, while shooting 6-of-18 (33%) from three, well below their season average.
Themus Fulks and Riley Kugel dropped in 18 points apiece for the Knights. Fulks went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Jamichael Stillwell recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Knights out-rebounded Pitt 37-28 and flexed their muscles in the second, grabbing 13 defensive rebounds to just five for the Panthers.
Pitt shot 39 percent from the floor and went 7-of-27 from beyond the arc (26%). Cam Corhen finished with 17 points in the game, but was kept nearly quiet in the second half.
Damarco Minor and Barry Dunning Jr. added 14-point efforts.
UCF pushed it in transition and into the paint early and often against the Panthers. A 6-9 forward, Burks rocked the rim on back-to-back dunks, which was followed by Fulks lay-in to make it 11-6 UCF.
Corhen brought the scoring touch in the first half for the Panthers around the rim. He tapped in a pair of secondary chances at the basket to go along with a jumper and a handful of layups. Corhen led the Panthers with 15 points in the first.
For the second consecutive game, the South Alabama transfer Dunning brought a wave of shooting off the bench. Coming off the heels of a 23-point effort with seven threes against Bucknell, Dunning knocked down his first attempt from beyond the arc. He was fouled on his second attempt and knocked down all three free throws before adding another three shortly thereafter.
Pitt gathered its biggest lead, 34-29, at the 3:18 mark of the first half before UCF closed out the half with a 9-2 run, capped by a Fulks three-ball.
The Knights jumped on the Panthers quickly in the second half with a 10-1 run. Sloppy play caught up to Pitt as UCF capitalized on a heavy rebounding advantage.
UCF made adjustments on Corhen down low in the second half, which led to forced looks outside the paint, including several bad three attempts from Brandin Cummings.
At the under-eight media timeout, Pitt was shooting just 4-of-19 in the second half with 1-of-8 from beyond the arc. Pitt faced its steepest deficit at 64-49 with 6:40 to go in the second half.
The Panthers began to shrink the UCF lead with a 9-2 run, including a pair of Damarco Minor 3-pointers. However, the Knights added timely buckets down the stretch to keep the Panthers at bay.
Pitt returns back to the Petersen Events Center on Sunday to face Quinnipiac. Tip is set for 5:00 p.m.
