There’s no sugarcoating it: Pitt lost a stinger on Saturday against Wake Forest. Pitt led by 16 points at one point, and the game seemed to be well at hand. They were playing well, limiting the turnovers, and even shooting better from beyond the arc than they had in most recent contests.

But obviously, the wheels fell off in the second half, and Pitt lost the game. You need not look further than Dream Backfield’s own Wake Forest game preview to understand why that happened. What were our keys to the game?

1. Keep Wake Forest away from the free throw line. Pitt allowed Wake Forest to the line for 25 free throw attempts, of which the Demon Deacons hit 18. In a game that Pitt lost by just four points, sending a great free throw shooting team to the line 25 times is a brutal. Especially when you consider that only two of those free throws were of the intentional variety. Pitt sent Wake to the line for 23 free throws outside of intentional fouling at the end of the game.
2. Keep hitting the three ball. Pitt actually shot well enough from deep on Saturday, hitting seven of 21 attempts, good for a 0.333 field goal percentage from three-point land. That number doesn’t sound overly impressive, and that’s because it isn’t. And yet, it is Pitt’s fifth highest single game mark of the season, sitting well above the team season mark of 0.291 from three. Moreover, it continues the positive momentum of the past three games, during which the Panthers have shot a combined 0.411 from deep against Binghamton, Canisius, and Wake Forest.
3. Pitt needs big performances from Eric Hamilton and/or Terrell Brown. Mixed bag here. In the first half, Hamilton and Brown combined for six points, seven rebounds, one block, and one steal. In the second half? Seven points, two rebounds, one block, seven personal fouls. Seven personal fouls! There’s no doubt that Pitt’s big men struggled in the second half, after doing a nice job of competing with Wake’s big men in the first half. Undoubtedly that inconsistency played a major factor in the loss.

Saturday’s loss is disappointing to Pitt Panthers fans because in order for Pitt to make a run at a possible NCAA tournament berth, they have to win those games–that is, games against beatable teams. Especially when those games come at home, like Saturday’s matchup with the Demon Deacons did.

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