Pittsburgh Basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout home loss to Miami

The up and down play in the ACC schedule for Pittsburgh Basketball continues, as a three-game win streak, including a shocking road upset over North Carolina, came to a sudden halt with a loss to Georgia Tech at home last Saturday. The hope was that the team would bounce back at home on Tuesday against Miami, a team currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament but couldn’t afford a Quad 3 loss.

Unfortunately, the Panthers‘ habit of slow starts continued to haunt them, falling down 14-2 in just a few minutes, thanks to several turnovers that turned into easy baskets for the Hurricanes. Pittsburgh was able to cut the deficit to two points thanks to Mo Gueye scoring eight points early but an offensive foul/injury on the same play took him out for the rest of the half.

Miami took advantage, maintaining a double-digit lead for the next 10 minutes, before a big run towards the end extended it to a 47-27 lead at halftime, with Charlie Moore and Kameron McGusty equaling the Panthers with 27 points combined.

The good news for Pittsburgh Basketball is that Gueye’s arm injury wasn’t too serious. He was able to come back in the second half, before being taken out once the game got away. And that it did, with the Panthers down by 30+ points for a good amount of the final 20 minutes, ultimately losing the game, 85-64.

John Hugley led all scorers with 20 points on 7/9 shooting from the field but the best players were all on Miami’s side. In a game where a lot went wrong, here are some key takeaways from this game that can also be said about the season overall.