Florida State stretches Pitt's losing streak to 3 in a row

One look at the stat sheet told Pitt associate head coach Tim O’Toole all he needed to know about Pitt’s 82-70 loss to Florida State on Wednesday night in Tallahassee, Fla.

”There’s an old saying,” O’Toole said on the 93.7 The Fan postgame show, “that victory favors the team that makes the fewest mistakes. The reality is it’s hard as heck to win, period, on the road. You can’t turn this thing over 17 times and expect to win.”

Pitt (12-5, 3-3 ACC) could not overcome sloppy ball-handling (the aforementioned 17 turnovers) and poor shooting against the Seminoles (12-5, 3-3), who were coming off a 20-point loss at Clemson (Pitt’s next opponent).

The Panthers hit only 6 of 22 shots (27.3%) in the first half while playing nearly nine minutes without a basket. Pitt improved with a bit of a rally late in the game, but finished only 21 of 56 (37.5%).

The result was Pitt’s third loss in a row, its longest losing streak since Nov. 11-17, 2022, and the longest in the ACC since the end of the 2021-22 season.

“We were fighting at the end,” O’Toole said. “But (another) of our goals was you have to play without fouling. Those things added up.”

Florida State was good on 28 of 33 foul shots, including 12 of 14 in the last 2 minutes, 45 seconds.

The Seminoles set the tone for a physical battle by clamping down on Pitt point guard Jaland Lowe in the first half. Lowe scored only two points — on foul shots — and committed six turnovers in the game’s first 20 minutes. Pitt turned the basketball over 14 times in the first half, an especially troubling number because the Panthers had been averaging only 10 for the entire game.

Lowe recovered to finish with 22 points on 6 of 12 shooting, but he totaled a career-high eight turnovers and had two personal streaks end at the foul line. He had made 28 in a row before missing one at the start of the second half. The miss also was his first in an ACC game this season after making his first 34.

“The first half, (Lowe) couldn’t go anywhere,” O’Toole said. “This game was unbelievably physical.”

Pitt stumbled at the outset of the second half when it had no answer for Malique Ewin, Florida State’s 6-foot-11, 230-pound forward. Ewin took charge, scoring 10 points in less than four minutes to build a 30-29 lead into a 40-29 advantage less than four minutes after halftime. He scored in a variety of ways, with a tip-in, two jumpers, a layup and dunk.

Pitt’s Jorge Diaz Graham came off the bench to score 17, including four 3-pointers that put some life into what had been a largely lifeless Pitt offense. The first three sliced FSU’s largest lead (55-39 with 9:47 to play) to 59-54 less than two minutes later. His fourth made the score 68-62 with 2:26 left.

After that, Lowe’s two free throws — he was 9 of 10 for the game — trimmed Pitt’s deficit to 69-64 with 1:58 to play, but the Panthers crawled no closer. Florida State had an answer for most of Pitt’s baskets late in the game.

Ishmael Leggett added 13 points and six rebounds for the Panthers. Starters Damian Dunn and Cam Corhen scored two points each. Dunn was 0 for 8 and Corhen 0 for 4 from the field, with a team-high nine rebounds, in his return to Florida State, where he had played the previous two seasons.

“We have to get more out of Cam,” O’Toole said.

Florida State had four players score at least 11, led by Jamir Watkins (26), Ewin (18), Chandler Jackson (13) and Daquan Davis (11). Alier Maluk, a Baldwin native who won WPIAL and PIAA championships at Imani Christian, scored three points for the Seminoles in 11 minutes.

“We have to learn. We have to regroup,” O’Toole said. “We got Clemson (on Saturday at Petersen Events Center) and that’s going to be a fight to the finish. We have to do a much better job and we didn’t.”

Pitt’s defense has slipped recently, allowing 82 points in back-to-back games after losing at Duke, 76-47.

“You have to keep fighting back,” O’Toole said. “It’s defense. The points will come.”