Pitt suffers 1st loss, falling to undefeated No. 19 Wisconsin in Greenbrier Tipoff

Two undefeated teams met Sunday night in the championship game of the Greenbrier Tipoff in White Sulpher Springs, W.Va., and No. 19 Wisconsin’s late surge was enough to hand Pitt (6-1) its first loss of the season 81-75.

Pitt played almost the entire game without guard Damian Dunn, who suffered a sprained ankle and dislocated thumb in the first two minutes and did not return. Pitt also did itself no favors in the second half when Ishmael Leggett, Cam Corhen and Guillermo Diaz Graham were in foul trouble.

Those situations put the Panthers at a disadvantage, but they opened a 14-point lead in the first half before Wisconsin (7-0) rallied to trail by only 34-27 at halftime.

In the second half, Wisconsin’s John Tonje took command of several of the Badgers’ possessions and scored 25 of his 33 points. For the game, the sixth-year senior transfer from Missouri hit 11 of 19 shots from the field — but only one 3-pointer — and all 10 of his foul shots. As a team, Wisconsin connected on 18 of 22 shots from the line and won the rebound battle 33-29.

“We had to get the tough plays, the rebounds to stop some of the (Wisconsin) runs, defending without fouling,” assistant coach Jason Capel said on the 93.7 FM postgame show. “These are things we talked about as a part of the scouting report for Wisconsin. We did a great job for 20 minutes. The second 20 minutes we didn’t do as good of a job.

“Listen, good teams are going to make you pay for some of your mistakes. They made us pay. They got to the foul line. They got some of the timely rebounds that if you call yourself a champion, you have to be able to get.”

Pitt was seeking its first 7-0 start since 2013 and its first nonconference victory against a ranked team since an overtime victory against Duke — before Pitt entered the ACC — on Dec. 20, 2007.

In the end, Pitt didn’t have enough defensive might to counteract Tonje, whose coach, Greg Gard, called him not only one of the best transfers in the nation, but one of the best players in the nation.

Pitt was left to wonder what might have been if Dunn had played more than two minutes.

“Losing (Dunn) was big,” Capel said. “but I thought guys stepped in and gave us good minutes.”

Pitt got good efforts off the bench from Amsal Delalic, who scored nine points on 4-for-4 shooting and a foul shot in 16 minutes, and Zack Austin, who added eight points.

“We’re going to need that even more going forward,” Capel said.

Capel said Delalic gives Pitt a college freshman with veteran experience.

“He’s a confident kid,” Capel said. “The thing about him is he’s had experience at the highest level, playing internationally and he’s learning on the fly now in real time playing high-level college basketball.

“He gives us size (6-foot-8, 210 pounds). He’s a guy who can get to the paint. He can make shots. This is a great learning experience for him, playing a high-level game against really good players, especially on the defensive side that he has to focus and have great discipline for however long he’s out there.

“I thought Zack gave us great minutes stepping in, Amsal the same thing. Proud of our guys. We put ourselves in a position to win a championship. We faced adversity … just didn’t have enough to get to the finish line. This won’t be the last time we put ourselves in position to win a championship.”

Leggett led the Panthers with 17 points and eight rebounds, followed by Corhen (16) and Jaland Lowe (15). Lowe also contributed five rebounds and five assists. Overall, Pitt shot 50% from the field (30 of 60) but only 5 of 23 from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Badgers had trouble scoring early, missing their first 11 3-pointers, but they recovered in the early minutes of the second half. Pitt’s seven-point halftime lead was trimmed to nothing, 38-38, at 15:47 mark.

Wisconsin recovered in the second half, hitting 18 of 30 shots (60%). The Badgers took their first lead since the score was 2-0 when Tonje’s layup put them up 51-50 with 11:15 left in the game.

While Leggett went to the bench with his fourth foul, the lead seesawed with Corhen scoring for Pitt, Tonje matching him with a jumper and Corhen tipping in an alley-oop pass from Lowe. Corhen completed a three-point play with a foul shot, and Pitt took a 55-53 lead into the game’s final 10 minutes.

But Wisconsin slowly gained control with Tonje muscling his way into the paint to score 10 points in the last 10 minutes.

“In the second half, they needed me to get downhill so we could get the win,” Tonje said on the CBS Sports Network telecast.

Even without Dunn, Pitt was able to turn up the defensive intensity in the first half, forcing Wisconsin to miss 12 of its first 16 shots.

“We took some tough shots early,” Gard said. “That’s a credit to Pitt’s defense.”