Saturday night at the Petersen Events Center was one the Pitt Panthers would like to forget - and fast. In Jeff Capel’s eight seasons running the show in Pittsburgh, he’s seen his share of ups and downs.
But nothing quite like this. The Panthers were dismantled on their home floor, falling 100-59 to Louisville in a loss that wasn't just lopsided - it was historic.
Let’s call it what it was: a 41-point drubbing that exposed familiar flaws in both execution and effort. Offensively, Pitt looked stuck in neutral.
The Panthers shot just 38% from the field, and even that number feels generous given how stagnant their attack looked for long stretches. The ball movement was sluggish, the spacing was off, and the shot selection - well, it left plenty to be desired.
Defensively, things somehow got worse. Louisville, a team known for letting it fly from deep, came in with a clear game plan - and Pitt didn’t have an answer.
The Cardinals knocked down 15 of their 29 three-point attempts, good for a blistering 52%. That’s not just hot shooting - that’s a team getting clean looks and capitalizing, over and over again.
And while Louisville’s offense was humming, Pitt’s starters couldn’t get anything going. Not a single Panther in the starting five cracked double digits.
That’s a tough pill to swallow, especially when you look across the court and see all five Louisville starters hitting that mark. Cam Corhen, typically one of Pitt’s more reliable scoring options at 12.7 points per game, managed just four points in 34 minutes.
Only Macari Moore scored fewer - and he was only on the floor for four minutes.
This wasn’t just a bad night. It was a collapse in every phase of the game, and the kind of loss that forces a team - and a coaching staff - to take a hard look in the mirror.
The Panthers didn’t just lose. They were outplayed, outworked, and outcoached from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
For Capel and his squad, the road ahead doesn’t get any easier. But if there’s any silver lining, it’s that a loss like this can serve as a wake-up call.
Because if Pitt wants to turn its season around, it’s going to take more than tweaks. It’s going to take urgency, accountability, and a renewed commitment on both ends of the floor.