Losing streak continues as short-handed Seminoles fall to Pitt
The Pitt Panthers had yet to win a road game in the ACC all season.
That losing streak ended on Wednesday night.
The visiting Panthers took advantage of a short-handed and cold-shooting Florida State team to roll into the Tucker Center and knock off the Seminoles, 56-51.
Leonard Hamilton's team has now lost five straight games and three straight at home.
"This is a unique opportunity for us to show we can overcome some adversity," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "This is a time of learning and growing and developing. You've got to get tougher mentally. You've got to give more effort. And you've got to make better decisions.
"That's where we are in terms of this particular edition of the Seminole basketball team."
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Once again, FSU struggled to get anything going offensively. The Seminoles were a staggering 5-of-28 from the field in the first half and finished with a 28.6 shooting percentage overall.
With Pitt struggling offensively as well, Florida State trailed 21-20 at halftime despite making just five baskets in the first 20 minutes. Pitt made seven.
"I think we had several point-blank layups and we just didn't finish them," Hamilton said. "And that has been a problem. ... The bottom line is we've got to make them. I can say inexperience, I can say first-year players, but the bottom line is regardless this is part of the developmental process.
"We've come up short the last two games with high-percentage shots that we didn't finish."
The Panthers were able to build a nine-point lead in the second half because the FSU defense continually left Pitt's Ithiel Horton wide open in the corner, and he continually made the Seminoles pay.
Horton hit seven 3-pointers on the night, including four during a short span in the second half to give the Panthers their largest advantage of the night. He finished with 25 points.
Caleb Mills led FSU with 19 points but was just 6-of-16 from the floor. Freshman Matthew Cleveland was the only other Seminole in double-figures; he finished with 12 points but was only 4-of-13 from the floor.
PItt's Mouhamadou Gueye finished with eight blocked shots.
Even with all the offensive woes,, the Seminoles managed to tie the game late in the second half when Cam'Ron Fletcher drove the baseline and scored.
From there, though, it was all Pitt. The Seminoles couldn't get stops on one end and couldn't get anything to fall on the other.
Malik Osborne, Anthony Polite and Naheem McLeod all missed the game again for FSU, which is now 13-10 overall and 6-7 in the ACC.
FSU's next game will come Saturday at North Carolina.
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