As they prepared for a 7 p.m. tipoff against Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum on Tuesday night, the consensus among college basketball experts and bracketologists was that this was a crucial moment for the Panthers’ NCAA Tournament hopes.

Pitt went into the night on the outside looking in as it pertained to bracket projections. Still, a road victory over an excellent Tigers squad would go a long, long way toward punching a ticket to the only dance that matters during March Madness.

It didn’t work out that way, unfortunately, as the Panthers fought hard but came up short in the end, 69-62.

Pitt controlled the action for most of the first half and led by as many as 10 points. The Tigers refused to go away, however, and trailed by just four points at halftime.

Clemson went on a 12-4 run to open the second half and led, 39-35.

It was a back-and-forth affair from there, as the two programs traded points and leads for most of the second half. Freshman guard Bub Carrington made a three-pointer that gave Pitt a 50-46 lead with 8:44 to go, but that was really the last great moment for the road team, and the Tigers took control of the game from there.

It was mostly a balanced attack from Pitt; Carrington led the way with 18 points, while fellow freshman guard, Jaland Lowe, added 11. Forward Zack Austin scored 10, while reserve guard, Ishmael Leggett, scored 15 points off the bench.

It may have been a better night for the Panthers, had they been much more accurate from three-point range. Pitt made just seven of its 25 attempts from behind the arc.

Actually, the Panthers may have had a much more positive result, had senior forward Blake Hinson, their best player and most lethal shooter, not been invisible for most of the game. Not even two weeks after scoring a career-high 41 points in a win over Louisville, Hinson contributed just six points to Pitt’s cause; he made only two of nine attempts from the floor and was zero of four from three-point range.

It appears that the opposition has found a successful way to put the clamps on Hinson late in the 2023/2024 season. Hinson was held to just 10 points in Pitt’s 91-58 blow-out loss at Wake Forest on February 20.

The loss dropped the Panthers to 18-10, overall, and 9-8 in the ACC.

Next up for the Panthers is a road date against Boston College this Saturday evening.

With three games plus the conference tournament remaining, the Panthers NCAA Tournament hopes are now on life-support.

With no regular-season games left that could boost its resume (a win over Clemson would have given the Panthers their fourth Quad 1 victory of the season), Pitt may have to win the ACC Tournament if it wants to go dancing in March.