Last January, a Pitt men’s basketball team searching to find its way early in the 2023/2024 campaign seemed to do so when it walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium and stunned Duke by a score of 80-76.

It was the Panthers’ first road victory over Duke since 1979, and it jump-started a season in which they went on to finish with a 22-11 record and place fourth in the ACC. Unfortunately, the Panthers’ overall body of work—including their non-conference record—didn’t impress the selection committee enough to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

It’s been different for a 2024/2025 Pitt team that entered Tuesday night’s showdown against Duke with a 12-2 record–including a 3-0 mark in the ACC–and a top-20 rating in the now all-important Net Rankings category.

Of course, there was the matter of the Panthers entering the week just outside of the AP top 25. How could that be, right?  However, the program could prove many doubters wrong by going into Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday evening and taking it to the fourth-ranked Blue Devils.

Yeah, about that.

Sadly, the doubters may now feel vindicated thanks to Duke’s 76-47 victory.

The Blue Devils jumped out to an early 11-5 start before Pitt rallied to take a 14-13 lead on two Brandin Cummings free throws midway through the first half.

That was the last time the Panthers led in the game.

Duke quickly went on a 10-0 run to re-establish its dominance and never looked back. The Blue Devils led, 34-24, at the break and continued to control things over the final 20 minutes.

The Panthers hung around as best they could, but they could never go on a run and make it an exciting game again. That mostly had to do with a suffocating Duke defense that limited Pitt to 31 percent shooting from the floor.

The duo that normally powers the Panthers’ offense–guards Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett–scored eight and four points, respectively. In fact, junior forward Cameron Corhen, who scored 11 points, was the only Pitt player–starter or otherwise–who even reached double digits.

Just how bad was Pitt’s offense? So bad that Cummings’s layup at the 7:59 mark was the last points the team scored the rest of the way.

If you’re the Panthers, what can you do other than shake this shellacking off? But while it was just the third loss of the season for Pitt, it was the third defeat and second-straight shellacking (Mississippi State on December 4) against a ranked opponent.

The Panthers certainly have a better resume than they did a year ago at this time. Still, they need to start winning some of these games against ranked teams. Otherwise, the committee will have a different reason for leaving them out of the Dance in March.

Next up for the Panthers is a home game against Louisville this Saturday afternoon at Petersen Events Center.