The unranked Pittsburgh Panthers got their first win of the season against a ranked team in a 76-62 thrashing of the No. 15 Duke Blue Devils at Peterson Events Center. Jamel Artis led Pitt with 17 points and the Panthers made 50 percent of their field goals while locking down Duke, who just couldn’t get the formula right today.
It was clear from the beginning that the crowd had an anti-Duke feel about itself. After Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen nearly got suspended for tripping a Florida State player earlier this week, Pitt fans held up trip-themed troll signs aimed at him.
A sampling of similarly themed signs for one Grayson Allen pic.twitter.com/hgNspKpkPg
— Laura Keeley (@laurakeeley) February 28, 2016
And Allen himself still had a decent game, leading Duke with 22 points, but his teammates just couldn’t get the ball rolling. Duke shot just 37.5 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from long range, but that wasn’t even what sunk the Blue Devils.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is rebounding. Duke had just 20 boards on the day compared to Pitt’s 39, and a lot of that probably had to do with the fact that only seven players were dressed and senior big man Amile Jefferson is still out with a broken foot. Simply put, though the Blue Devils have done a nice job resurrecting themselves this year, the lack of depth could wind up being a huge problem once tournament play begins.
Duke only has a day to shake this loss off as it has a date with Wake Forest at home on Tuesday, while Pitt visits Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Wednesday.
