It’s been well over a decade since Pitt has beaten Clemson in basketball.
That stretch continued Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum in South Carolina, as the Panthers fell 63-52 to the No. 22 Tigers, the Panthers’ 15th straight loss to Clemson.
Pitt (9-13, 2-7 ACC) was unable to overcome a season-low 16 first-half points against a Clemson team (18-4, 8-1) that has won 10 of its last 12 games.
The Panthers shot just 6 of 28 (21.4%) in the first half and were trailing by 33-16 after Clemson ended the last 11 minutes of the opening half on a 20-7 run.
Pitt coach Jeff Capel has never defeated the Tigers, and the last Panthers squad to do so, in March 2014, was led by Jamie Dixon.
“We played Clemson close (at home Jan. 3),” Capel said of a 73-68 loss. “We played them well. That’s another one where if we can close around the basket and make some free throws, maybe the outcome is a little bit different.
“They’re playing at a really high level right now. Since we played them a few weeks ago, they’ve turned it on. They’re a really good basketball team and program.”
Pitt’s Roman Siulepa scored 12 points with eight rebounds, as he saw his three-game double-double streak end.
Damarco Minor added 12 points, Cam Corhen scored nine while Omari Witherspoon, starting Saturday, had eight points with four boards.
Pitt, which trailed by as much as 20, began the second half with more energy and used a late 10-0 run to get within 62-52 of the Tigers with just under two minutes to play.
But over the final 1 minute, 52 seconds, Pitt managed no more offense, with Clemson cruising to the win.
As a team, Pitt shot 37.7% (20 of 53) from the floor and only 19.2% (5 of 26) from deep.
Clemson was led by Nick Davidson and Carter Welling (12 points each).
It was Siulepa who got the Panthers their first field goal at the 17:35 mark of the opening half.
Stealing the ball off a pass from Clemson’s Jake Wahlin, Siulepa went the other way for an easy layup to put Pitt up 3-2 early.
After a Corhen free throw tied things at 7-7 with 13:44 to go in the half, Jestin Porter gave Clemson a 10-7 lead 19 seconds later before a media timeout at the 11:45 mark.
With just under nine minutes remaining, Clemson created a bit of separation, as Dillon Hunter hit a corner 3-pointer following a Minor turnover to make it 18-11.
Early foul trouble for Siulepa, Brandin Cummings and Corhen contributed to an elongated scoring drought by Pitt, as the Panthers navigated a stretch of exactly five minutes without a point in the first half.
When Kieran Mullen finally hit a layup with 5:37 to go before halftime, Pitt was down 20-13. Seconds later, it was 23-13 behind a Efrem Johnson 3-pointer.
For the remainder of the first half, it was all Clemson, as Pitt limped toward the break unable to make baskets from anywhere on the floor.
A Hunter layup made it 28-13 Clemson at the 2:48 mark and with 90 seconds to go, the Tigers led by 17.
Cummings, Pitt’s leading scorer, had zero points in the first half, while Siulepa managed only two.
Pitt began the second half in a far more inspired manner.
Siulepa got things started with a three-point play, followed by a Corhen layup.
After a 3-pointer by Siulepa and two free throws from Witherspoon, Pitt was within 35-26 with 16:53 to play.
The Panthers aimed to keep their deficit under 10 and trim it further from there over the ensuing minutes, but at the final under-12 media timeout, the closest they’d gotten was within nine.
Coming out of the break, Welling hit a pair of free throws to create a 45-32 advantage with 11:51 to play.
Clemson led by 15 with just over 10 minutes left, but a Witherspoon short-range jumper and a Corhen layup off a Tigers turnover inched the Panthers to within 51-40 at the 8:26 mark.
Needing to close the gap, Clemson instead took a 57-40 lead with 6:59 left. At the 5-minute mark, the Tigers remained up by 17, and moments later, it was a 20-point advantage after a Davidson 3-pointer.
Pitt had one more burst of momentum in the closing minutes, as a 10-0 run made it 62-52 with 1:52 remaining, but it wasn’t enough.