It’s abundantly clear Pitt doesn’t want its season to end.
After an overtime victory in the Panthers’ regular-season finale earned them the 15th and final seed in the ACC Tournament, they pulled off another dramatic win Tuesday against 10th-seeded Stanford.
Damarco Minor scored the winning basket on a tip-in with 0.4 seconds remaining, lifting Pitt to a 64-63 victory in the first round at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
15-SEED PITT IN THE FINAL SECOND!
What a way to kick off the ACC tournament ???? pic.twitter.com/MaSCjHraEs
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) March 10, 2026
The Panthers (13-19) advanced to play No. 7 N.C. State (19-12) at noon Wednesday in the second round.
“I can’t say enough about these guys, man,” coach Jeff Capel told reporters postgame. “They’ve continued to show up. They’ve continued to fight. They’ve continued to battle. I’m really, really proud of this win.”
Minor, who scored only four points in the victory, dominated the final sequence after Pitt fell behind 63-62 with 26 seconds to play.
Pitt’s senior point guard first missed a go-ahead 3-pointer, but Barry Dunning Jr. kept the play alive with an offensive rebound. Minor then missed again, this time from closer range, but secured his own rebound before putting the ball in from under the basket.
After review upheld the bucket, Stanford (20-12) had about a second to work with but could not convert.
While Minor’s offensive impact was negligible until the final minute, he was largely entrusted to guard dynamic Cardinal freshman Ebuka Okorie, who scored 34 points when Stanford rallied to beat Pitt, 75-67, earlier this season.
Okorie recorded a three-point play late that gave his team a one-point lead with under a minute left. But overall, Minor played his part well, as Okorie was held to 14 points.
“With Okorie, guard to guard, whoever we play, we switch,” Capel said. “As we were going through walk-through yesterday, (Minor said) said, ‘I don’t want to switch, I got him.’ I love that. I thought he did a heck of a job defensively all game.”
Added Minor: “I was sick, because the first time we played them, I held (Okorie) to one field goal in the first half. He had six (points), but he ended with (34) because I wasn’t aggressive on the switches. I was letting us switch. … It had been haunting me for a long time, so I’d been wanting to see him again.”
Pitt got offense from plenty of sources, as Dunning (16), Roman Siulepa (14), Cam Corhen (12) and Omari Witherspoon (11) scored in double digits.
Also contributing was true freshman guard Macari Moore, who snagged five rebounds with an assist, two steals and two points.
Rebounding was pivotal for Pitt, as the Panthers held a 41-28 advantage on the glass, snagging 20 offensive boards.
Dunning led that effort with eight rebounds, and Corhen and Siulepa had seven apiece.
Pitt shot 42.4% (28 of 66) from the floor and only 3 of 17 (17.6%) from deep, with Dunning making two of those 3-pointers.
Stanford shot 48.1% (25 of 52) and 8 of 20 (40%) from deep.
Mirroring the last time the teams met, Pitt was leading down the stretch of the second half, with a Siulepa basket making it 57-50 at the 6:55 mark.
But with 5:25 to play, the Cardinal were within one.
Pitt nearly saw the game slip away, as it navigated a 3:56 span with zero points as Stanford jumped back in front 60-59 with 1:40 left.
But Dunning responded by draining a 3-pointer with 1:01 left.
About 30 seconds later, Pitt had a chance to put the game away, but Witherspoon missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Okorie then did what he does best, blowing by the defense and finishing at the rim while drawing contact.
After his layup and free throw, the Panthers trailed 63-62 with 26 seconds left.
Leaning on the dominant rebounding effort that produced 25 second-chance points, the Panthers pulled out the needed basket to survive and advance.
“Our season is a testament to who we are and how we play,” said Dunning, whose team beat Syracuse, 71-69, on Saturday on Nojus Indrusaitis’ bucket in the final seconds. “We’ve just got to stay together. One thing I do say a lot is, man, I just want to get one more team win with these guys. There’s still hope. There’s still life, and there’s still opportunity to fight.”