Pitt Players Agree: Panthers Are a Tournament Team

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Pitt improved its record to 22-10 overall and 13-8 in ACC play with a massive 12-point win over Wake Forest in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

Pitt, who finished fourth in the ACC after the regular season, took down the fifth-seeded Demon Deacons behind a 30-point night from Ishmael Leggett, 20 points from Blake Hinson, and a strong all-around effort from the rest of the team. The Panthers hit 20 of their 25 free-throw tries in the win, and out-rebounded Wake 33-27 in the win.

Before the game, Pitt was in the “First Four Out” section of Fox’s Mike DeCourcy’s NCAA Tournament bracketology prediction, and in the “Next Four Out” of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s prediction. Now, after earning their fourth Quadrant 1 win, some of Pitt’s players believe that the Panthers should move into the field.

“No doubt,” Jaland Lowe said when asked if he thinks the Panthers are a tournament team.

“Yeah, most definitely,” Federiko Federiko answered, when asked the same question. “But, we do need to, I guess we need to prove that by winning.”

“Oh, for sure,” Zack Austin added on, when asked if the team should be in the tournament field. “I think we proved that throughout the season. I feel like there’s a lot of teams in the ACC that’s not getting the press they should get, but, we’re just going to wait until Sunday and see how that goes.”

Pitt will have another Q1 opportunity on Friday when it takes on No. 1 seed North Carolina in D.C. in the semifinals. The Tar Heels are the No. 7 team in the country, per the NCAA’s NET rankings. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. on Friday.