Pitt Falls To Seton Hall - Knockout Blow?
by CardiacHill on Feb 13, 2026 8:01 AM EST
in Pitt Basketball
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PrintI'm not going to take a thorough look at this game. I don't have the energy for one and I also missed about half the game.
One thing that gets overlooked when Pitt basketball is discussed this year is the lack of steady contributions from players. Guys like Talib Zanna, Dante Taylor, and J.J. Moore are complete crap shoots and even the starters have been a bit on and off at times. That again hurt the Panthers on Sunday.
The team got virtually nothing from Zanna and Nas on offense (six points on 2-9 shooting) and in 25 minutes of action, bench guys Moore, Cam Wright, Malcolm Gilbert, and John Johnson had a combined two points on 1-6 shooting, two rebounds, and two assists.
Then there was Tray Woodall who was just all over the place ... and not in a good way.
This team is really inconsistent shooting the ball (they had another sub 40% game from the field) and that, maybe more than anything else, is what is killing them. I've said repeatedly that this squad is really young and it shows. Eventually guys like Zanna, Johnson, Gilbert, Moore, and Wright should contribute something on a regular basis, but they're really green right now. The thing is, don't give up on them. Remember Brad Wanamaker as a freshman trying to handle the ball? Or how about Gary McGhee/Aaron Gray as young players. At times it looked like they'd never be able to contribute and all three went on to pretty decent careers.
This is a work in progress and while things will get better, there's going to be some more growing pains along the way.
So does this mean Pitt's NCAA hopes are finally dashed? Surprisingly, I don't think so just yet - here's why.
As I've said all along, I think 21 wins gets them in and they may have a shot with 20. Pitt needs to finish strong and probably either need to win all five remaining games or take four out of five and win a Big East Tournament game. Or ... win three of their last five and win two in the Big East. Either of those scenarios gets them to 20 and that may be enough.
Plus, remember the 2004-05 team went only 20-8 and still got a No. 9 seed. I'm not uber confident in Pitt's chances with 20 wins, but factoring in the Tray Woodall injury, I'm not ruling it out.
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WOW!
Take off the blue and gold colored glasses, this team will be NIT bound, NCAA’s no way, they are going to lose at least 2 more in the regular season and if they want to make the NCAA’s they better win the BE tournement.
If your team is a WIP this late in the season, then it is all but over, NIT’s here we come!
by midwestbias86 on Feb 13, 2026 8:22 AM EST reply actions
Agreed...
Unless we win the BE Tournament we are ticketed for the NIT. Mark it down.
by Rod Majors on Feb 13, 2026 9:30 AM EST up reply actions
I think you've missed the point a bit
I’m not saying it happens, all I did was point out a scenario in which it could. Winning five more games might be a stretch, but if they do, they’ll at least be on the bubble.
If I had to guess right now, I’d say Pitt will be NIT bound as well. But all I’m saying is there’s a chance for the NCAAs … which there is.
Manager of Cardiac Hill - SB Nation's Pitt Panthers blog
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by CardiacHill on Feb 13, 2026 5:38 PM EST up reply actions
Yea, but......
in that 2004-05 season Pitt had 8 losses. One to Bucknell. 2 on the road against unranked Big East teams. One at home to an unranked Big East team. Then 4 losses to ranked Big East Teams. So only 1 “bad loss,” which was to Bucknell. They also won at a ranked Cuse team and at a ranked BC team.
The losses just weren’t as bad as they are this year. They had a couple nice wins in 04-05 as well.
So I don’t think there’s a chance if you’re using that year as a comparable platform.
But I wish I had your optimism for this team’s chances!
by tcipitt on Feb 14, 2026 9:32 AM EST up reply actions
i think you did a good job
of putting things in perspective in this write-up in regards to how young we are. we’ve also had a couple of tough breaks as far as injuries are concerned and the whole khem birch situation.. it’s easy to get over-the-top upset about how this season has gone but we’ve had to rely on a lot of young guys who are just not quite ready to perform at a high level on a consistant basis. hopefully our guys are learning about their shortcomings in order to improve upon them moving forward. the one thing i will say is that other than the rutgers game and possibly the south florida game the effort has been there- just not the execution.
by panthro on Feb 13, 2026 10:13 AM EST reply actions
Youth
Yes, and the fact that there have been that many young guys getting quality minutes is really what’s hurting. Pitt has always managed to hide the inexperience of young guys by playing a few sparingly, but the fact that Pitt started two freshman at one point and has a bench made up of nearly all freshman and sophomores is a big deal.
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by CardiacHill on Feb 13, 2026 5:41 PM EST up reply actions
I don't see it
As much as I’d like to be wrong, I don’t see any way this team can get into the tourney without winning all the rest of the regular season games or making a run in the BE tourney. You mentioned that 2005 team that got in with 20 wins but that team was #5 in the Big East, and had road wins against UConn and BC who were the co- champs that year. This year there are no big road wins, and the only opportunities left are Louisville and UConn and with their struggles that will hardly be an impressive win.
At a minimum I think this team needs to go .500 in the regular season and then get to Thursday in the BE tourney. While they have shown flashes of being able to put that kind of a run together this year, the inconsistency they have shown would lead me to bet against it happening.
by twink on Feb 13, 2026 11:10 AM EST reply actions
Wins
That’s a good point about the lack of quality wins. It’s something I brought up before, but didn’t in this post.
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by CardiacHill on Feb 13, 2026 5:42 PM EST up reply actions
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