Pitt snaps 24-game road losing streak against RMU

Pitt and Robert Morris met at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township on Tuesday night in a rare early-season road test for Pitt, and the result was a 71-57 win for the Panthers. The win not only improved Pitt’s record to 2-1 on the season, but it also snapped a 24-game road losing streak that began on Feb. 8, 2017.

Entering the game, that streak was the fourth-longest road losing streak among NCAA Division I teams. It also dated back to the first year of the Kevin Stallings era, when the program first began to spiral out of control by going 4-14 against conference competition.

Pitt’s last road victory heading into the matchup with Robert Morris was an 83-72 win over Boston College on Feb. 8, 2017. Although that was just two years ago, no players from that Pitt team remain on the roster, and the win at Robert Morris was the first true road victory for every member of the current Pitt team.

It’s worth noting that Pitt won away from home at neutral sites during the two-year stretch, with a 75-73 win over St. Louis in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center last year as one example. And in the game at Iowa following the St. Louis matchup, the Panthers nearly pulled off an upset of the Hawkeyes but fell 69-68 instead. After that, they won another neutral site game against Duquesne at PPG Paints Arena but lost 10 road games to ACC teams.

This season, Pitt will look to improve on its road record, and it will get an early opportunity to do so with a matchup in Louisville set for Dec. 6. Last season, the Panthers beat the Cardinals 89-86 at the Petersen Events Center, but that may be a taller task against a team now ranked fourth in the nation. However, Pitt also has road matchups with Georgia Tech, Miami and Virginia Tech teams that were picked low in the ACC preseason media poll. So winnable games are on the horizon.