PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The 3,000th game in Pitt basketball history as the Panthers fought back from down 12 to beat Wake Forest 80-76 in overtime.
Panthers (9-12, 2-6 ACC) down one with 15 seconds left in overtime, freshman Omari Witherspoon made a baseline jumper to give the Panthers the lead. He would follow it up with a pair of free throws to secure Pitt’s first home overtime win since January 9, 2019 at Louisville.
“That’s a shot that I work on all the time,” Witherspoon said. “I shoot that a lot in practice. That’s my shot right there. It’s second nature when I got to that spot and did my little side-step to put it in the basket.”
“The thing we’ve talked to him about is just trusting his work,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. “He’s a really good defender when he’s disciplined. He can do a lot of things offensively.”
Pitt was down four with 1:30 to play before a reverse layup by Barry Dunning, Junior and then Roman Siulepa with a steal and then outraced three Demon Deacons (11-10, 2-6 ACC) for a dunk to tie the game with 1:02 to play.
“I think the biggest thing was just still staying aggressive on defense,” Siulepa said. “I had four fouls and I was just thinking kill mode. I have to give the glory to God for allowing me to be in position to get that steal and go down and make a big play. I’m just proud of the guys.”
Siulepa finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds. That’s three straight double-doubles for the freshman from Australia.
“He’s continuing to get better,” Capel said. “It’s really cool to see him find his voice a little bit. He’s starting to speak up. He’s starting to understand his place on the team and also understanding what the team needs.”
“Guys have ultimate respect for Roman because they know how hard he works. How hard he plays. He’s that way in practice.”
“He’s a really good player,” said Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes. “I really like him, he plays really hard. He’s really strong. He’s got a strong lower base. He’s a tough, emotional player and he can shoot it.”
“He’s a really good young player. He’s got a chance to be a really good player in this league.”
NOTES
· Witherspoon finished with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists on 4-9 shooting
· Barry Dunning 15 points, 9 rebounds
· Brandin Cummings had 13 points, 2 steals and 2 assists
· Pitt was +13 points off turnovers
· Pitt was +11 second chance points
· Panthers were +5 rebounding
Pitt is at Clemson Saturday at noon.
Bill Hillgrove and Curtis Aiken begin pregame at 11:30a on 93.7 The Fan.
“What we’ve been through is difficult, but like we told our guys, you have to run towards it, you can’t run from it,” Capel said. “We’ve put ourselves in this situation and we have to continue to fight our way out of it.”