WASHINGTON (AP) — Ishmael Leggett scored 19 of his season-high 30 points in the second half and Pitt turned away Wake Forest 81-69 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
On Friday, the fourth-seeded Panthers (22-10) will face top-seeded and No. 4-ranked North Carolina, a 92-67 winner over ninth-seeded Florida State earlier Thursday. UNC beat Pitt, 70-57, in their only regular-season meeting on Jan. 2.
Leggett was 11-of-18 shooting, repeatedly driving hard to the hoop, and collected eight rebounds and five steals. Blake Hinson hit four 3-pointers and added 20 points with Jaland Lowe adding 11 points and five assists. The Pitt bench outscored Wake Forest’s 39-0.
Cameron Hildreth led the fifth-seeded Demon Deacons (20-13) with 23 points. Hunter Sallis added 15 points, Andrew Carr contributed 13 and Efton Reid III put up 12.
A 12-1 run over three minutes that Leggett kicked off with a 3-pointer gave the Panthers a 19-point lead with 13 minutes remaining.
Sallis hit consecutive 3-pointers and Hildreth added a three-point play to get the Demon Deacons back with eight midway through the half. A 3 by Hildreth cut the lead to four with 5 1/2 minutes remaining. The Deacons stayed within reach until Pitt went on a 10-2 game-ending run in the final two minutes, kicked off by a bucket underneath by Guillermo Diaz Graham and a Leggett drive.
Hinson scored five points and Leggett four in a 13-2 run that put Pitt ahead by 11 with nine minutes left in the half and the Panthers led 38-26 at the break.
Of Note
· Pitt advances to the ACC Tournament semifinals for just the second time in program history, where they will meet top-seeded North Carolina. The Panthers are 1-1 all-time against the Tar Heels in the conference tournament.
· The Panthers’ other semifinal appearance came as the five-seed in 2014 with Pitt falling to top-seeded Virginia, 51-48, after defeating 12th-seed Wake Forest and fourth-seeded North Carolina.
· With the win, Pitt improves to 8-10 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 2-1 in games played in Washington, D.C.
· The Panthers have won 10 of their last 12 games and 12 of their last 15.
· Ishmael Leggett’s five steals are the most ever by a Pitt player in the ACC Tournament. Going 11-of-18 from the floor, the ACC Sixth Man of the Year finished with 30 points – the most by a Pitt Panther in the ACC Tournament since Justin Champagnie did so on March 10, 2020, versus Wake Forest.
· Leggett was the ACC Tournament’s first 30-point scorer to come off of the bench since Zach LeDay of Virginia Tech, who did so on March 8, 2017, versus Wake Forest.
· Leggett’s 30 points was the fourth time in the 2024 ACC Tournament that a player has scored 30 points or more, marking the most since 1995 when six players scored 30 or more points.
· With four made 3-pointers, Blake Hinson moved from seventh to third in Pitt’s history with 110 career made 3-pointers.
Source: Matt Plizga/Pitt Athletics
