LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ The script wasn't quite identical, with the exact flow of the game differing slightly, but four days after falling behind big early to a talented Syracuse team on the road, Pitt again dug itself a sizable hole in the game's opening 12 minutes. And yet again, despite a spirited and prolonged comeback, it suffered another loss.
Jamel Artis poured in a career-high 43 points, but the Panthers were unable to recover from another 21-point halftime deficit in an 85-80 loss to Louisville Wednesday at the KFC Yum! Center. Artis' point total was the second-most ever from a Pitt player in a game, just two fewer than Don Hennon scored in a Dec. 1957 matchup against Duke.
The loss was Pitt's ninth in a row to the Cardinals (14-3, 2-2 ACC) and it gave the Panthers (12-5, 1-3) their worst four-game start to conference play since the 2012-13 season.
Pitt shot 44.8 percent from the field, largely hampered after it made just eight of its 24 shots in the first half in the game's decisive moments.
Artis finished with 15 of his team's 26 made field goals and seven of its 12 made 3-pointers. Mike Young added 17 points and 11 rebounds, giving the senior forward his fourth double-double of the season.
Louisville, in a span of 2:31, went on a 13-1 run midway through the first half, morphing a modest 14-10 lead into a commanding 27-11 advantage.
Pitt played the Cardinals fairly evenly from there, going into halftime staring at a 47-26 deficit that was a product of not just an increasingly porous defense, but an offense that got little outside of a single player. In the opening 20 minutes, Artis had scored 11 of the Panthers' 26 points and made four of their eight field goals. His eight teammates who also saw the court in the first half combined for 15 points on 4-of-17 shooting.
Artis' production continued, but, behind a more spirited defensive effort and wider offensive contributions, Pitt worked its way back in a game that had long ago seemed lost. The Panthers held Louisville to just four points in a stretch of 5:08, and got within seven points, 71-64, after a 3 from Artis with 3:15 remaining. After the Cardinals slightly padded their lead, Young buried a 3 from the top of the key to make it 81-76 with 44 seconds left.
With a chance to make it a single-possession game in the final 30 seconds, Artis airballed a 3 and Louisville got a pair of free throws from Quentin Snider to push its lead back to eight with 25.3 seconds remaining and end most any realistic hope for a comeback.
