As a member of a power five conference, Pitt doesn’t have much in common with Hofstra.
But both teams will be seeking the same 40-minute consistency Sunday afternoon when Pitt hosts Hofstra in the first meeting between the schools.
Pitt has been off since Tuesday, when the host Panthers climbed out of a 12-point second-half hole before squandering a late lead in an 81-73 loss to Texas A&M. Hofstra last played Wednesday, when the Pride nearly overcame a 16-point deficit in a 72-70 loss to host Columbia.
Pitt (5-4), which was picked to finish 14th in the Atlantic Coast Conference, trailed 57-45 with 11:45 left before going on a 16-0 run to take a 61-57 lead on a 3-pointer by Nojus Indrusaitis with 6:23 remaining.
But the Panthers, who overcame a late five-point deficit in a 67-66 win over Ohio State in their previous game Nov. 28, hit just five of their final 14 shots while committing a pair of turnovers. Texas A&M, which missed eight straight field-goal attempts during the Pitt surge, drained its last five shots while going 13-of-13 from the free throw line.
“I’m proud of how we fought,” Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said. “We put ourselves in a position where we had an opportunity to win a basketball game against a team I think is a good team, but we didn’t do enough to do that.”
Hofstra (5-4) also mounted a second straight second-half comeback Wednesday, when the Pride trailed 54-38 with 15 minutes left before getting within one point in the final minute. Cruz Davis missed the potential game-tying 3-pointer with six seconds left.
Hofstra, which was picked to finish eighth in the Coastal Athletic Association, trailed Penn by two at the half of its previous game on Nov. 30 before scoring 46 second-half points on its way to a 77-60 win.
“We’re resilient,” said Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton, who scored 2,015 points as a player at the Long Island school and led the then-Flying Dutchmen to the 2000 NCAA Tournament. “There’s no quit in these guys, no matter how much we’re down.”
Cameron Corhen leads Pitt with 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Damarco Minor (11.7 points per game), Barry Dunning Jr. (11.2 ppg) and Brandin Cummings (10.3 ppg) are also averaging in double figures for the Panthers.
Davis leads Hofstra with 19.6 points per game. Preston Edmead is averaging 15.0 points and 5.3 assists per game. Biggie Patterson is averaging 10.3 points per game while Victory Onuetu has a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game.
