By Henry Hanks , CNN Written by
No. 17 Pitt rolled by No. 18 Wake Forest 45-21 for the ACC title and its first NCAA Tournament berth in seven years on Saturday.
Brad Wanamaker, who finished with nine points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, said the team was eager to come out of the gate firing.
“That was our goal — to win the first half,” he said. “We wanted to come out and be aggressive from the start.”
Outscoring the Demon Deacons 15-3 in the first 10 minutes of the game, Pittsburgh out-gained Wake Forest by a substantial margin (289-162). “I thought we came out and we hit the bat in the mouth in the first 10 minutes, especially,” Wanamaker said.
Of the 20 points scored by Pitt, point guard Cameron Johnson had 13.
Leading 20-7 at the end of the first quarter, the Panthers never looked back, and despite falling behind by five points at halftime, Wake Forest never threatened.
“It was like old times. We just came out and battled,” Wanamaker said.
Pitt played efficiently on both ends of the court, with a successful 13 turnovers off of turnovers and 10 steals. They also shot 66% from the field and held Wake Forest to just 38% shooting.
Over the final three quarters, Pitt outscored Wake Forest 18-3, with guard Ashton Gibbs scoring nine points and holding the Demon Deacons’ senior guard Parker McKie scoreless.
“We had so many possessions where we ran plays and made the right play,” Wanamaker said. “So we put on the film and found out that Parker McKie probably misses eight of those.”
Adding to his one assist and one turnover, McKie came off the bench to have a difficult night as Pitt focused on him by swarming the second leading scorer in the conference (15.6 points per game).
Not only did the Panthers sweep their ACC regular season and conference tournament games, but they won 10 of their last 11 games to end the season, and dropped the Demon Deacons just once in seven games.
Saturday marked Pitt’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2009. The team was once a perennial powerhouse in the ACC, and in 2013 was ranked as high as seventh.