Panthers Battle Clemson Wednesday In Ally ACC Tournament First Round In Greensboro

PITTSBURGH – After closing out their regular season Sunday afternoon, the Pitt women's basketball team (10-19, 3-15 ACC) heads to Greensboro Wednesday afternoon to take on No. 10 Clemson in the First Round of the 2023 Ally ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Panthers and Tigers will tip at 3:30 pm on the ACC Network with Pam Ward and Stephanie White on the call.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Wednesday's game will air live on ACC Network and can be viewed HERE.
Live stats of the game can be found by clicking HERE.
The radio call of the game will be streamed on pittsburghpanthers.com by clicking HERE. The voice of the Panthers Josh Rowntree will get things started with the pregame show at 3:15 pm from Greensboro Coliseum.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

STORYLINES

Senior captain Amber Brown continues to produce for the Panthers as she posted her 15th double figure scoring game of the season at NC State as she netted 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. On the year, Brown in averaging a career-high 9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 50.0% from the floor.
Junior Liatu King is enjoying the best season of her career as she is averaging a career-high 9.5 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 39.3% from the floor. King ranks 4th in the ACC in blocks (1.5 bpg) and 5th in rebounds (7.6 rpg). King has scored in double figures a career-high 12 times while also posting a career-high five double-doubles on the year.

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt opens up the Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament Wednesday afternoon as the #15 seed. They will battle #10 Clemson at 3:30 pm at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Graduate transfer Channise Lewis is playing at a high level for Pitt of late. Last time out, Lewis netted a team-high 14 points while knocking down four triples. Over her past seven games, she is averaging 8.9 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 52% from deep (13-for-25).
The Pitt bench is producing monster numbers of late as they have combined to score a program record 178 points across the past five games including back-to-back 50+ point efforts for the first time in program history.

THE SERIES WITH CLEMSON

This meeting marks the 19th between the two programs with each team winning nine of the previous matchups.
Clemson won the meeting earlier this year 72-57 in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers have won three of the last four overall in the series.
The two teams are 1-1 all-time in neutral site games but have never played in the ACC Tournament.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

The Clemson Tigers earned the No. 10 seed in the ACC Tournament after posting a 16-14 overall record and a 7-11 ACC mark. The Tigers have won two straight including last time out against Florida State on Sunday.
The Tigers are led offensively by Amari Robinson who is averaging a team-high 13.8 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 48.2% from the floor. Freshman Ruby Whitehorn has been strong for Clemson as she is averaging 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 43.8% from the floor.
Daisha Bradford is enjoying a good season as she is averaging 9.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and a team-high 2.1 steals. Brie Perpignan is averaging 9.4 points and a team-high 3.1 assists per game.
As a team, Clemson is averaging 66.9 points per game while allowing 63.4 points per contest on the year.

PITT IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT

Since joining the ACC in 2013-14, the Panthers own a 2-9 record in ACC Tournament games.
The Panthers collected their first ACC Tournament victory on Mar. 2, 2016 as they knocked off #13 North Carolina, 82-72 in overtime.
Pitt's last ACC Tournament win came in 2020 as Dayshanette Harris hit a game-winning jumper with 2.7 seconds left to secure the win for the Panthers over Notre Dame. #15 Pitt claimed the 67-65 stunner over #10 Notre Dame as Harris finished with a double-double, 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Overall, Pitt has dropped three straight ACC Tournament games including a 55-52 loss to #10 Duke last season.
The highest seed Pitt has been in the ACC Tournament is #7 while they have earned the #15 seed four times, including this season.
The most points scored by a Pitt player in an ACC Tournament game is 25 by Brenna Wise in 2016.

CHANNISE LEWIS FINDING HER GROOVE

Graduate transfer Channise Lewis has turned into a key member of the Panthers squad over the past month.
Last time out, Lewis led the Panthers in scoring for the third time this season as she netted 14 points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal in 33 minutes of work at NC State. She finished the game 5-for-13 from the floor while connecting on a career-high four three-pointers.
Lewis is enjoying the best stretch of her Pitt career over her past seven games as she is averaging 8.9 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 43.5% from the floor and 52.0% (13-for-25) from behind the arc. She has also only turned the ball over seven times in her last seven games.
In the win over Boston College, Lewis posted a career-high 15 points, six assists and just one turnover while going 5-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-5 from behind the arc in the win over Boston College.
Lewis is one of six players in the NCAA (only player in the ACC) to post a game with at least 15 points, six assists and one turnover. She is also the first Panther since Brianna Kiesel in 2015 to post that statline.
On the year, Lewis is averaging 4.9 points and a team-high 2.2 assists while shooting 38.6% from behind the arc. She has appeared in 23 games and made six starts at point for the Panthers.
She has scored in double figures five times on the year and 15 times in her collegiate career. She has also connected on multiple three-pointers in a career-high six games this season.

NEXT UP

With a win, Pitt would play #7 North Carolina Thursday at 6:00 pm at the Greensboro Coliseum. Thursday's game would air live on the ACC Network.
With a loss, Pitt's 2022-23 campaign would come to an end.

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