Baye Ndongo came up big on the glass and at the line to help Pitt rally past visiting Buffalo 80-61 on Thursday.
The Georgia Tech transfer set a career mark with 13-for-17 free throw shooting en route to a game-high 23 points and added a career-best 21 rebounds to help the Panthers dig out of a 15-point hole in the second half. It was the first 20-20 performance by a Panthers player since Justin Champagnie did it in consecutive games in December 2020.
Pitt began its comeback after a pair of free throws put Buffalo up 47-32 at the start of the second half. The Panthers went on an 11-1 run over the next five minutes. Buffalo recovered and led 53-46 after a pair of Antoine Lorick free throws with 10:43 remaining, but Pitt put together a 14-0 run to take the lead for good and pull away.
Ndongo was 5-for-10 from the field to go with his free throws. Freshman Chase Foster added 20 points off the bench, with 17 coming after halftime. Foster made 9 of 12 free throws and grabbed nine rebounds. George tallied 16 points and shot 8-for-10 from the foul line.
After shooting well in their opener, the Panthers shot just 37.0% (20-for-54) from the field and 5-for-23 from 3-point range (21.7%). They were 35-for-49 (71.4%) from the foul line.
Buffalo (0-2) shot well in the first half, going 8-for-15 (53.3%) from 3-point range, but then went 1-for-17 from long range (5.9%) and 3-for-24 (12.5%) overall from the field after intermission. The Bulls were led by Drew Steffe’s 15 points. Stelle also had five rebounds and four assists. J.J. Starling added 13 points.
Lorick, the Bulls’ top scorer, had just eight points and fouled out midway through the second half. Buffalo was called for 33 fouls in the game to 18 on Pitt.