Will Villanova's loss to Pitt burst bubble?

PITTSBURGH - As bad as the inexplicable last-second loss at Seton Hall 6 days earlier was, this one actually might sting even more. On Sunday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center, Villanova wasted a chance to beat a nationally ranked team for the second straight weekend.

If the Wildcats - who bracketologists seem to agree are about as on-the-bubble as you can get - don't hear their name called on Selection Sunday, they could well look back at their 73-64 overtime loss to Pitt as the game that proved to be the difference.

For the second straight time, they went down after leading in the closing minute of regulation.

After beating then-ranked No. 17 Marquette at home, the Wildcats traveled to Seton Hall, where they were up by four with under 20 seconds to go. On Sunday, it was by three with 59 seconds showing, after JayVaughn Pinkston made one of two free throws. Yet again, it wasn't enough.

That's because freshman guard James Robinson, who hadn't made a three-pointer in seven games and had five in Big East play, nailed a somehow wide-open trey from the right corner at 33.3 to draw the No. 23 Panthers (23-7, 11-6) even at 57 for the first time in 10 minutes. And the best the Wildcats (18-12, 9-8) could do on the final possession - against the zone Pitt had used much of the second half - was have freshman guard Ryan Arcidiacono (team-best 23 points) drive down the left side and apparently draw contact. But there was no call, and the ball went out of bounds at 3.3 still belonging to 'Nova. So, following a timeout by each side, Darrun Hilliard tried to throw a bounce pass from the baseline to Mouphtaou Yarou in traffic in the lane. There would be no last shot.

"That's the Big East," Villanova coach Jay Wright said of the no-whistle. "We accept that. We have to get a better opportunity than that. If you don't get a shot, you don't deserve to win.

"If not for all the good plays we made [before that], we wouldn't have been in that situation. But we didn't make good decisions down the stretch."

Or execute to the level the situation demanded.

"I was just trying to make a play and ran into a big body," Arcidiacono explained.

Added Yarou: "I've got to go get the ball with two hands. I've got to do a better job next time." Pitt, which was without starting freshman center Steven Adams (ankle injury) and was playing its final conference home game before heading to the ACC next season, then scored the first seven points in OT, as the Panthers took their first lead since 20-19. All were by big man Talib Zanna, who had five in the first 40 minutes. The Wildcats would get to within 66-64 on a triple by Arcidiacono at 58.6, but Robinson drilled another three from the left corner 30 seconds later and that was pretty much it.

Villanova, which lost its sixth straight in the series since beating the Panthers in the epic 2009 East Regional final, still hasn't won here since 1996. And it has never won in six tries in this building, which opened 11 years ago. On Jan. 16 at the Pavilion, Pitt won by 15 by scoring the last 15 in the final 5 minutes and change.

The Wildcats, who've lost two in a row for the first time in a month, will finish the regular season Wednesday in South Philly against first-place Georgetown (23-4, 13-3), which hasn't lost since Jan. 19.

Villanova has already beaten two top five teams at the time there, Louisville and Syracuse back-to-back in late January. If the Wildcats can pull off another upset, they'll probably be right back in the NCAA conversation. If they don't, well, they'll need to win at least once and probably twice in the conference tournament in New York to have any shot of getting back into the 68-team field following a 1-year absence.

"That's why we can't look at the ramifications [of this] yet," Wright said. "Why do that, and pass up an opportunity to prepare for Georgetown? We don't talk about [the NCAAs], or think about it. At the end we'll look back at what did we do . . .

"It gets tougher, as time runs out. It's the season. We've got to bounce back. We've got a big game Wednesday. I think we responded great from the Seton Hall game, a very tough loss."

At this point, really, there's no other option.

Robinson and Zanna had 14 points apiece for Pitt. They had a combined two at halftime. And Zanna, a junior, finished with 19 rebounds, his career-high. Tray Woodall, one of two seniors saying goodbye to the place they'd called home the last 4 years, had 13 points and a season-best 11 assists. The Panthers also got nine points off the bench from redshirt freshman Durand Johnson, who was 3-for-3 from the arc. The only other time he has made three treys was the first Villanova game.

The Wildcats, who were outrebounded by nine but only turned it over an uncharacteristic nine times, got 14 (7-for-9) and eight from Yarou, who fouled out late. Pinkston scored 13, but took 11 shots. He and two other starters, Hilliard and James Bell, went 5-for-26. Tony Chennault provided their only five bench points to go with four assists, but his 1-for-5 at the line didn't help. This was the first time in 15 games that they lost when making at least six threes (6-for-20).

"We let it slip away," said Arcidiacono, correctly. "They're both tough. Losing in general is tough. We knew we had the game. Today, we really played a solid 39 1/2minutes . . .

"If one person is positive, everyone's positive. We win together, we lose together. That's our team mentality. I really think we can get Georgetown. I really do. I think we can play the full 40. We've done it before."

Just not quite often enough. Unfortunately, in the situation they've put themselves in, that's the kind of line you're walking.