Pitt nearly overcame a night where Jamel Artis was an ineffective jump shooter. A night where Mike Young did very little. A night where the second half officiating was one-sided.

For all the effort Young and Artis have given. For all the work they have done, it sucks to say how much this loss was on them. Not simply because of the weak offensive effort. But the effort overall.

Neither showed much desire to attack. To go inside. Young is arguably Pitt’s best rebounder but only had 4 in the game. And his lack of effort — and failing to box 0ut to allow 5-11 Angel Rodriguez to leap through and tip in the uncorralled rebound in the final seconds — cost the team at the end.

Artis finished 2-10, and didn’t take a single free throw. The latter because he didn’t do any attacking. Launching 6 3-point attempts and settling for mid-range jumpers. When Pitt had a seven-point lead and the ball with the shot clock off before halftime. It was Artis who decided to launch a three with 10 seconds left, rather than hold for the final shot. Allowing the long rebound and Miami a chance — which they somehow converted to cut the lead to four at the half.

Two bad decisions at the end of each half by Pitt’s two best players.

And somehow, Pitt nearly overcame it.

They also overcame questionable officiating in the second half. Pitt was whistled for 10 fouls in the second half, while Miami only had 4 called. This after a first half that had Pitt go to the free throw line and shoot 10-10. Pitt shot zero free throws in the second half.

Some of that came from the way the refs called the game. The attacking team got more calls — and Pitt was much more of the attacker in the first half than the second — but that was a bad night for consistency from the refs.

Ryan Luther came in as Sheldon Jeter was completely ineffective in the first half. He provided the blueprint to beat Miami this game. Attack. Go inside at them. Pitt was rewarded with a 12-point, 7 rebound game. Even Rafael Maia was getting in on it.

Pitt also tossed a new wrinkle on defense with a 3-2 zone that took away Miami’s ability to attack for most of the first half. They adjusted in the second, but it kept them off-balance.

Chris Jones after several ineffective games spent the first half firmly on the bench. In almost desperation he was inserted close to half-way through the second half. Pitt was falling behind and the rest of Pitt’s guards were doing next to nothing on offense.

Jones responded with surprising fury. Again, attacking. He drove to the basket repeatedly and scored 8 straight points in a short burst. It re-energized the rest of the team.

Sheldon Jeter was reinserted and scored six points in the final six minutes. Even James Robinson who looked completely shaken and shot mid-way in the second half came up big late with two huge 3-pointers.

They had a chance, at minimum to send this to overtime, but just didn’t.