Semi-rapid reaction: Duquesne 64, Pitt 55

All streaks are destined to come to an end at some point...even Pitt's stranglehold on the City Game. Without Jamel Artis, the Panthers' offense looked ineffective and one-dimensional, at best, and lost, at worst, in a 64-55 loss to Duquesne Friday night that snapped a 15-game win streak in the series.

There's a lot to digest from the Panthers' second, and certainly most surprising, loss of the 2016-17 season. Here's a brief breakdown on how we got here:

Turning point: It seems like a distant and hazy memory at this point, but Pitt was actually beating Duquesne by one with 6:55 remaining, part of a 10-0 run that seemingly returned the local college basketball world to its proper, working order. The Dukes, however, never wavered, getting 3-pointers from Rene Castro and Emile Blackman over the next minute to go up five. The Panthers wouldn't get closer than four the rest of the night, a brief threat that was put down by three free throws from Mike Lewis II after a Ryan Luther foul.

Game ball: Was tempted to go with Chris Jones, who was probably Pitt's most efficient offensive player, but despite Kevin Stallings' criticism of him after the game, I'll go Mike Young. His eight-of-21 showing wasn't a great look, but without Artis, I'm not sure what some people expect. Without the team's No. 2 scorer, the Panthers became largely a one-man operation, but that's not the fault of Young, nor is his inefficient night. There's only so much one player, talented as he may be, can do.

Notable stat: 13.6, Pitt's shooting percentage from 3-point range. The Panthers missed 19 of their 22 attempts in the loss. That includes a 0 of 12 mark in the second half.

What it means: Just as there shouldn't have been too much jubilation over the Maryland win, there shouldn't be too much of a sky-is-falling mindset over this loss. The college basketball season is a long one, which leaves superior teams open to getting beaten on a given night. It all, at some point, sort of figures itself out to the point where, at the end of the year, a team's record is an accurate reflection of what it is.

With that being said, what you saw tonight was a team that is largely incapable of executing a reasonably decent offense over the course of a game without one of its two best players. We've written before that Pitt is somewhat one-dimensional relying on Young and Artis for points. Tonight, with Artis on the bench serving a one-game suspension, Pitt was quite literally one-dimensional. We've already touched on Young. Cam Johnson is a great third option, but he works best when he has more versatile scoring options on the court with him that allow him to get good looks from 3. When he has to take on a greater share of the offensive load, at this stage of his young career, he's the player you saw tonight: forcing up awkward and off-target shots with bodies around him, finishing five of 16 for 14 points. Young made eight of the team's 20 field goals, with the rest of the Panthers going a combined 12 of 39 (30.8 percent) for 36 points.

Though there's still an almost-full season for many of Pitt's younger players to develop, Friday night was also a not-so-encouraging look at where this program may be next season without Young and Artis. Because without even one of those guys, the present is evidently pretty ugly.

What’s next: A game Wednesday at home against Buffalo. KenPom gives Pitt an 82 percent chance of winning, with a projected final score of 78-68. But that only means so much when the Panthers just lost to Duquesne by as many points as the Dukes lost to UMBC two nights earlier.

Notable quotables: "You definitely know about it when you come here. We know the history of it and we know they win it a lot. We tried to change that tonight." - Duquesne guard Tarin Smith on Pitt's streak in the City Game

"There was nothing about our play that was good enough to win. We weren't good enough on offense, we didn't shoot it well enough, we didn't do anything well enough offensively to win the game." - Pitt coach Kevin Stallings

"It's really the first time we've had a game where Mike has been off. Mike just didn't have a good night. It's unfair to put the pack on his shoulders every night and expect him to deliver the way he's been delivering. We needed Mike to do what he normally does and some other guys to do a little bit more. Mike had a bad night. I think that caused panic in our team. We didn't have enough firepower to solve problems." - Stallings

"It hurts a lot now. I know it hurts Mike and the other seniors. But there's a lot of basketball left to play. It hurts now, but we've got to turn it into a positive." - Pitt guard Chris Jones

"That's a great win for our program, our university, our students, our alumni. As you guys have printed and written and said, it hasn't been much of a rivalry. It is now." - Duquesne coach Jim Ferry

Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG