Shorthanded Louisville Blown Out by Hinson, Pitt

The Cardinals allowed the Panthers' Hinson to score over 40 points.

PITTSBURGH - Traveling to the Steel City for a rematch with Pitt, the Louisville men's basketball program was unable to avenge last month's home loss to the Panthers, getting blown out to the tune of 86-59 on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center.

The beat down was fueled primarily by a spectacular performance from Pitt's Blake Hinson, who was single-handedly out-scoring Louisville's entire team until deep into the second half. He finished with 41 points - including 27 in the first half - shooting 14-for-24 from the field and 9-of-13 on three-point attempts.

The Cardinals (8-18, 3-12 ACC) have now dropped their last two games after winning two of their first three games to start the month of February. They have also lost 15 of their last 19 since opening up the season at 4-3, including an 83-70 decision against Pitt (17-8, 8-6 ACC) at the KFC Yum! Center back on Jan. 6.

Like in the previous game at Boston College, Louisville was incredibly shorthanded against Pitt. Skyy Clark had to miss his second straight game with a broken rib, and Ty-Laur Johnson was sidelined due to concussion-like symptoms after taking a hit to the head at BC, leaving the Cardinals with just seven scholarship players available against the Panthers.

Add in the fact that Pitt was sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble and needing to continue stringing together wins, it spelled disaster for Louisville. Despite shooting 44.4 percent from the field, the Cardinals were just 1-for-12 on three point-attempts, were out-rebounded 36-to-27, and committed 12 turnovers for 19 Pitt points

Conversely, the Panthers shot 46.3 percent overall and 15-of-31 on threes - most of which were taken by Hinson - and committed just three turnovers.

Four Cardinals finished in double figures scoring, led by 17 points from Kaleb Glenn. Tre White notched a 16-point and 11-rebound double-double, while Mike James tallied 13 points and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had 12 points.

The opening segment of the game couldn't have gone much worse for Louisville from a shooting standpoint. While they made their first attempt, that was then followed up by eight straight misses, allowing Pitt to fire off a 9-0 run and take an 11-2 lead 4:30 into the game.

But over the next five-and-a half minutes, the Cardinals looked like the superior team on both ends of the floor, stringing together a 16-6 run - including 10 straight points - to go up by 18-17 with roughly seven minutes until halftime. During this segment, they were able to hit five of their next seven shot attempts, while holding the Panthers to just 2-of-10 after they hit four of their first ten.

However, Pitt was able to bounce back and regain some momentum heading into the half. After not turning the ball over once in the first 12 minutes, Louisville committed eight in as many minutes, fueling a 10-0/20-9 run by the Panthers to put the Cardinals down 37-27 at the half.

The two teams traded brief scoring runs over the first six-plus minutes of the second half, but then Pitt truly blew the game open with a 10-0 run to take almost complete control and lead by 20-plus for most of the rest of the evening. While both teams shot at least 47.0 percent for the half, Louisville made zero threes while Pitt made 10.

Next up, Louisville will return home and face Notre Dame. Tip-off against the Fighting Irish is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Tre White: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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