Blake Hinson Shows Off New Bag of Tricks

Blake Hinson is a different player now and he makes the Pitt Panthers that much more dangerous.

PITTSBURGH -- Blake Hinson opened his night in a slump, missing his first four shots as the Pitt Panthers held just a five-point lead over Binghamton at the end of his first shift. But when asked about his early struggles following what turned into a blowout win for the Panthers, it was news to Hinson that he had ever missed. 

"I really don’t even honestly remember being cold," Hinson said. "I mean, clearly the scoreboard wasn’t adding up. But it’s the same feel the whole time. It doesn’t matter what happens. It’s just, run offense, shoot our shots and that’s all that we know."

This is part of what makes Hinson great and one of the things his head coach loves so much about him. Hinson has what Jeff Capel has called "convenient amnesia" and his performance against Binghamton was a manifestation of it. After a quiet (by his standards) opening night and missing on four straight shots to open the game, Hinson made eight of his final 10 shots and scored 26 points in a vintage performance that also showed that he has some new tricks in his bag. 

Hinson scored the majority of his team-leading 550 points from behind the 3-point arc last season. 60% of his field goal attempts were 3-pointers and he knocked them down at a 38% rate, resulting in 53% of those 550 points coming from distance. Just 15.5% of his points in 2022-23 were scored at the free throw line and 31.5% were scored inside the arc. 

He still loves to put up 3-pointers early and often and from progressively deeper territory, but Hinson showed off some new tricks as well against the Bearcats. Nine of his 16 field goal attempts were 3-pointers but the plentiful shooting from distance allowed him to break out deceitful pump fake that drew defenders out and created wide-open lanes to the basket.

Hinson is certainly big enough at 6'8 with a shooting form that keeps the ball high above defenders' hands to shoot right over a contest - he did it frequently last season. But this year, he's created new options for himself to use when he catches the ball on the perimeter.  

Following the game, Hinson was asked if this was this was a game in which he was able to truly show off some of the skills he had been working on over the summer - ball handling, finishing at the rim and conditioning, particularly. 

"My handle looked good?" Hinson responded.

"I thought so," the member of the media who asked the question answered. 

"Well then it looked good," Hinson said. "Look out, everybody." 

Hinson scored off those looks. He drew fouls off of them too and even found some ways to keep the ball moving with passes to teammates. While he has recorded just two assists in two games so far this season, his gravity is making things happen for the Panthers. 

"Yeah, I mean, Blake definitely gets us open because he brings so much attention that our guys are helping on him, so that makes us open," Jorge Diaz Graham said. "Then we just need to finish all the plays and that’s what we did."

Look out, indeed.

While Hinson was a secondary threat last year, earning clean shots from his movement without the ball and the playmaking of his teammates, he is ready to demonstrate a new side to his game this year. His improvements as a playmaker mean that he and the rest of the team by extension, are just that much more dangerous on the offensive end. 

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