Pitt Dominates Louisville Behind Blake Hinson Masterpiece
PITTSBURGH -- A blowout was expected and a blowout came. The Pitt Panthers were heavy favorites over the Lousiville Cardinals and did more than cover the spread.
This rejuvenated Pitt team, which has now won seven of their last eight games and vaulted back into the NCAA Tournament conversation, overwhelmed Louisville behind another Blake Hinson masterpiece. He scored 41 points, set multiple personal records and powered the Panthers to a 86-59 win over Louisville.
Pitt's glue guys - Zack Austin and Federiko Federiko had their fingerprints all over the game early. Austin came up with a steal and strong driving layup, while Federiko canned a pair of free throws to open the scoring, blocked a shot and grabbed a rebound as the Panthers built a 6-2 lead by the first media timeout.
Blake Hinson then proceeded to score the next five points on a deep 3-pointer and a layup. The short burst put Pitt up 11-2 and forced Louisville head coach Kenny Payne to burn his first timeout with more than 14 minutes left in the first half.
The Cardinals answered with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 11-9 with 11:23 left in the first half. They were able to add to it after the break when Pitt head coach Jeff Capel was assessed a technical foul for arguing against Ishmael Leggett's second foul call. Mike James made both free throws to tie the ball game, Tre White made another to give Lousiville a 12-11 lead.
Hinson nailed another triple to halt a 10-0 run for the visitors, but they answered with three straight points of their own as the Panthers and the crowd grew progressively restless with the officiating. Hinson hit another shot from deep that the Cardinals answered immediately to keep it a one-point advantage at 18-17 going into the under-eight minute media timeout.
Hinson continued to carry the Panthers offense while shots from others failed to find the bottom of the net. He personally embarked on a 7-0 run that put Pitt back ahead 24-18 by the 5:30 mark of the first half. In the process, he eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his tenure at Pitt, becoming the fourth-fastest player to do so in program history. He added another free throw and two 3-pointers to give him 25 first half points and Pitt a 33-23 lead over Louisville with three minutes to go until halftime.
After a 7-3 Louisville run made it just a six-point game with under two minutes to play until halftime, the Panthers scored the final five points of the period on another triple from Hinson and a jumper from Bub Carrington.
Leading 37-27 at intermission, the Panthers came out firing. They scored seven of the first nine points of the second half and extended their lead to 15 over the Cardinals. During that run, Hinson set a new career scoring record with 30 points while there was still 18:49 to play in the second half.
From there, the Panthers began to open it up even more. Austin scored another layup, Leggett made a 3-pointer, Hinson did too and Leggett canned another jumper as Pitt went up by 22 with 11:13 to play.
With Hinson on the bench for a few moments, some other Panthers got in on the action. Guillermo Diaz Graham knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 26 points and Carrington made another jumper. Lousiville went on a 7-2 run with but still trailed 67-46 with 7:04 to play in the second half.
The Panthers continued to cruise, answering what little offense Louisville could muster from there with easy offense of their own and polishing off a blowout win in front of a packed Petersen Events Center. Hinson nailed another triple to make it a 41-point night and walked off to a standing ovation from a grateful crowd.
Walk-ons and backups took the floor as Pitt celebrated a seventh win in their last eight games. With Wake Forest's loss to Virginia, the Panthers now sit at fourth place in the ACC standings.
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