Pitt
17-8,8-6ACC
Louisville
8-18,3-12ACC
Hinson Drops 41 in Home Rout of Louisville
2/17/2024 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Pitt Forward Matches His Own School Record with Nine Three-Pointers
PITTSBURGH – Blake Hinson put on a dazzling offensive display as the Panthers punished Louisville from beyond the arc in an 86-59 rout at the Petersen Events Center Saturday evening. Hinson scored 41 points, tied for third most in program history, and matched his own school record with nine threes as the Panthers won their fifth straight game to improve to 17-8 overall and 8-6 in the ACC.
Hinson finished the night 14-of-24 from the field, including 9-of-13 from three-point range, before exiting the game following his ninth three with 2:16 remaining. Pitt went 15-of-31 (.484) from three-point range, including a 10-of-16 (.625) effort in the second half. The Panthers also recorded 22 assists with a program-record matching low three turnovers.
Hinson scored five straight during a 9-0 run to give the Panthers an 11-2 lead and force a Louisville timeout five and a half minutes into the contest. Louisville responded with a 10-0 run aided by a shooting foul and bench technical that resulted in the final three points.
The Panthers used a 10-0 run to grab a 27-18 lead at the 4:42 mark as Hinson continued to carry the offensive load, scoring eight of Pitt's 10 points during the stretch and surpassing the 1,000-point mark at Pitt along the way. The Deltona, Fla., native added a 40-foot bomb for his fourth three of the half to push the lead to 30-20 just before the under four media timeout.
Hinson added another three off an underneath out of bounds play at 3:16 and also scored on a putback in the lane with 1:06 left in the half. When the dust settled at the end of the opening 20 minutes, Hinson had 27 of Pitt's final 31 points of the half on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point range, and 4-of-5 from the foul line.
Pitt came out in the second half with threes from Jaland Lowe and Hinson to push the lead out and take complete control of the contest. Lowe added a corner three with just over 10 minutes left to cap a 10-0 run and give the Panthers a 62-37 edge.
The Panthers maintained a lead of 20+ points over the final 12 minutes of action and led by 23 with 2:16 remaining when Hinson drilled his ninth three as the crowd erupted into a standing ovation and his teammates mobbed him as he went to the bench with Pitt's first 40+ point game since the 2016-17 season.
With Hinson doing much of the scoring damage his teammates also found spots to make significant impact. Lowe finished with 10 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while Ishmael Leggett delivered 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists off the bench. Carlton Carrington added eight assists to go along with six rebounds, while Federiko Federiko posted eight points, eight rebounds, two steals, and a block.
Zack Austin also had a strong night with seven points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. Twice in the second half he dove out of bounds to save offensive rebounds that led to three-point field goals for the Panthers.
Louisville had four double-figure scorers with Kaleb Glenn finishing with a team-high 17. Tre White added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinals.
A LOT OF PLAYERS COOK; BLAKE BAKES
Hinson went nuclear in the opening 20 minutes matching Louisville's scoring total with 27 points. His 27-point half matched the fourth most points scored in a half by a Pitt player. He finished the night with a career-high 41 points to become the first ACC player since Ky Bowman (Boston College) had 44 against Hartford Dec. 31, 2018. It was the first 40+ point game in conference play since Jerome Robinson (Boston College) had 46 in a loss to Notre Dame Feb. 6, 2018. Hinson's 41 matched a Petersen Events Center record as well.
The 6-8 forward also passed the 1,000-point mark in just his 61st game as a Panther to reach that mark in the fourth fewest games in program history. Only Don Hennon (44), Billy Knight (45), and Brian Shorter (50) scored 1,000 points at Pitt in fewer games then Hinson.
MAKE HINSON
Hinson made nine three-point field goals to push his season total to 91 threes and become just the 12th ACC player since the start of the 1992-93 season to make 90 or more in two or more seasons. Hinson's 91 threes are fifth most in a season at Pitt, while his 188 career threes ranks ninth.
THREE-POINT BARRAGE
The Panthers went 15-of-31 from three-point range for their 13th game with 10 or more threes. Pitt leads the ACC with 239 three-point field goals. The 15 threes is tied for the sixth most in a game by Pitt with six of the seven games with 15 or more threes coming in the past two seasons.
Pitt also continued it excellent three-point shooting defense limiting Louisville to a 1-of-12 effort from long range. The Panthers 32-point advantage from beyond the arc is its largest of the season.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
Pitt recorded 22 assists with just three turnovers to set a program record with a 7.3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
WE ARE GOING STREAKING
Pitt has now won a season-high five consecutive games and seven of the past eight contests. The Panthers are now tied for fourth in the ACC with an 8-6 ledger after starting league play 1-5.
UP NEXT
Pitt returns to the road to play Wake Forest Tuesday, Feb. 20 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (9 p.m. – ACC Network). The Panthers entered this weekend tied for the NCAA lead with six road wins.
