PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Blake Hinson said Thursday during the Jeff Capel Show that coming to Pitt changed his life. He changed a lot in the Panthers record book as Pitt pulled away from Louisville 86-59.
The senior forward finished with a career-high 41 points, 27 of those coming in the first half (fourth most in a half in Pitt history) including a string of 15 straight Panthers points and another of eight.
“He hit the three on the right side, I think they were in zone and we were running a play,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel of knowing Hinson was on. “He was probably about 35-feet away. He was tired. He took a dribble and shot it. I turned, because it was a bad shot, I turned and yelled ‘what is he doing’. I then heard the crowd reaction. You guys can see, I was laughing and smiling. That’s when I knew he was feeling it tonight.”
Hinson bested his career-high with 18:47 left in the second half burying a three on a second-chance opportunity. That gave him 30, beating the 29 he scored including a school record nine three-pointers at West Virginia in December. He matched the school record with nine threes on his final shot and seconds later taken out of the game to a huge ovation.
“I actually didn’t realize I tied the three-point record, which is cool,” Hinson said. “Which was my own, I mean that’s cool. Sorry if that came off arrogant. That’s cool. I definitely knew I was putting up a lot of points.”
“We are all disappointed in what happened out here today,” said Louisville head coach Kenny Payne. “Disappointed that an elite scorer scored and scored with ease. It bothers me a lot.”
Hinson in the Pitt record book
· 3rd highest scoring game in Pitt history (tying Don Hennon who did it twice in 1958)
· Hinson is just the 6th #Pitt player to ever score 40 points in a game (Hennon, Jamel Artis, Ed Pavlick, Jason Maile, Larry Harris)
· Set the ACC single-game record this season, previously Miles Kelly (GT) and RJ Davis (UNC) each with 36 points.
· Beat Hinson’s career-high by a dozen points
· Hinson and the Louisville team each had 27 points at halftime
· Became the 48th player to go over 1,000 points as a Panther early in the first half after his 12th point. He quickly passed Darrelle Porter for 47th place and is closing in on his coach Gilbert Brown (1,046 points)
“All credit to the coaches, I’ve been to three different schools and haven’t been on any pace like this,” Hinson said of 1,000 points. “It’s the coaches letting me have the freedom and giving me the confidence as well. Mixed in with the work and this is the result.”
Other notes
· Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett each had 10 points
· Panthers had a 19-2 edge in points off turnovers
· Bench Points 15-1 Panthers
· Panthers had 22 assists on 31 made threes
· Federiko Federikp had 8 points and 8 rebounds
NCAA Tournament
The win moves the Panthers to 17-8 and likely won’t do much to help their NET ratings used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee as the Cardinals are 8-18 on the season, 3-12 in the ACC.
Pitt had dropped a spot to 54 before even playing the game. The first 5 teams in front of them
· Nebraska 17-8
· James Madison 22-3
· Drake 20-5
· South Carolina 21-4
· Butler 15-9
ACC Standings
1. North Carolina 12-3
2. Duke 11-3
3. Virginia 11-4
4. Pitt and Wake Forest 8-6
Up Next
Panthers at a team in a very similar position as far as postseason tournament hopes go, Wake Forest hosts at 9p on Tuesday.
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