DURHAM, N. C. —Jeff Capel’s Pitt Panthers had something to prove on Saturday night.
The team had lost four of its last five and just 11 days prior, had fallen to this same Duke team — the No. 7-ranked Blue Devils — by more than 20 points at home.
Saturday night, Pitt wasn’t going to let that happen again. Capel wasn’t going to let that happen again. Not in the stadium in which he played and coached for a large portion of his career.
Blake Hinson and the Panthers opened the game on a 9-0 run, hitting each of its first four shots of the game and stealing away all of Duke’s pre-game momentum. Four of Pitt’s five starters hit buckets early, including a game-opening poster dunk by Federiko Federiko over Kyle Filipowski.
Starting off with a 9-0 run. #H2P
📺 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/oFJEEcXF36
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) January 21, 2024
The Panthers continued their strong play, eventually building up a 19-10 lead over the Devils. While Pitt caught fire early, Duke hit just two of its first 13 field-goal attempts. However, Jon Scheyer’s team soon resorted to a three-point barrage to cut into Pitt’s lead. The Devils’ next four makes all came from beyond the arch, as Caleb Foster, Jared McCain, and Tyrese Proctor all drained triples to trim Pitt’s lead. Eventually, with less than eight minutes to play in the first half, Duke had tied the game for the first time at 23.
Shortly after, the Panthers went on a quick 7-0 run of their own, taking back the lead. Leading scorer Blake Hinson played a huge role in Pitt’s strong start, hitting four of his first five shots in the game, including all three of his first three tries from beyond the three-point arch. In addition, Bub Carrington added six points, as did Jaland Lowe. Federiko earned the start in this one, and delivered with three first-half finishes at the rim, one of which coming on an alley-oop.
At the break, Pitt led 38-34 over the Blue Devils. The Panthers made 16 of their 31 field-goal attempts and three of their ten three-point tries in the first half, while Duke, led by Proctor’s ten points early, hit 11 of 28 attempts in the half.
To start the second half, Hinson hit his fourth three of the night, immediately turning to the Cameron Crazies in the student section and letting out all of his emotions.
Throughout the half, those emotions continued to show through Hinson’s reactions — good and bad. After a foul was called on the Panthers’ Zack Austin with 16:20 to go in the second half, Hinson began to get chippy with some of the Blue Devil players. After a lengthy discussion with the referees, Hinson was assessed a technical foul and quickly was called to the bench by Capel, who was also furious.
However, the Panthers didn’t give up there. After Duke tied the game at 45 on a McCain jump shot minutes later, Ishmael Leggett responded with an and-one layup, igniting the Pitt bench once again and retaking the lead.
Down the stretch, Hinson continued to shine on the biggest stage in front of a raucous environment at Cameron Indoor Stadium. As Pitt and Duke continued to trade leads, Hinson stayed hot. His fiery leadership continued to translate into buckets, and as Pitt led by two with just under 13 minutes to play, Hinson hit his sixth-straight three — forcing a Scheyer timeout and a massive reaction out of the Pitt bench.With just under ten minutes to play. McCain hit yet another three to tie the game at 57. However, Pitt’s Lowe replied with a left-handed floater while driving down the center of the lane to give Pitt the lead once again. Once again, with more than seven minutes to play, Lowe drained another big shot. This time, with the shot clock winding down, Lowe hit a step-back three pointer on the right side to give Pitt the lead again.
After Bub Carrington drained his first three of the game in the final minutes, the Panthers grabbed a five-point lead. With 1:47 to play, Pitt held onto a three-point lead. Next possession down, McCain once again finished a tough layup, cutting Pitt’s lead down to one point with one minute left and a possession for the ages brewing.
On that possession, Pitt, with the shot clock winding down, looked to its rookie Lowe once again. With just over 40 seconds to play, Lowe stepped into the biggest shot of his life. Splash.
Jaland Lowe.
Shot of a lifetime. pic.twitter.com/vPn8Hi4z47
— George Michalowski (@MichalowskiCBB) January 21, 2024
The rookie drained a three-pointer right in the face of Filipowski – Duke’s star, and a projected NBA Draft lottery pick. That same Filipowski who dropped 26 points in Duke’s win over Pitt two weeks prior. The three-pointer gave Pitt a four-point advantage, but the game was not over just yet.
In the final 30 seconds, McCain missed a three pointer, sending Federiko to the free-throw line. There, the Finnish big man hit one of two, extending the Panther lead to five. After his miss, Duke’s Caleb Foster stepped up to the line and missed a free throw of his own.After Pitt’s Lowe hit one of two free throws, Duke’s leader, Filipowski, delivered with a clutch three of his own. With nine seconds to play, Pitt was holding onto a 77-75 lead with all it had.
Just five seconds of game time later, Duke’s Proctor hit just one of three free throws — one of which was intentionally missed. Pitt sealed the win with a Hinson free throw. As the buzzer sounded, Hinson ran straight to the Duke student section, stood on the counter, and talked his talk. The Panthers had done it.
For the Panthers, Hinson finished as the team’s leading scorer with 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting, while Lowe followed with 17 and Leggett had 11. Federiko added nine points and five rebounds. As a team, Pitt shot 51% from the field and 50% from three-point range.
With the win, Pitt advances to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in ACC play. The Panthers will now travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech.
