DURHAM, N.C. — Duke humbled Pitt 11 days ago at the Petersen Events Center, but the Panthers flipped the script on the Blue Devils in their own building on Saturday night. Pitt upset No. 7 Duke 80-76 to pick up its first win inside of Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1979.
Blake Hinson dropped 24 points and went a perfect 7-of-7 from three-point range to lead the Panthers. Hinson also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in one of the more memorable performances of his Pitt career. The senior forward made all four of his three-point attempts in the second half, including a step back with 6:35 left to give Pitt a 67-65 lead, an advantage it never relinquished.
Pitt’s turnaround from its 75-53 loss on January 9th was commendable. The Blue Devils throttled Pitt that night and dominated in just about every category, and the Panthers seemingly tried to reverse all those areas where they got pushed around in the first meeting.
The Panthers controlled the inside game on Saturday, which is not easy to do with Duke big man and ACC Preseason Player of the Year, Kyle Filipowski, but Pitt out-rebounded Duke 32-25 and also outscored the Blue Devils 32-18 in the paint as well.
Jeff Capel’s game plan put a heavy emphasis on stopping Filipowski, who still finished with 19 points, but struggled throughout the game and committed five turnovers with different Panther defenders rotating on the potential All-American.
Duke was without starters Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach against Pitt, but even though those two were down, the Blue Devils were able to overcome those losses by receiving a 20-point effort from freshman Jared McCain.
Pitt came out and threw the first punch and for the most part and then held the lead for the majority of the game. The Panthers came out gunning with an 9-0 advantage in the first two minutes. Duke eventually found its footing. The Blue Devils started out strong from three-point range and used a 16-2 run, on the strength of four triples, to take their first lead at 26-23 at the 7:16 mark of the first half.
Pitt did not blink, however.
The Panthers responded with a quick 9-0 run immediately following Duke’s push. It was the first of several times Pitt stood in the face of mounting pressure and overcame it on Saturday. The Panthers dealt with foul trouble and a hostile environment throughout the game, but still managed to hold the lead for over 35 minutes against a top-10 team on the road.
That trend of Pitt withstanding a Duke push continued later in the game. Hinson was hit with a technical in the early stages of the second half. He, along with Federiko Federiko and Bub Carrington, were in foul trouble for much of the game, but rather than panic and let the emotions of a technical swing momentum, Pitt held its head above water.
Duke made further pushes, but again Pitt met them. Bub Carrington hit a big three-pointer to silence the crowd after sitting on the bench for a long stretch to make it 72-67. Then Jaland Lowe, Pitt’s other freshman guard who has come on of late, hit a dagger three of his own in front of Filipowski to make it 75-71 with :43 seconds remaining.
Lowe finished with 17 points, six assists, and no turnovers in 29 minutes of action. Ishmael Leggett also reached doubt figures with 11 points off the bench. The final seconds of the game took several minutes, with the officials reviewing multiple calls at the monitor. Hinson ultimately set the final by making one of two free throw attempts as McCain’s shot at the buzzer was off the mark.
Pitt improved to 11-7 on the year with the win and now holds a 2-5 mark in conference play. The Panthers return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
