By Ray Porter, Jr.
PITTSBURGH, PA–With their NCAA Tournament hopes on the line, the Pitt Panthers made it two wins in a row after beating the Florida St. Seminoles 88-73 at the Petersen Events Center. The win improved the Panthers to 20-10 and 11-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) It’s also the first time in over 10 years that the Panthers have posted back-to-back 20-win seasons since for the first time since the 2012‐13 and 2013‐14 seasons. It’s also the first time the Panthers have posted consecutive 20‐win/10‐win league seasons since joining the ACC.
“Well, I’m really proud of our guys,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. “This is the first time in a few weeks that we Saturday-Tuesday, we’ve won the Saturdays we’d come back on Tuesdays and gotten beat past two weeks. So really proud we were able to fight through fatigue and did some really good things. So, I’m really proud of our guys.”
Blake Hinson finished with 27 points on 9‐of‐15 shooting from the field and 6‐of‐11 from beyond the arc for 26th double-figure scoring game. Hinson’s 18 points in the second half shooting 6‐of‐9 from the field and 4‐of‐6 from beyond the arc, surpassed the Pitt single‐season record with 104 made three‐point field goals as well as becoming the seventh Pitt player to reach 200 career threes. He now has 201 career three‐point field goals, the seventh most in program history, and has moved into 37th in the Pitt career scoring chart with 1,113 points in 66 career games.
“You know, want to shout out Blake, congrats to him on setting the single-season record for threes,” said Capel. “And just as overall game he was unbelievable, made big play after big play, whether it was a shot rebounds, the defensive play, and then Jaland was terrific all game. You know the last two games, he has 19 assists, and I think three turnovers and to have ten assists and only two turnovers against this pressure.”
Jaland Lowe finished with 17 points with a career‐high, ten assists with five rebounds for his first career double‐double. He also scored 11 points in the second half on 4‐of‐4 shooting from the field, 1‐of‐1 from three‐point range, and 2‐of‐2 from the foul line.
The Panthers had four players score in double figures: Blake Hinson (27), Jaland Lowe (17), Carlton Carrington (12), and Ishmael Leggett (10), and five players grab five or more rebounds: Carlton Carrington (6), Zack Austin (5), Federiko Federiko (5), Jaland Lowe (5) and Ishmael Leggett (5).
As a team, the Panthers outscored Florida State 40‐28 in the paint and 17‐9 off the bench. Pitt is 16‐2 on the season when scoring more bench points than its opponent. The Panthers have won the bench scoring battle in 11 of the past 13 contests.
The Panthers finished shooting 55.9 percent (33‐of‐59) from the field, 42.3 percent from three‐point range (11‐of‐26), and 61.1 percent (11‐of‐18) from the foul line, they shot 51.5 percent (17‐of‐33) from the field in the first half and marked second consecutive game shooting 50
percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
The Panthers made 7 of its final 11 shots in the second half and shot 61.5 percent (16‐of‐26) after intermission, used a 12‐2 run to take a 19‐14 lead with under 10 minutes to play in the first half. Pitt has made ten or more threes in 15 games this season and is 28‐12 under Jeff Capel when making ten or more threes in a game.
The Panthers will now prepare for their regular-season Finale on Saturday as they prepare for Senior Night and the North Carolina State Wolfpack before beginning their postseason in Washington, DC for the ACC Tournament.
“You know, the way this team gets after you I thought he (Hinson) did a really good job of controlling the game. So again, really proud of our guys.”-Said Capel.
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