On Saturday afternoon, Pitt (10-5, 1-3 ACC) won its first ACC game of the season, taking down the Louisville Cardinals in a lopsided affair, 83-70.
The story of the first half was Pitt’s Zack Austin, who scored ten of the team’s first 18 points on a 4-for-7 start from the field. As Austin and the Panthers got off to a hot start, Louisville struggled, turning the ball over and failing to find open looks. Pitt built up a lead behind Austin, as well as ten first-half points from Blake Hinson, who hit three of his six attempts in the frame.
As guard Ishmael Leggett missed the game due to a shoulder injury suffered against Syracuse, Jaland Lowe earned his first start of his college career and calmly hit two of his four shots in the first half. Along with fellow freshman guard Bub Carrington, Lowe took advantage of the Cardinals from the start, combining with Carrington for 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the half.
Skyy Clark, the Cardinals’ leading scorer, could not buy a bucket, failing to score throughout the entire half. However, the Cardinals battled back throughout the frame behind a strong 5-for-6 shooting half from Mike James, as well as seven other points from Curtis Williams.
At the break, the Panthers led 40-34, going 100% from the free-throw line and scoring 11 points off of Louisville’s early turnovers. The Panthers turned the ball over seven times themselves in the first half, and also allowed Louisville to shoot the ball well. The Cardinals shot 54% from the field in the first frame, and 44% from three.
Pitt opened the second-half with a quick 5-0 run, and Austin was once again right in the middle of everything. After slamming home a half-opening dunk, he then found Guillermo Diaz-Graham inside for an and-one layup, extending Pitt’s lead up to 11.
Louisville turned the ball over for the 15th time with more than 13 minutes to play. The Cardinals looked all but out of this one, trailing by 11. However, James continued his unbelievable shooting night, hitting three-straight threes to cut Pitt’s lead down to seven. Shortly after, Austin answered for the Panthers, hitting his third three and extending the lead back up to ten.
With 8:32 to play, Blake Hinson hit his second three of the second half, extending Pitt’s lead up to a game-high 17 over the Cardinals. Hinson, after struggling to hit shots the past few games, once again found his rhythm and was leading the Panthers in scoring. Down the stretch, Pitt continued its strong play behind Hinson, Austin, and Carrington, while Lowe and both Diaz-Graham twins also found success on the offensive end.
Guillermo delivered the highlight of the game with less than four minutes to play, slamming down a tomahawk dunk to extend Pitt’s lead to 18.
The Panthers closed out the win behind a team-high 21 points from Hinson on 5-for-14 shooting. Austin scored a season-high 20 points and had four steals in the win as well. In addition, Carrington finished with 16 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
As a team, Pitt shot 46% from the field and 35% from three-point range. The Panthers turned the ball over 11 times and forced 18 Louisville turnovers in the winning effort.
The Cardinals shot 51% from the field in the loss. James led the team in scoring with 23 points, while Clark had 11 and Williams finished with 11 as well. Louisville native Kaleb Glenn finished with a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.
Pitt now moves on to face No. 14 Duke on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center. That game will be on ESPN.
An epic victory over the worst team in any power conference. And with only 7 scholarship players. Capel is a genius! Bring on Duke!
Seriously?They won. That is all that matters. The young players did really well. It could always be worse. Your favorite coaches team just lost to a Loyola team that would lose to Lincoln Park.
“Lose to Lincoln Park”. Ok genius.
OK petulant whiny little…you know the rest
your wife would disagree
Like most who encounter you, your wife is just disappointed. Sad man you are.
Yours must have lower standards. She always sings my praises.
Grammatical errors do not define one’s intellect. Ok Genius. When will Dambrot win at Duquesne? His only claim to fame is coaching the famous God hating, 60 IQ, narcissist from Akron in the high school he never graduated from.
You forgot billionaire. Ignorant yinzer.
Money means nothing you cretin. You can’t buy happiness or your salvation. Without his athletic ability he would be working the deep fryers at a hash house somewhere. Talk about ignorant. Look in the mirror if you can find one that is not broken from your repulsive appearance.
Wow. But he does have the athletic ability you loser. And I’m a “cretin” with two graduate degrees you pathetic piece of shit
That is all he has. He is morally bankrupt like you. Who cares about your degrees. You are still a detestable demon masquerading as a human.
Dambrot at Duquesne 100-89 Capel at Pitt 85-86 STFU moron.
Pitt was in the tournament last year. Duquesne has not been in the big dance since Gerald Ford was President. Fact. So you STFU moron.
Wow blathering about “salvation” interspersed with a bunch of racist tropes. It’s clear who and what you are. Disgusting, pathetic uneducated hypocrite.
If Lebron were white, blue or green he is still an uneducated, godless stooge. He is his own God. Do not make this about race you piece of fecal excrement. I would stack my education and employment background against yours any day. You do not know me. Hypocrite? Really? Look in the mirror pillock.
Funny that’s what every racist says you sanctimonious ass
Funny that is what every finger pointing stooge says, too judging people they do not know.
Sometimes you just need a confidence builder and I’m glad they got it. Free Throw shooting was fantastic! However, there was three straight possessions in the first half that ended in offensive fouls that were bogus but I’m glad they overcame them. It seemed like the announcers on CW were really pro-Louisville & Kenny Payne. I doubt expect a W against Duke but if we can hang them especially at home we MIGHT have a chance. Anyone can be beat at any given time. H2P!!
Maybe the most comedic thing I have seen in a basketball game was after Diaz Graham’s dunk, he got a celebratory shove from a teammate and lost his footing. The ref sees Diaz Graham go flying and immediately yells “WHOA!” and turns around preparing to issue technicals and break up a fight. Thankfully none of that was needed!
College basketball itself coupled with the officiating has become a clown show. Watch the end of the TCU -Kansas game. I do not know how Jamie Dixon did not lose his mind. Does not get any worse than that.
Good work on coach Capel’s part for providing opportunities for multiple players to get scoring opportunities. Louisville, despite their record, has some good athletes. The Panthers were very competitive in their losses, with some experience, the wins will come. Recruiting has gone very well. Remember, Papa Kante , a four star center, is injured. He, with a few other highly rated players will solidify Pitt as an ACC contender.
I’ll be back on Tuesday night after Duke clubs Pitt