PITTSBURGH — Late Tuesday night, Pitt reached the 20-win mark for the second-straight season with a dominant win over the Florida State Seminoles, 88-73.
Blake Hinson opened the scoring for the Panthers, hitting a three pointer off a creative kick out from Jaland Lowe.
After a back-and-forth start, Florida State went on an early 7-0 run to take its first lead of the game just minutes in. However, Pitt counters with a 9-0 run of its own, one that included another three from Hinson, as well as layups from Lowe, Guillermo Diaz-Graham, and Bub Carrington.
After Carrington committed his second foul of the half just 11 minutes in, he sat for the rest of the frame with seven points. However, the Panthers held on to their lead and finished the half strong behind another strong run — this time a 7-1 stretch that included buckets from Austin, Leggett, and Diaz-Graham. After leading by as many as 12 throughout the half, Pitt went into the halftime locker room with an 11-point advantage after Will Jeffress hit a layup seconds before the buzzer sounded.
Pitt made 52% of its field-goal tries in the first half, including five of its 13 three-point attempts. The Panthers turned the ball over eight times and forced 11 turnovers from the Seminoles in the frame in a sloppy contest early on.
In the second half, Carrington hit his signature mid-range jumper early on while Austin followed with a wide-open three pointer to extend the lead up to 16 right off the bat. Federiko Federiko then hit back-to-back layups for the Panthers, piling on to the offensive outburst.
Florida State’s Jamir Watkins quieted the crowd for a moment with a three pointer of his own, cutting the lead down to 15. Jalen Warley then hit a deep two of his own. After a Carrington missed three, the Seminoles looked to Cam Corhen inside for an easy slam dunk that cut the lead down to 11. Pitt had gone two-and-a-half minutes without a point, and the Seminoles were climbing back into the game.
On the ensuing possession, Pitt’s Hinson hit an and-one layup in transition, lowering his shoulder and finishing through the defense of Darin Green Jr. who was trying to draw the charging foul.
Florida State continued to punch the Panthers in the mouth in spurts, scoring the next five points quickly after Hinson’s bucket. The lead was back into single digits with 13:25 remaining in the half as Pitt led 56-47.
Throughout the rest of the second half, Pitt earned big buckets from its leader, Hinson, who broke the program’s single-season three-pointer record in the half with 103 and counting.
For Florida State, Corhen hit back-to-back shots inside with 7 minutes remaining, but the Panthers answered quickly with — you guessed it — a three from Hinson. He hit six buckets from the 14-minute mark down to the four-minute mark for the Panthers, keeping the lead in double digits for the majority of the half and building the margin against the Seminoles.
Hinson finished as Pitt’s leading scorer with 27 points on 6-for-11 shooting from three-point range. Jaland Lowe followed that up with 17 points and ten assists in the win, and Bub Carrington added 11.
In the final minutes, Pitt closed out the win with a floater off the glass from Lowe, extending the lead to 14 points with less than a minute to play.
With the win, Pitt advanced to 20-10 on the season and 11-8 in ACC play. The Panthers bumped the Seminoles down to 9-10 in ACC play and 15-15 overall.
Just taking care of business! It used to be a guaranteed tourney bid if you won 20 games plus had a winning conference record in the ACC however recently it hasn’t been the case. I’m a little biased and think Pitt will make the big dance when the dust settles. One fan can only hope! H2P! Beat NC State!
ESPN2 broadcast crew were gushing about Jaland Lowe. Hopefully Carrington stays another year so that, with Leggett and Brandin Cummings, Panthers will have great guards. Future looks promising, and even Radich can be happy knowing seasons end for all but 2 MBB teams with a loss. What an enjoyable season, just like last year.
Anybody has to admit the future looks bright. Lowe is a great college point guard and he isn’t leaving early for the NBA. Pitt just needs to keep him out of the transfer portal and the next 3 years will be fun.
Now that Pitt has turned the corner, it should be much easier for Capel to get some big time recruits that he barely missed on in years past.
I don’t know if Pitt has turned the corner just yet. Getting a 2nd consecutive 20 win season is great! The biggest issue with Pitt in the past has been continuity. Capel had ridiculous player turnover the first few years which it always felt like we were a stuck in a continuous rebuild but as you said, if we can keep our top players from entering the portal the future is indeed bright. I’ll have to get some shades!! 😎 come on Alliance 412!
It took longer than the 5 years I predicted to flush the stink of Scott Barnes and KS. I didn’t anticipate Covid, NIL and such in my equation.
There will be money offered to snatch Bub, the twins, and Jaland. I don’t begrudge the kids the money. Lord knows the NCAA and the schools did their absolute best to keep the old system. It ain’t ‘73-74 but the youngsters grew and now reach for the ring.
Hail to Pitt.
Good call Chuck , RaDICK is a troll clown and Pitt and Capel have proved him to be a stupid moron once again ! H2P
“Capel have proved him” lol get help you demented little freak
Living rent free in yet another sad little fanboy’s head………..
Hail to Pitt
Most exciting Pitt team to watch since Blair!
Hopefully we make the tournament and keep it going.
H2P!!!
Oh what would I give to have a team like that one in 2008/2009….
Exciting time to be a Pitt fan! Fun team to watch. Hope a lot of the players stay put and make next year exciting too
You don’t think Lowe will leave early for the NBA. You wrong. He will be gone after next year unless he’s paid enough to stay. Same can be said for Carrington.
”You wrong”. Good one Howie
If Pitt can land what the team is really missing — a talented, large frame, Center (e.g. like Post from BC), the Final-4 in ’25 becomes a possibility. Maybe a Papa Kante is that man. We’ll see. The guards are truly electric and you gotta love Leggett who defends well and plays like twice his size.