Blake Hinson’s hot shooting leads Pittsburgh over No. 7 Duke 80-76

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Jaland Lowe silences Duke crowd with late 3 in Pitt's upset win

Pittsburgh's Jaland Lowe cashes a 3 to put the Panthers up 4 with under a minute left in the game.

Jan 21, 2024, 04:47 am

DURHAM, N.C. -- — Blake Hinson scored 24 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting from 3-point range as Pittsburgh won in Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time since 1979, beating No. 7 Duke 80-76 on Saturday night.

Hinson shot 8-of-10 from the floor and collected a team-high eight rebounds as the Panthers (11-7, 2-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a four-game losing streak against the Blue Devils. Pitt also got 16 points and six assists from Jaland Lowe and 11 points from Ishmael Leggett.

“Our guys had poise, they had toughness, we were together, and guys stepped up and made some big time plays,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “We got off to a great start. We weren’t afraid of the moment. We weren’t afraid of the environment. Really proud of our guys for finding a way to win.”

In a loss that ended its eight-game win streak, Duke (13-4, 4-2) was powered by Jared McCain’s 20 points. Kyle Filipowski scored 19 points, and Caleb Foster had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Kickstarted by a two-handed dunk from Federiko Federiko, Pitt jumped out to a 21-10 lead. Duke battled back, but it seemed like every time the Blue Devils grabbed the lead, Hinson was there to answer. After the Blue Devils took a one-point advantage on a layup and free throw by Filipowski with 6:35 to play, Hinson responded with his seventh 3-pointer of the game.

When Duke trimmed the deficit to one point with 1:10 to play, Lowe swished a pull-up 3-pointer with Filipowski’s hand in his face. Free throws by Lowe and Hinson with under 10 seconds to play put the game out of reach. After the buzzer sounded, Hinson hopped on the press table to taunt the Cameron Crazies.

“This is one of the hardest places to win in the nation,” Hinson said. "So, that was just an example of, you climbing Mount Everest and you looking at it from up top and saying, ‘I did it.’ ... It’s nothing but respect.”

BIG PICTURE

Pittsburgh: With grit and Hinson’s heroics, the Panthers beat a ranked opponent on the road for the first time since Feb. 9, 2013. While Hinson was sharp from beyond the arc, the Panthers excelled inside, winning the rebounding margin by seven and outscoring Duke in the paint 32-18.

Duke: In a messy game where Duke had as many turnovers as assists (11), it could have used the steady presence of senior guard Jeremy Roach, who was out with a knee injury. Sidelined as well — for the second straight game with a knee injury — was sophomore Mark Mitchell, and Duke missed his 5.6 boards per game. The Blue Devils have been outrebounded in three of their four losses.

“I didn’t like our start to begin with. That’s something we have to address,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I want to apologize to our fans too, by the way.”

MORE HISTORY

Hinson’s 7-of-7 shooting from behind the arc tied an ACC record for the best 3-point shooting percentage in a game and set a record for the best by anyone in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Hinson joins Florida State’s James Collins and Sam Cassell, and N.C. State’s Allerik Freeman as the only other players in the conference’s history to shoot 7-of-7 from deep.

It was the first time Capel has won as an opposing coach at Duke, where he played from 1993 to 1997 under Mike Krzyzewski.

UP NEXT

Pittsburgh: Plays its second of three straight road games at Georgia Tech on Tuesday.

Duke: Visits Louisville on Tuesday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball