Just like the temperature outside in Durham, N.C., the Duke Blue Devils came out of the gate cold and couldn’t recover as they fell to the Pitt Panthers, 80-76.
The loss snapped their eight-game winning streak, dropping the Blue Devils to 13-4 and 4-2 in ACC play. The victory by the Panthers was the first in Durham since 1979 and their third win overall in the historic venue.
Pitt (11-7, 2-5 ACC) were led by senior forward Blake Hinson with 24 points, mainly off a perfect 7-of-7 from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Jaland Lowe continued to cement his place in the starting lineup by adding 17 points and 6 assists. Despite injuries preventing key players from suiting up, Duke was led by freshman guard Jared McCain. His 20 points marked his tenth double-digit scoring effort this season.
Takeaway #1: Hinson was unstoppable from long range, despite foul trouble
When Pitt lost to Duke earlier this season, the Blue Devils were able to hold them to 33% shooting from three on 27 attempts. Three of those made three-pointers belonged to Hinson.
If Pitt wanted to split the season series, they would need to come out the gate with a hot start.
That is exactly what they did, going up 11-2 before Duke was able to hit their first field goal just before the first media timeout.
“We weren’t afraid of the moment,” said sixth year head coach Jeff Capel. “We were not afraid of the environment.”
Hinson would precede to go a perfect 7-of-7 from three point range, tying an ACC record for most made threes without a miss in a single game. This performance also was a Pitt school record, and tied for the second most allowed by Duke.
Capel enjoyed the poise that the Deltona, FL native showed, although he did get a little “revved up there a little bit, got to try to get him back to neutral.” This would lead to a technical foul in the second half, to which Capel stated he didn’t get an explanation about the foul.
Hinson spent the last seven minutes of the game with four fouls, but still continued to be a presence on the court.
That energy was felt by the entire team, as they were looking to win just their second game since ACC play started in earnest.
Takeaway #2: Duke failed to have a presence on the offensive glass
With sophomore forward Mark Mitchell sidelined, a key component of their post presence wasn’t available for second year head coach Jon Scheyer.
Pitt took advantage of the smaller lineup, forcing the Blue Devils to a season-low 18 points in the paint.
“It’s huge for us,” freshman guard Jared McCain when asked about missing two players. “Jeremy [Roach] brings that leadership and [without] Mark, obviously playing with four guards is just different and we’re not used to it.”
This defensive pressure forced sophomore center Kyle Filipowski to spend less time in the paint. That led to his first game without an offensive rebound since Jan. 2 against Syracuse. He was also one of two players to have a high turnover rate, having 27% of his possessions end in a turnover.
The Westtown, N.Y. native echoed McCain’s sentiment. “Of course, it’s always tough not having two of your starters, but that shouldn’t dictate how we play the rest of the game.”
Filipowski’s strong post presence wasn’t lost on the Panthers, as Jeff Capel noted he has had their number in previous meetings. “We wanted to try to be a little bit more physical with him.”
That physically allowed Pittsburgh to force him into ten turnovers over their two meetings, 31.2% of his season total.
“I think rebounding a lot of the time comes down to will and mindset, and we didn’t have that,” said Scheyer. “But we’re gonna have it, and we’ve shown it throughout, but we need to have it consistently.”
With a trip to Chapel Hill looming in the near future, the consistent rebounding play will determine how the rest of the conference schedule plays out for the Blue Devils.
Takeaway #3: Pitt Panthers rebound from a slow start to 2024
The last time the Pitt Panthers won a game inside Cameron Indoor, Rod Stewart had the number one song in the country with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and the Panthers were competing in the now-defunct Eastern Athletic Association.
They went into the Feb. 10, 1979 matchup riding a six game winning streak and a third place finish in the Gator Bowl Classic.
Heading into this game, Jeff Capel’s squad had won one out of their last five games. In each of those five games, Pitt either got dominated on the boards or allowed their opponents to have a slight edge.
Against Duke, this was just the third time this season that Pitt had won the rebounding battle on the road by at least seven. The Panthers outrebounded both their Preseason NIT opponents by similar margins.
“[I am] really proud of our guys to come down here in this hostile environment against this outstanding team and to play like we played,” said Capel.
One of the main catalysts for the victory was in rebounding the basketball, improving to 10-2 this season when they win the rebound battle. Hinson led the game with eight rebounds, his fourth game with eight or more rebounds this season.
Capel was asked about what this win meant for him, but despite being a graduate of Duke, he had no personal feelings. “I’m glad, probably most importantly, that the spirit of our team, how it was when we started this journey back in July, and how it was until maybe the first week of January. It looked like the team that we were early in the season.”
One item that rubbed Duke players the wrong way was how Hinson celebrated after the win, climbing on the scorers table to a sea of middle fingers by the Duke students. Scheyer apologized multiple times to the fans for allowing that to happen by failing to put away Pittsburgh.
Both teams hit the road this Tuesday. One team is looking to build on their first signature victory of the season, while the other is looking to get healthy and prevent their second two-game losing streak of the season.
Next game for Pitt: at Georgia Tech (Tues., Jan. 23 – 7 p.m.)
Next game for Duke: at Louisville (Tues., Jan. 23 – 7 p.m.)