The Virginia men’s basketball team had won six straight games against Pittsburgh in Charlottesville, eight straight games in ACC play this season, and 23 straight games at the John Paul Jones Arena. The Hoos also had held ACC opponents to fewer than 70 points in 48 straight home games.
That all came to a crashing halt on Tuesday night. The Cavaliers struggled to get stops throughout the contest and sputtered on offense down the stretch as the Panthers pulled away to a 73-64 win.
For a team that had found its stride over the last month, it was a disappointing result. The Wahoos now stand at 19-6 overall and 10-4 in the ACC.
“Pitt’s playing really good basketball. They’re a hard guard,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “Credit to them how they’ve played. They were prepared. They were tough and they were physical.”
Pittsburgh certainly showed how difficult it can be to defend in this one. The visitors shot 44.8% from the field, a number that dipped a little bit late with the game essentially decided, and posted 22 points in the paint. More importantly, however, they fired away at an impressive 43.8% clip from 3-point range.
Blake Hinson keyed a lot of the attack with 27 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He made 11 of 19 shots and 5 of 13 3-pointers, giving the Hoos fits in a variety of ways. At times, he screened and then separated for open shots. He scored off the dribble, split a post double for a bucket, and flew off of screens on inbounds plays for some points too.
The menacing match-up began quickly as Hinson had his team’s first two baskets. It continued late too with a 3-pointer that made it a 10-point lead at 64-54 with 6:30 to go in the game.
Hinson was far from the only problem, though. Ishmael Leggett added 13 points and 8 rebounds, while Jaland Lowe had 12 points and 4 rebounds. Carlton Carrington posted 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Guillermo Diaz Graham had 8 points.
“I thought we really had a hard time handling their ball screens,” Bennett said. “Sometimes they can ball screen and separate with shooters. Everybody’s tried to play them different ways because they put a little pressure on you. Sometimes they roll, sometimes they don’t set it, they have very good action with spacing and the right kind of personnel. Their guards are very clever, all of them, to touch the paint and make plays with good spacing. We didn’t do a good job defending the ball screens.”
While the Panthers had it dialed in from long range, Virginia found its own success on offense. The Cavaliers shot 50.0% in the game making 25 of 50 shots with a strong 36 points in the paint. They also had 19 assists on 25 made shots. Those all look similar to the types of stats UVA typically has on a winning night.
Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely led the way. Beekman had 19 points and 5 assists, while McKneely tallied 15 points and 3 assists. Ryan Dunn added 8 points and 5 blocked shots, the latter pushing him into 10th on the progarm’s single-season blocked shots list with 55. Jake Groves finished with 7 points.
The Cavaliers ran into problems in two areas, though. First, they made just 4 of 14 3-pointers, a low 28.6% number, but a particularly tough night considering how Pitt got going on the other end. The Panthers won the category by 10 3’s and 30 points.
Second, Virginia faltered during a key stretch in the second half. McKneely gave UVA a lead at 49-47 with shot in the paint at 13:23, but the team managed just 7 points over the next 10+ minutes until McKneely struck again with a 3-pointer at the 2:06 mark. The Cavaliers shot 2-11 during that span with 2 turnovers and 2 missed free throws as well.
“We were able to go up seven to start the second half then they went on a run and that’s what we talked about before the game just don’t blink, you’ve got to keep fighting,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “We did that. I thought our guys defensively to hold them to just four 3’s [was important], that was something we talked about coming in.”
Throw in a 35-25 rebounding advantage and it was all too much to overcome for the Wahoos. They now have to regroup before the first Saturday home game of 2024 arrives this weekend. Virginia hosts Wake Forest at noon in a rematch of the Deacs’ 66-47 win in Winston-Salem a month ago.
“Some things similar,” McKneely said. “They’ve got a guy that can pick and pop like that, they’ve got some really good guards that can get downhill and make passes, kickout 3’s and stuff like that, so it’ll be a very tough game for sure. We’ll rest up tomorrow and then two good prep days looking forward to Wake Forest and hopefully we can get a win.”
