Blake Hinson's Pitt Legacy Lives Past Senior Night
PITTSBURGH -- Blake Hinson had just joined the Pitt Panthers. In fact, it was one of his first practices. In a gym deep in the bowels of the Petersen Events Center, he raced up the floor with the ball in his hands during a five-on-five scrimmage and, eager to show he was a team player, passed up an open look at a 3-pointer and passed to a teammate for a layup.
It was a good play - a pass to an open man for easy points. Hinson's new Pitt teammate, Greg Elliott and new head coach, Jeff Capel disagreed. They want him to take that shot. They need him to be aggressive. He obliged and that's where the Blake Hinson you know and love was born.
"Me and Greg are kind of going back and forth and coach taps me on my shoulder and says ‘No, you need to shoot that.’" Hinson said. "So that kind of woke me up out of my funk of thinking ‘Pipe down on your aggressiveness, you need to just kind of fall into place.’ But once he gave me that confidence back, it kind of woke me back up to the strength of my game, which is my confidence. So I’m forever grateful for that and haven’t let down a shot since.”
The marriage between Pitt and Hinson has been short but resoundingly happy and fruitful. His arrival coincided with a rebirth of Pitt basketball and Hinson has been at the center. The combination of fantastic talent and magnetic charisma has made him one of the most beloved players in this program's history. Not just during the Jeff Capel era, not just this century - ever.
But the odd thing about Hinson's final act at the Petersen Events Center - a 21-point, 8-16 shooting performance in a Senior Night win - was how understated it was. If you didn't have a box score handy, it wasn't immediately clear that Hinson was ruthlessly picking apart the Wolfpack.
"Hinson is such a good player but I didn't think that tonight, he forced a bunch of shots," Keatts said. "Maybe one or two but he kind of played within it and he was efficient."
Hinson was effective and efficient but he played as if he was moving in the background, almost content to be the accessory to what his teammates were doing. It was supposed to be his night but Hinson left space for everyone else.
All seven Panthers to touch the floor scored and made multiple field goals. They assisted on half of their field goals and even Hinson accounted for a pair of them.
We're used to seeing him fire off shots so difficult that not even a pickup player would attempt them and sometimes those attempts come with the assumption that Hinson is selfish when that is the furthest thing from the truth. The reality is that Hinson has been given this kind of freedom to shoot when he feels ready because first, he's that good and second, he wants to win as desperately as anyone and wouldn't jeopardize that for momentary glory.
Hinson remembers where he was when Pitt found him and he found Pitt. Both sides were at low points and no one had much reason to trust one another. They did anyway and two years later, it's faith rewarded.
"I think the biggest example that Blake has given to every kid in this program and even us as a staff - you want people that are grateful. You want people that appreciate being here," Capel said. "No one’s bigger than the program, whether it’s me, whether it’s whoever the best player is, whether it’s Charles Smith, Dejuan Blair, Jamie [Dixon], no one’s bigger than the program. And he has been so grateful and appreciative to the city, the Zoo, the fans, us as a staff, the University, everybody, and it’s been really, really awesome to be around every day."
Pitt has given Hinson a home, surrounded by coaches, teammates and fans who embrace his personality and everything that comes with it. He's turned around and rewarded them with two of the best seasons in recent memory while endearing himself to the fanbase with an outgoing, but ever-grateful attitude.
He was a cast-off from Ole Miss and Iowa State, with two lost seasons to a medical issue on his resume. Pitt was a once-proud, but now floundering program that couldn't get out of it's own way and was led by a coach with his back against the wall. When Hinson leaves, both he and Pitt will be winners, defined more by their 45 victories over the past two seasons (with perhaps more in store) than anything that came before it.
If you expected wells of emotion from Hinson and his teammates on Senior Night, you were out of luck. Senior Night often signals endings but Hinson didn't treat it that way. Pitt is still in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and this is just one more stop of what he hopes and expects to be a much longer journey.
"Our paths crossed for a reason," Capel said. "We needed him. He needed us. And it’s been an unbelievable journey that we’ve been on together. And grateful that we still have more to do."
Hinson is known as outgoing, gregarious and - if you're on the wrong side of things - down right arrogant. But that isn't how he comes across to his teammates, coaches or anyone else who interacts with him. Hinson is a rare combination of confident, not cocky, and his confidence is infectious because he shares it with everyone he's around.
“I’m trying to enjoy it right now because there’s not many people like Blake Hinson in this world," freshman guard Jaland Lowe said. "He’s one of a kind, he’s special and I’m grateful to have him.”
Blake Hinson changed Pitt and Pitt changed Blake Hinson. In just two years, he has left his name all over the record books, hearts and minds that make up Panthers basketball and his last game at the Petersen Events Center - ceremonious, victorious and joyful as it was - is far from a curtain call.
He treated it like every other night because, true to form, Blake Hinson plays every night like he won't ever again.
"It’s all good, man," Hinson said. "I always play like this in my last game here, so it wasn’t too much different."
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