Virginia Couldn't Handle Pitt's Blake Hinson
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Blake Hinson delivered another masterpiece for the Pitt Panthers, powering them to a stunning, 74-63 upset at No. 21 Virginia with a 27-point performance that left the home fans, who hadn't seen a home loss in 23 games, stunned.
He poured on triples from everywhere on the court. He stepped back to take them, made them off of assists from teammates and dribbled to create those shots himself. Pitt's superstar was unguardable, according to Virginia head coach Tony Bennett.
“Hard matchup. Tough matchup. We had a hard time," Bennett said. "He doesn't need much room. I know he takes eight three’s per game and makes a good clip of them but he’s more than just a shooter. … We couldn’t handle him tonight.”
Hinson has developed a knack for making the impossible look ordinary. Part of his affinity for making shots in clutch moments is because there is no such thing as degree of difficulty to him. If there's an opening, it's a good look and when he is rolling, it's hard to halt his momentum.
“You can have a great defense, but again, if Blake has it going, you can’t stop him," Pitt forward Guillermo Diaz Graham said. "We’ve seen Blake make shots with a hand in the face, so there’s really nothing you can do to stop him.”
Hinson scored a career-high 29 points on nine 3-pointers against West Virginia. He hung 24 points on Duke with a 7-for-7 night shooting from deep. And he saved 27 more points and five more 3-pointers for the Cavaliers.
In Pitt's biggest games, Hinson tends to shine the brightest but it's nothing new to him. He doesn't want special congratulations because this is what he's expected to do. Hinson is Pitt's superstar, no one can handle him and that's how it should be.
“That’s my job. That’s what I came back to do," Hinson said. "So that’s just me answering my job, doing my business.”
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