Virginia Sees Winning Streaks Snapped in 74-63 Loss to Pittsburgh
For the first time in 423 days, Virginia lost a game at John Paul Jones Arena.
UVA's nation-leading 23-game home winning streak, and eight-game winning streak overall, came to an end on Tuesday night as Pittsburgh (16-8, 7-6 ACC) came into John Paul Jones Arena and knocked down 14 threes to hand No. 21 Virginia (19-6, 10-4 ACC) a 74-63 loss.
Somewhat befitting a battle between the two hottest teams in the conference, the first half was a game of runs. Isaac McKneely scored seven of Virginia's first nine points to give the Cavaliers the early lead, but then the Panthers started heating up from beyond the arc, knocking down five threes in the first nine minutes of the game. Two of those threes came from freshman Carlton Carrington, who also got fouled on a three and completed the four-point play to open up a 22-15 lead for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is a mediocre three-point shooting team at 33.9% (186th in the country), but the Panthers attempt nearly 27 threes per game, which ranks 28th nationally. They live and die by the three and they were living by it on Tuesday night.
"Pitt's playing really good basketball. They're hard to guard, so credit to them - how they played, really prepared. They were tough, they were physical," said Tony Bennett after the game.
Virginia responded with a 7-0 run, ignited by a steal and score from Ryan Dunn. Isaac McKneely was fouled on a three and made all three free throws and then Reece Beekman scored with a smooth reverse layup to put UVA back in front.
Pittsburgh quickly fired back with back-to-back threes, as Carrington found Jaland Lowe with a beautiful cross-court pass for an open corner three and then Blake Hinson hit a deep step-back three-pointer over Jake Groves to push the Pitt lead back to five.
Once again, the Cavaliers had an answer, going on a 6-0 run of their own as they held Pitt scoreless for more than four minutes. Dunn scored a couple of buckets and blocked a three-point attempt from Hinson and then McKneely found a cutting Jake Groves for a layup to give Virginia a 31-30 lead late in the half.
The final minute of the first half was a disastrous one for the Cavaliers, who gave up a corner three to Guillermo Diaz Graham and then should have had the final shot of the half, but Beekman had his pass intercepted and taken the other way by Ishmael Leggett. Beekman fouled Leggett from behind to prevent the layup and the refs deemed the play a Flagrant 1 foul on Beekman. Leggett made both free throws to give Pittsburgh a 35-31 lead at the half.
"We probably gave up four or five unforced errors in the first half that gave them threes and you can't do that against an offensive team like that," Bennett said. "It takes a real sound, tough-minded effort defensively from start to finish against a team like this that's playing this well and has that kind of attack."
Virginia outshot Pittsburgh in the first half (48.1% > 44.4%) and won the paint scoring battle 16-8, but the Panthers attempted 19 threes and made eight of them (42.1%) and that was the difference. McKneely had 10 points to lead all scorers at halftime and Hinson had nine points for Pitt. Six different Panthers knocked down a three in the first half.
Blake Hinson opened up the second half with a three from the top of the key, but Virginia responded with a 9-0 run, capped by Beekman throwing a perfect lob to Blake Buchanan for an alley-oop dunk to put UVA back in front. For the next several minutes, the Cavaliers and Panthers went shot for shot and traded the lead back and forth.
Both teams were executing at a high level offensively and UVA's hope was that Pittsburgh would not be able to sustain its hot three-point shooting for the entire game. With some defensive adjustments and enough plays on the offensive end, this was certainly a winnable game for the Cavaliers. Instead, the Panthers continued to dice up the Virginia defense for nearly the entire second half and eventually, UVA couldn't keep up.
In one stretch, Pittsburgh made eight out of 10 field goals, capped by a ridiculous fadeaway corner three by Hinson to give Pitt a 58-51 lead. Meanwhile, Virginia's offense finally endured that fatal scoring drought the Cavaliers simply couldn't afford, going nearly four minutes without a made field goal. Hinson made another three to put the Panthers up by 10 and Virginia couldn't get its offensive engine restarted, eventually falling behind by as many as 14 points.
"At Florida State, we won with our offense. In this game, our offense wasn't enough," said Bennett.
Isaac McKneely made UVA's fourth three-pointer of the game with a little over two minutes to go, but it was much too little, much too late, as Pitt went on to win 74-63, becoming the first team to beat Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena since Houston did so on December 17th, 2022.
The 14 made threes were by far the most three-pointers a team has made against UVA this season, with the previous high being 11 threes. Blake Hinson led the way with 27 points, 18 of which came in the second half. The Panthers shot 44.8% from the floor and 43.8% from three on 32 attempts and won the rebounding battle 35-25.
Virginia shot 50.0% from the floor, but went only 4/14 from three, giving the Panthers a 30-point edge in points generated from beyond the arc. Reece Beekman tallied 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists and Isaac McKneely had 15 points. It was hardly a poor offensive showing for the Cavaliers, but they ultimately couldn't keep up with the onslaught of three-pointers from the Panthers.
"It's hard to beat a team that makes 14 threes," said Isaac McKneely after the game.
Up next, Virginia will play its first Saturday home game since December 16th when the Cavaliers host Wake Forest on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena. Tipoff is set for 12pm on ESPN2.
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