Pitt snaps No. 21 Virginia's home winning streak of 23

Remember that victory last month at Cameron? Add John Paul to the list.

The Pitt basketball team is on a roll.

In a hot streak that began Jan. 20 with a four-point victory against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Panthers continued their sizzling surge Tuesday night by knocking off No. 21 Virginia, 74-63, at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, ending the nation’s longest home winning streak at 23.

Blake Hinson scored 27 points to lead Pitt (16-8, 7-6 ACC), which won for the sixth time in seven games since that victory over No. 9 Duke and presented coach Jeff Capel with a belated birthday gift.

Capel turned 49 on Monday.

Virginia hadn’t lost at home since a 69-61 decision to then-No. 5 Houston on Dec. 17, 2022. The Cavaliers had held 48 straight ACC opponents to less than 70 points before Pitt surpassed the mark late in the second half.

“Extremely proud of the guys and the effort,” Pitt assistant Milan Brown said on the 93.7 FM postgame show. “The coaches preached the past three days while preparing to be mentally and physically tough and seize the moment. It was a moment that we had and we knew the odds coming in here, but we believed in the game plan. We believed in each other, and this is what can happen when you do that.”

It marked the first Pitt victory at Virginia in 50 years. The Panthers, behind Billy Knight’s 34 points and 16 rebounds, knocked off the Cavaliers, 81-70, on Jan. 3, 1974, at University Hall.

With former Virginia star Ralph Sampson in attendance, Pitt entered its latest game as the conference leader in 3-point field goals made per game (9.1) and easily exceeded that average with a 14-for-32 effort against Virginia, the ACC leader in scoring defense for 12 consecutive seasons.

The Cavaliers again have been the stingiest team in conference play, holding opponents to 57.7 points per game, which ranked third nationally.

Pitt, on the strength of 44% shooting from 3-point range, put a massive dent in Virginia’s armor while holding the Cavaliers to 29% (4 for 14) from behind the arc.

Overall, Virginia held a 50% to 45% edge in field-goal percentage.

The Panthers outrebounded the Cavaliers, 35-25, with Bub Carrington and Ishmael Leggett corralling eight apiece. The Panthers held a 21-10 edge in the second half.

“That was big,” Brown said. “That was one of the things we really talked about was trying to make sure we tried to control the backboards because they are just so efficient, offensively. We played so hard and tried to do everything to them, defensively, and they still shot 50% from the floor.”

Leggett added 13 points Jaland Lowe chipped in 12 for Pitt, which returns home to play Louisville on Saturday night at Petersen Events Center.

“Virginia is one heck of a team. You’ve just got to be locked in the whole time,” said Lowe, Pitt’s freshman point guard, who shot 5 for 11 (2 for 3 from behind the arc) and contributed four rebounds and two assists.

“Our coaching staff, the players, we were all just emphasizing how we’ve got to have defensive urgency the whole ball game. We’ve got to lock in the whole time. I mean that team is great, and we just had to grind it out and do what we could.”

Reece Beekman led Virginia (19-6, 10-4) with 19 points. Isaac McKneely added 15 for the Cavaliers, who were shooting for their 12th season with at least 20 victories since Tony Bennett took over as coach in 2009-10.

After Pitt expanded a four-point halftime lead to 38-31 on a 3-point shot by Hinson, Virginia roared back with a 9-0 run, capped by an ally-oop dunk by Blake Buchanan as the Cavs took a 40-38 lead.

The lead see-sawed with McKneely scoring in the paint for Virginia and a 49-47 Cavs lead.

But a Hinson 3-pointer with 13 minutes, 1 second left gave Pitt the lead for good at 52-49.

It reached 14 points when Carrington scored on a second-chance layup to make it 70-56, and the Panthers coasted.

Pitt used hot shooting to take a 35-31 halftime break, scoring the most points in the first half against Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena this season.

Only N.C. State and Notre Dame scored more, on their home courts, against the Cavaliers.

Pitt converted 8 of 19 3-pointers over the first 20 minutes as six players connected from behind the arc, led by two each from Guillermo Diaz Graham (2 for 2) and Carrington (2 for 5).

There were nine lead changes with Pitt holding the upper hand at the break after outscoring Virginia, 11-6, over the final 6:28.

McKneely scored seven points to lead Virginia to an 11-9 advantage heading to the game’s first timeout.

But Pitt stayed close on 5-of-8 shooting from behind the arc, using a 10-2 run to go ahead 22-15 with 11:08 left on a Diaz Graham 3-pointer.

Virginia rallied and regained a 25-24 lead before Pitt used a 6-0 run for a 30-25 advantage. The Cavaliers went back in front on a driving layup by Jacob Groves for a 31-30 lead, but another Diaz Graham 3-pointer put Pitt ahead 33-31.

Leggett added a pair of free throws for the Panthers with 2 seconds left, following a flagrant-one foul against Virginia, for their four-point halftime lead.