National Basketball Association
Pittsburgh 70, Miami-Florida 55
When: 6:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Where: Watsco Center, Coral Gables, Florida
Officials:
# Bill Covington, # Raymie Styons, # Jamie Luckie
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Ithiel Horton scored 18 points and Au'diese Toney added 15 to lead the visiting Pittsburgh Panthers to a 70-55 win over the injury-plagued Miami Hurricanes on Wednesday night.
In the ACC opener for both teams, Pitt (5-1, 1-0) won its fifth straight game.
Pittsburgh's Justin Champagnie, a 6-foot-6 sophomore who was coming off two straight games with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds, was plagued by first-half foul trouble. He finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Due to injuries, Miami (3-2, 0-1) only had seven scholarship players available. Two of Miami's top three scorers -- Chris Lykes and Kam McGusty -- were out along with freshman wing Earl Timberlake, forward Sam Waardenburg and center Rodney Miller. All but Waardenburg are due back this season.
Miami went on top 35-34 with 15:45 left in the second half. But within a couple of minutes, two more Miami players -- leading scorer Isaiah Wong and freshman Matt Cross -- went down with injuries, and Pittsburgh seized momentum.
Wong, who later returned, led Miami with a game-high 21 points. Anthony Walker added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Two transfers made their debuts in this game: Elijah Olaniyi for Miami and Nike Sibande for Pitt.
Olanyi, who started 64 games in three years at Stony Brook, had seven points and two steals and a dunk for his first Miami basket.
Sibande, who was a standout at Miami of Ohio, had three points.
Pitt, which led by as many as nine points early, went to halftime with a 27-25 advantage. Miami closed the half on a 9-2 run.
In the first half, Miami got to the foul line 14 more times than Pitt but only converted 55 percent of its free throws (11-for-20). Both teams struggled on 3-pointers as Pitt made just 1-of-7, and Miami missed all eight of its long-distance attempts.
Champagnie had just two points and two rebounds in the first half. He was one of three Pitt starters with two first-half fouls.
Pitt, though, pulled away in the final 10 minutes of the game, finishing plus-14 on rebounds and holding Miami to 32.7-percent shooting from the floor.
For the game, Miami shot just 20.8 percent on 3-pointers (5-for-24) and 51.6 percent on free throws (16-for-31).
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Pittsburgh |
|
Miami-Florida |
Ithiel Horton 18 |
Scoring |
Isaiah Wong 21 |
Justin Champagnie 3 |
Assists |
Harlond Beverly 3 |
Justin Champagnie 9 |
Rebounds |
Anthony Walker 10 |
John Hugley 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Isaiah Wong 6 |
Xavier Johnson 2 |
Steals |
Elijah Olaniyi 2 |
John Hugley 1 |
Blocks |
Anthony Walker 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Pittsburgh
|
70 |
48.1 |
7-17 |
11-16 |
16 |
34 |
2 |
8 |
16 |
Miami-Florida
|
55 |
32.7 |
5-24 |
16-31 |
7 |
28 |
5 |
6 |
13 |