National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
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

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