The Pitt Panthers men’s basketball program began the week as the 18th-ranked team in the country.

However, that was before a 33-point shellacking at Mississippi State on Wednesday evening. Sure, it was nice to see Pitt schedule a tough road game against an SEC opponent to help spruce up its Selection Sunday resume, but to be so thoroughly dominated?

Ouch.

Pitt was in more familiar territory on Saturday night (conference-wise, anyway) when it opened its 2024/2025 ACC schedule against Virginia Tech at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia. It was the fifth-straight contest played away from Pittsburgh for the Panthers, who hadn’t tipped off at home since November 18.

The Panthers may have been away from their home venue for a while but they ended their journey on a high note with a 64-59 victory.

As has been the case all season, Pitt was paced by the guard duo of Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett, who scored 19 and 17 points, respectively.

The Panthers fell behind by a score of 13-7 early before going on a 9-0 run to take a 16-13 lead. However, the Hokies finished the first half on a 15-2 run and took a 36-28 advantage into halftime.

The Hokies controlled most of the second half, as Pitt got no closer than one point over the first 16 minutes. In fact, the Panthers trailed by a score of 56-49 with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.

But Leggett made two free throws right after the final TV timeout and Lowe nailed a three-pointer on Pitt’s next possession to close the gap to 56-54 with 3:04 left. Following a layup by Virginia Tech’s Toibu Lawal that extended the Hokies’ advantage to four points, Lowe made a layup to make it 58-56. Junior forward Guillermo Diaz Graham was then fouled at the 1:34 mark and made both free throws to tie the score at 58.

Toibu later connected on one of two free throws to give Virginia Tech a 59-58 advantage with 1:09 remaining in the game.

It would be the Hokies’ last lead.

Lowe connected on another layup with 50 seconds left to give Pitt its first lead since the first half. The sophomore guard then made two free throws with 25 seconds left to increase the Panthers’ lead to three points. Lowe finished things off when he made two more free throws with six seconds left to secure the victory.

The win improves Pitt’s record to 8-2 on the season, including 1-0 in conference play.

The Panthers will finally return home this Wednesday night for a game against Eastern Kentucky. Sam Houston will then be at Petersen Events Center on December 21 before Pitt begins its full slate of ACC games with a home tipoff vs. California on New Year’s Day.