19. Pittsburgh (7-1)
The early performance from the Panthers has been very solid. Jeff Capel’s squad has had their struggles over the years, but were back in the Big Dance in 2023 and are hoping this can be a third-straight 20-win campaign. It’s far too early to know where they stand in an ACC that’s in interesting shape, but Pittsburgh had themselves quit the November.
This team failed to reach those national rankings last week due to Sunday’s tough 81-75 loss to Wisconsin. Ishmael Leggett had 17 points and 8 rebounds and the Panthers shot 50% but couldn’t quite get the job done against the Badgers. Things worked more in their favor on Friday, getting an impressive 91-90 overtime win on the road at Ohio State. Jaland Lowe led the way with 28 points but it was Zack Austin’s 3-pointer at the buzzer that got the Panthers this awesome victory.
In a week where dozens of quality teams suffered at least one loss, Pittsburgh really balanced theirs out with that performance in Columbus. This team is going to be able to hang with quality teams this season and have one heck of a lineup, especially with the way Lowe and Leggett are playing in recent weeks. As if that road test wasn’t challenging enough, they’ll head to Mississippi State as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge, hoping for another awesome effort.