Pittsburgh Basketball: 5 takeaways from 2023-24 non-conference results

Entering this season, there were plenty of questions as to how good Pittsburgh Basketball would be after losing so much of its previous roster that made the NCAA Tournament. In a schedule that had some tests, including on the road at rival West Virginia, the team had chances to display how good they were.

After starting out 4-0, the Panthers played in the NIT-Season Tip-Off, taking on Florida in the semis. After a strong start, Pitt ended up getting ran out of the building in its first loss. They did blow out Oregon State to get something out of the event, though the Beavers aren't a good team.

After back-to-back losses at home to Missouri and Clemson to open ACC play, the Panthers got its first win over rival West Virginia in over a decade, thanks to a historic performance from Blake Hinson. The team won its final four games of the non-con, beating all of its "buy game" opponents.

That puts Pittsburgh Basketball at 9-3 (0-1) to this point. The home loss to Missouri could come back to haunt them as a Quad 3 defeat, while not currently having a Quad 1/2 win since West Virginia's struggles will likely make that a bad win overall. Still, the lack of a truly bad loss will help them compared to other resumes in the next two months.

Ahead of the road game at Syracuse this weekend to get back to league play, here's a look at the takeaways from the Panthers' side from the last two months.