Pitt men’s basketball topples VMI

Pitt men’s basketball (4-0, 0-0 ACC) took on VMI (4-1, 0-0 SOCON) on Monday night at the Petersen Events Center. Sophomore guard Jaland Lowe posted a triple-double as Pitt thrashed VMI 93-48, the first time a Pitt player earned a triple-double since Bub Carrington in the 2023-2024 season opener.

Junior center Cameron Corhen opened the scoring for Pitt with a put-back at the rim to gain a 2-0 lead. With 15:27 left in the first at the media timeout, Pitt led 8-0. Corhen was a perfect three-for-three to start his night. VMI got in foul trouble early with three team fouls.

Off the bench, first-year guard Linus Holmström nailed a contested three to put VMI on the board five and a half minutes into the contest. Then the Keydets started to roll, eventually cutting the Pitt lead to 21-18 with 5:56 left in the half. 

Senior guard Ishmael Leggett hit the first three of the game for Pitt to end the VMI run, and junior forward Guillermo Diaz Graham then got a quick steal, took it the length of the court and hammered home a dunk. Lowe then earned a steal on the next play and made both free throws after he got fouled on his way to the rim to extend the Pitt run and lead to 28-18.   

Senior forward Zack Austin made his mark off the bench for the entirety of the first half, posting two highlight blocks. Austin’s most impressive block was swatted into the bleachers with only two minutes left in the half. 

Pitt went into the second half leading 39-20. Pitt had nine fouls at halftime, while VMI had ten. Both also struggled from three, shooting a combined 4-for-25 from beyond the stripe. 

Holmström led all VMI scorers with nine points, including two three-pointers. Lowe went into the locker room on triple-double watch with six points, six rebounds, three assists and no turnovers. Pitt had four blocks and six steals and outrebounded the Keydets 26 to 21 in the half.

Pitt extended its lead on VMI out of the halftime break, going on a 14-11 run and taking a 53-31 at the first media timeout.

With around eleven minutes left in the game, sophomore forward TJ Johnson hit back-to-back deep threes for the Keydets, trying to keep them in the game. Pitt continued to stifle the VMI runs though, as Austin threw down an alley-oop from Lowe in between Johnson’s three-pointers.

Pitt led 63-37 at the second media timeout, and Lowe inched closer to a triple-double, with eleven points, eight rebounds and seven assists. 

Junior forward Jorge Diaz Graham checked in with eight minutes left in the game and started his night off quickly. He hit four threes in the final seven minutes to help Pitt cap off a large victory. 

With 4:54 left in the game, first-year guard Brandin Cummings got a steal and scored a layup to extend the Panther lead to forty, doubling up VMI, 80-40. Redshirt first-year forward and Oakland Zoo fan favorite Papa Kante made his mark with a spin move inside to get the deuce with 4:28 left.

At the final media timeout, Pitt led 85-43. Lowe had earned eleven points, nine assists and nine rebounds, and head coach Jeff Capel kept Lowe in the game, keeping him in contention for a triple-double.

With 1:25 left in the game, Lowe grabbed his tenth rebound off a VMI airball, drove down the court and found Jorge Diaz Graham on the beyond-the-arc. Diaz Graham converted and helped his teammate secure the triple-double. Pitt won 93-48, an impressive 45-point victory.

Holmström led VMI with fifteen points, and Johnson followed with twelve. Lowe stood above the pack with his triple-double — 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. 

Pitt shot 42.9 percent from three outrebounded VMI 47 to 31 and shot 78.6 percent from the line.  Pitt’s team chemistry was also on display tonight, with 25 assists and only eight turnovers. Stellar defensive play also prevented the Keydets from achieving similar results with ball movement.

“They forced us into six assists and fifteen turnovers,” VMI head coach Andrew Wilson said. “We haven’t faced length like that this year.”

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel acknowledged his team’s improvements on defense from the first game against Radford but emphasized there is always more room for improvement to help when the team hits a rough patch. 

“I hope we don’t hit adversity, but I know it will come,” Capel said. “But I said it from the beginning, I really like my team… I love the pieces. I love how they fit.”

Pitt starts its first road trip of the season, traveling to White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia this weekend as they participate in the Greenbrier Tip-Off.  Pitt will start the tournament against LSU (3-0, 0-0 SEC), then will face either Wisconsin (5-0, 0-0 Big 10) or UCF (3-0, 0-0 Big 12).