PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It proves the value to tougher scheduling. Pitt (6-1) lost its first game of the season, but also made the Top 25 for the first time.
Number 17 Wisconsin (7-0) came back to beat Pitt 81-75 Sunday in the championship game of the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia, but the coaches thought enough of that close loss to put the Panthers in the national rankings on Monday. Panthers join at number 25, just behind Ole Miss and ahead of BYU, Texas and Mississippi State. Panthers will play at Mississippi State next week and Friday at Ohio State, who received 38 votes in the coaches poll, as part of an improved non-conference schedule.
Panthers are led by a pair of stat-filling guards.
Senior Ishmael Leggett is sixth in the ACC in scoring at 18 points-per-game and sixth in field goal percentage (.566). The 6'3" guard is eighth in minutes, 10th in steals and 19th in rebounding.
Sophomore Jaland Lowe is 16th in scoring (15 points), third in assists (5.7), fourth in minutes (33:37) seventh in steals (2.0), eighth in free-throw percentage (.879), 10th in assist/turnover ratio in the ACC. Lowe is the only player in the country averaging at least 15 points, six rebounds, 5.5 assists and two steals a game.
