Pitt faced its biggest challenge of the young 2023-24 season on Monday night when Florida Gulf Coast came to the Petersen Events Center, but with some timely shots and defensive efforts, the Panthers overcame adversity of their own making to get an 86-74 win over the Eagles.

Pitt certainly faced some adversity in the first half. The three-point shot, of which the Panthers made 22 in the first two games this season, wasn’t falling, with just a 3-of-14 mark at halftime. And Pitt also failed to make the most of its 23 first-half trips to the free throw line, hitting just 14.

On top of that, Florida Gulf Coast found some holes in Pitt’s defense around the basket, scoring 20 points in the paint in the first half. But despite the various issues, the Panthers rallied a 12-5 finish to the half to take a 45-35 lead into the locker room.

The spark for the Panthers came from Jaland Lowe, Pitt’s freshman guard who had been relatively quiet so far this season, scoring six points in the first two games and not connecting on any of his six three-point attempts.

But he found his groove on Monday night. Lowe scored 10 points in the first half, including a pair of made three-pointers, matching leading scorer Blake Hinson in points in the first 20 minutes. That production gave Pitt a 10-point lead at halftime, but the Panthers had to fight to hold onto it.

In fact, FGCU cut that lead to single digits nine different times, and when Pitt built its biggest lead of the game - 15 points with 7:44 to play - the Eagles went on a 13-3 run to cut it to five over the next four minutes.

But the Panthers found a way in the final minutes. Bub Carrington hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to seven, and after Federiko Federiko hit one free throw on a pair of attempts from a flagrant foul, Ishmael Leggett drove and banked a shot before finding Federiko in transition for a dunk that pushed the lead back to 10.

Carrington iced the game with 25 seconds left when he hit a long three as the shot clock ran out.

Pitt emerged with a 12-point win despite some considerable gaps in its performance. The Panthers missed 14 of their 32 free throw attempts, shot 8-of-28 from three and gave up 36 points in the paint, although Pitt matched that number. But the Panthers held a 42-29 advantage in rebounds, committed just seven turnovers and produced 14 points in transition.

Carrington finished with a game-high 19 points and seven assists, Hinson scored 18 and Leggett scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out five assists.

Pitt (3-0) will host Jacksonville on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center.