Pitt entered Saturday in need of picking up a conference win and the team got just what it needed. The Panthers dispatched Louisville 83-70 at the KFC Yum! Center to improve to 10-5 on the year and also moved to 1-3 in ACC play.

The Panthers received a spark from junior forward Zack Austin, who poured in 20 points. Austin connected on four 3-pointers for the game and went over the 1,000-point mark for his career. He also posted three rebounds, three assists, and four steals in one of his finest games in a Pitt uniform to date.

Pitt struggled to shoot the ball in Tuesday’s loss to North Carolina. The Panthers only made five three-pointers for the game, but managed to flip the script against Louisville. Pitt finished with 12 three-pointers against the Cardinals with five different Panthers knocking down triples.

Blake Hinson topped the Panthers in scoring with 21 points, which was his first 20-point effort since December 9th, and seventh for the year. While Hinson found a little more production in the scoring column, his shooting woes continued going just 3-of-9 from deep.

Hinson was perfect at the line (8-8), however, which happened to be a theme for Saturday’s game for the Panthers. Pitt finished 19-of-21 from the charity stripe, which was stark turnaround from last Saturday when the Panthers shot 11-of-24 at the line against Syracuse.

Pitt played without starting guard Ishamel Leggett on Saturday, who has been dealing with a shoulder injury of late. Jaland Lowe, a freshman guard from Texas, earned the starting nod for the first time in his career. Lowe finished with 9 points, six rebounds, and three assists and played a career-high 27 minutes.

Louisville was also undermanned on Saturday, as Kenny Payne’s squad was down to just seven scholarship players. The Cardinals played with some spirit and cut Pitt’s lead down to 57-50 with 11:41 remaining on a Mike James three-pointer.

James finished with a game-high 23 points and nearly kept Louisville around himself, but that was as close as the Cardinals could get. Pitt responded with an Austin three to make it 60-50 and the Panthers held a double digit lead for the final 11 minutes of the game.

Pitt stretched the lead to 77-59 at the 3:48 mark on a very loud tomahawk jam from sophomore center Guillermo Diaz Graham. He finished with five points, six rebounds, and two assists while making his fifth consecutive start.

Carlton Carrington reached double figures yet again. The freshman from Baltimore finished with 16 points, which marked the 13th double figure scoring game in his already impressive freshman campaign. In two games this week, Carrington averaged 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists.

Pitt got back on track with securing its first ACC win, but the schedule gets a lot more difficult in days and weeks ahead. The Panthers will welcome No. 14 Duke to the Petersen Events Center on Tuesday for a 9:00 p.m. nationally televised tip.