Jaland Lowe’s triple-double leads Pitt to 93-48 victory against VMI
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Sometime after the Washington Wizards game late Monday night, Bub Carrington’s phone buzzed with the news.
Carrington, a guard for the Wizards, no longer is the only Pitt player to record a triple-double in the past 26 years.
Jaland Lowe, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, hit the historic milestones in Pitt’s 93-48 victory against VMI, scoring 11 points, with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The phone call, of course, will come from Lowe.
“I’ll hit him up and tell him I followed in his footsteps a little bit,” Lowe said.
A year ago, Carrington (now with the Wizards) recorded a triple-double in Pitt’s 2023-2024 opener against North Carolina A&T.
HAVE A NIGHT JLOWE ????
Second Panther with a triple-double since ‘98 (shoutout Bub)
11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists pic.twitter.com/YqKw6sAWZr
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) November 19, 2024
The triple-double Monday was complete when Jorge Diaz Graham hit three 3-point shots for the final three of Lowe’s 10 assists. Diaz Graham finished the game with four 3s.
He said he didn’t feel any pressure to help Lowe make history.
“I was thinking if he passes me ball, I’m going to shoot it, just trust in my work.” Diaz Graham said. “I made it. That’s what I do.”
The triple-doubles by Carrington and Lowe are the only two by a Pitt player since 1998.
“I don’t know if people understand how hard that is,” coach Jeff Capel said. “It’s a really, really difficult thing to do. And he did it in such an efficient manner. I’m happy for him that he was able to do that. It comes from having really good teammates and guys who make shots, all of those things.”
Lowe started the season scoring 21 and 20 points against Radford and Murray State, followed by a total of only 16 in games against Gardner-Webb and West Virginia.
“Sometimes, you can feel the weight of not scoring,” Capel said. “He and I had a talk (Sunday) just about, ‘Go play. You have the ability to impact the game in more ways than scoring.’ ”
Lowe said he realized a triple-double was possible as early as halftime when he had six points, six rebounds and three assists.
“It just was in the flow of the game,” he said. “I kind of just realized maybe at halftime how the game was going. The lanes were opening up for assists for my teammates. Rebounds were coming my way just being in the right position.”
When Diaz Graham’s last shot nestled in the cords with 1 minute, 22 seconds left in the game, teammates jumped off the bench to run onto to the court to celebrate.
With the victory in front of a crowd of 6,391 at Petersen Events Center, Pitt started the season 5-0 for only the third time since joining the ACC in 2013.
All five Pitt starters, plus Jorge Diaz Graham off the bench, contributed double-digit points, led by Ishmael Leggett with 14 points. He was followed by Guillermo Diaz Graham (13), Jorge Diaz Graham and Cam Corhen (12 each) and Lowe and Damian Dunn (11 each).
Capel was proud of Lowe and happy for the victory, but there was much more to it in his mind, especially the way his team played defense. VMI (4-2) had been averaging 86 points per game but didn’t score its 30th point until more than five minutes into the second half.
“I thought our guys did an unbelievable job defensively,” he said. “Then, in the second half we started making shots. It was a really, really good win. And, for me, just as important maybe more, I thought it was a good performance. I thought we played well and that’s the thing that I’m always looking at.”
Pitt finished the game with 12 3-pointers in 28 attempts (42.9%) against a zone defense. A similar defense had given Pitt trouble early in a game last week against Gardner-Webb.
Pitt collected 25 assists on 35 made baskets, shooting 54.7% for the night (35 of 64) and 71% in the second half (22 of 31).
Lowe said ball movement was the key.
“That’s a big factor in who we are,” he said. “We need to move the ball in order for us to win.”
Pitt started slow and held only a 21-18 lead with 5:56 left in the first half. Capel called a timeout, the Panthers returned to the court and finished the half on an 18-2 run.
“Stuff wasn’t going our way, really, in the first half, ” Lowe said, “so we got back together to who we are and started moving the ball and started hitting some shots. We just told each other, ‘Just trust our work.’ We see each other every day in practice. We know the work that we put in. Every single one of us can shoot the ball.”
Said Capel: “My message was simple: We weren’t playing with the necessary force that we need to play with on either end. We allowed missed shots, and we were taking good ones, to affect everything. It was about getting back to playing like we know we are capable of playing and like we need to play to be a good team.
“We say we want to be a good team. There are things that are required to be a good team. You have to do them all the time.”
The game, part of the Greenbrier Tip-Off, was Pitt’s last at home until Dec. 11. The Panthers will resume the Greenbrier event Friday in White Sulpher Springs, W.Va., against LSU. The third game will be Sunday against the UCF/Wisconsin winner. Then, its three consecutive road games at Ohio State (Nov. 29), Mississippi State (Dec. 4) and Virginia Tech (Dec. 7) in the ACC opener.
“We’ll be excited to play,” Capel said. “Obviously, West Virginia is a power 5 team. We were jacked. We were ready (last Friday). I anticipate us being that way for this tournament and for the next (several) games.
“We love the competition,” Lowe said. “We’re here for it.”