Pitt Basketball improved to 3-0 with a dominant 83-64 win over Gardner-Webb on Monday night. Guard Ishmael Leggett led the way for the Panthers with 21 points on 7-9 from the field, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, paired with 2 steals on the defensive end.

The Panthers came out the gates hot and led the Runnin’ Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb by 15 at halftime, but a halftime adjustment to a zone-oriented defense saw GWU go on a 24-19 run for the first 12 minutes of the second half, cutting the lead down to 11.

The Panther offense looked slow and failed to attack the zone with force and urgency. It also didn’t help that Pitt missed 21 threes, many of which were wide open. If Pitt managed to knock down just a few of those three-pointers, this game could’ve been even uglier for GWU than it already was.

Despite these offensive struggles, Pitt dominated defensively in the paint, allowing them to control the game and pull away in the final 8 minutes.

Senior forward Zack Austin was a big reason for the dominating defensive performance with 6 takeaways, paired with a season-high 10 points off the bench.

Austin and Leggett combined for the most exciting play of the night when Austin threw down a lob from Leggett on a fast break to put the Panthers up 24 points with 3:49 remaining.

This game was also the debut of Bosnian Freshman guard Asmal Delalic, who missed the first two games of the season with a hand injury. Delalic looked solid but rusty in his first 9 minutes of the season.

“I thought he did some really good things… I thought he made some really good passes… In the second half, I thought he made some good passes, we’re just not used to them,” said Coach Jeff Capel in his post-game interview.

Overall, Pitt looked levels above Gardner-Webb despite struggles from beyond the arc. In his post-game press conference, Gardner-Webb head coach Jeremy Luther praised Pitt: "Their size is special. We played Tennessee and you guys are bigger. And you guys really score, we knew that."

Pitt will look to continue their undefeated start to the season with a backyard brawl at home versus West Virginia on Friday.