Pitt's freshman backcourt duo of Lowe, Carrington growing up quickly

They have begun writing their own special story, an intriguing script any coach would peruse with utter delight.

Pitt’s ascending freshman backcourt tandem is growing up fast.

With the Panthers’ improving season getting even better with Tuesday night’s 74-63 victory at No. 21 Virginia that ended the Cavaliers’ Division I-leading home-court winning streak, backcourt mates Jaland Lowe and Carlton “Bub” Carrington, a pair of four-star recruits, have deflected the urge to be devoured by the hype.

“As a basketball player, you grow up wanting to be in those situations, always dreaming about being in those situations,” said Lowe, second on the team in assists (63) while starting 10 of 24 games for the Panthers. He scored 12 points against Virginia, one of three Pitt players in double figures.

“When it’s finally here, you’ve got to seize the moment. That’s what our coaching staff and everybody’s been talking about since the beginning of the season, especially these past couple of weeks: seizing the moment. And even though we’re freshmen, we’ve been waiting for this our whole lives, so we know when the times comes, we trust our work and just go out there and try and do our thing.”

Is that it?

“We’ll appreciate it at the end.” he said. “Right now, we’re focused.”

Coach Jeff Capel seems to be realizing his young duo is growing up fast. They’ve been right in the thick of Pitt’s run of six wins in seven games that has pushed the Panthers’ ACC record to 7-6 (16-8 overall) and into the NCAA Tournament bubble picture.

Capel gave a shoutout to his young players, assuredly with an eye toward that guard duet, and managed a crack of a smile.

“Our young guys,” he said, “have gotten better, just with the experience.”

Carrington, who is averaging 13.4 points — second to senior Blake Hinson (18.4) — along with 5.3 rebounds and a team-leading 102 assists, is excelling with the help of a blinders-on mentality, he said.

“Sometimes, I feel like a freshman, but then, not really,” said Carrington, a career 2,000-point scorer in high school at Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy. “We don’t really see anything (else) when we’re on the court, honestly.”

But afterward, when the lights go down, when the sometimes-grueling practices resume and the film sessions get long, that’s when Carrington sees a light.

“The game I had zero (points) against Syracuse,” he said, “it was kind of like an eye-opener that every game is going to be a lot different.”

It was as if Carrington had stopped in his tracks after that 69-58 home loss to the Orange on Jan. 16.

“I thought, ‘No one is going to feel sorry for you, so you’ve got to grow up, put in the work, actually go out and perform, do what you need to do.’ That’s what it was for me.”

With cellar-dwelling Louisville (8-17, 3-11) visiting Petersen Events Center on Saturday, the Panthers are staying humble, taking a cue from their savvy sixth-year coach.

Capel, after all, learned to handle the pressure most notably as Mike Krzyzewski’s right-hand man for four of his seven seasons on Coach K’s staff at Duke, where Capel played from 1993-97 for Krzyzewski, college basketball’s all-time winningest coach, before coming to Pitt.

“As basketball players, we know, but you’ve got to block it out,” said Lowe, who earned a lofty national ranking as the No. 66 player in ESPN’s top 100 recruits of 2023 (Carrington came in at No. 87.).

“We really just try and focus on each game, because the way our league is, each game is going to be a tough one, and anything can happen,” Lowe said.

Pitt owns an 83-76 victory at Louisville on Jan. 6, but the Panthers then lost a pair of home games, decisively, against No. 9 Duke and Syracuse before upsetting Duke, 80-76, in a rematch Jan. 20 in Durham, N.C., sparking their current run.

Lowe, with Carrington by his side, hopes to keep it going. The feeling assuredly is mutual.

“Probably, after we came back from Christmas break was when I really realized there’s no need to put so much pressure on,” Lowe said. “We make a great backcourt because we feed off each other so well. We know we’re freshmen, but we try not to have anything with that label that changes how we play or think.”