Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 48

Perhaps the moment that defined Pitt’s runaway 99-82 victory against Syracuse on Saturday was Nike Sibande’s alley-oop dunk in the second half. The play, initiated by a pinpoint out-of-bounds pass from the baseline by Nelly Cummings, resulted in two points, a 50-40 Pitt lead and a thunderous roar from the...

Jeff Capel has said repeatedly that the NCAA Net rankings, Associated Press Top 25 and the many versions of bracketology that pop up on the internet do not interest him. But don’t let him fool you. Pitt’s coach knows what’s at stake over the final three games of the regular...

After a busy collegiate career on and off the field, former Pitt defensive end Deslin Alexandre was named the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year at a ceremony Thursday night in Frisco, Texas. The honor is annually presented by former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten to the FBS...

There will be smiles and tears, back slaps and hugs and flowers for the ladies Saturday when Pitt honors its five seniors in front of a sold-out crowd at Petersen Events Center. Those extracurricular activities will occur before the ball is tipped to start the game, but unlike many past...

Pitt’s victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday padded the Panthers’ NCAA Tournament resume and relieved some pressure and perhaps some doubt among the fan base after the loss at Virginia Tech. More importantly, it fortified one important thought in coach Jeff Capel’s mind: It’s time to get tough in practice....

No one can predict how many or to what extent Pitt’s freshman football players will impact the team next season. So much time, so much to learn and so many moving parts stand in the way before the opener Sept. 2 against Wofford. After winter conditioning, spring practice begins next...

By a strict mathematical standard, Pitt’s 76-68 victory Tuesday night against Georgia Tech didn’t qualify as a game the Panthers absolutely needed to win. If Pitt had lost in front of 9,482 at raucous Petersen Events Center, there would have been time to recover. There are three games left in...

After shepherding Pitt through practice, watching video of his opponents and talking with players, recruits and staff pretty much all day, Jeff Capel still can’t get enough basketball. When the day’s work is done, he may tune into the ACC Network and Big Ten Network to keep up on what’s...

Three weeks ago — when Pitt was winning regularly and fans were dreaming of lofty tournament seedings and an ACC championship — the Georgia Tech game appeared to be a mere nuisance on the schedule. One of those games put under the victory column long before it’s played, an insignificant...

After Pitt won six games in a row, no one expected the Panthers to maintain such a pace for the rest of the season. Bad stuff can happen, and Pitt’s 79-72 loss Saturday to Virginia Tech before a crowd of 8,925 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va., should not have...

Pitt’s wrestling team nailed down a share of the ACC dual championship with a 43-3 victory Saturday against Duke at Fitzgerald Field House. The Panthers (10-4, 4-1) won nine of 10 bouts against Duke (3-12, 0-5) to tie N.C. State and Virginia Tech atop the ACC standings. It’s the second...

Pitt fans don’t need another reason to feel disrespected, but KenPom, a ranking service that projects outcomes and ranks teams and conferences, has found one more. Virginia Tech 75, Pitt 72, Saturday in Blacksburg, Va. But why worry? DraftKings says Pitt is a 5-point underdog, but the Panthers are 19-6-1...

There’s a specific reason why Jeff Capel doesn’t concern himself with the noise outside his office, unless it’s coming from basketballs bouncing on the floor below — where his team practices. And the reason is rooted in Capel’s personal history. The story goes back to his four seasons at Duke...

After the first few minutes of Duquesne’s 76-62 victory against Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday night, the outcome never was in question. Duquesne played smothering defense at least through the first half when the Dukes forced 11 Saint Joseph’s turnovers and held the Hawks to 24 points. They made 50% of...

Pitt’s itemized list of things you never would have predicted in preseason defines the Panthers’ run to first place in the ACC. • The proliferation — and success — of the transfers and freshmen, who comprise the top six players in terms of points, rebounds and minutes played. Four are...

Perhaps Pitt’s half-game lead in the ACC won’t last beyond Virginia’s next outing, but the Panthers’ 77-58 victory against Boston College on Tuesday night stands as another brick in their NCAA Tournament resume. That was the big picture for Pitt (19-7, 12-3) while recording its most ACC victories during a...

Back in late August, Jeff Capel first realized, “OK, we have something,” when the last of the new players finished checking into Petersen Events Center. “As I started watching us as we started workouts,” he said Monday on the ACC coaches conference call, “we started seeing the camaraderie, just how...

Mike Bell has heard the annual commentary on college baseball teams in the north — you know, they can’t win because of the climate — and he’ll argue the point if you care to engage him. “Some guys like to use it as a crutch,” he said. But Pitt’s baseball...

Given the evolution of Pitt’s basketball season, it makes sense that the only negative development of the weekend happened hundreds of miles away and was one coaches and players could not prevent. And, by the way, it was wrong. Six games from the regular-season finish line, Pitt (18-7, 11-3) is...

Before the start of the season, a suggestion that Pitt might win 18 games — 11 of them in the ACC — would have been met with ridicule. The Panthers hadn’t won 18 overall since 2016 when they finished 21-12, perhaps the most recent time anyone took the program seriously....

You’ve heard the axiom about the difficulty of defeating a team twice in the same season. Let’s try another one in a related sense: The team that won the first game must know something about its victim, which could make reversing the outcome in the rematch difficult. That’s the situation...

Pitt’s run toward the top of the ACC started on the Monday after the 2022 conference tournament. Jeff Capel and his staff started preparing for 2022-23 only days after a 66-46 loss to Boston College, Pitt’s fifth in a row, the second losing streak of at least four games in...

Pitt is in the early stages of building its 2024 recruiting class, but so far three of the four verbal commitments, including Central Catholic junior defensive end Ty Yuhas, reside in Pennsylvania. Yuhas confirmed his verbal commitment Thursday through his Twitter account. Locked in…H2P????????@CoachPartridge @CoachDuzzPittFB @Pitt_FB @PCC_FOOTBALL @CoachLehmeier @JasonPinkstonOL pic.twitter.com/5ZAo6XmpgF—...

Braylan Lovelace has been a Pitt freshman football player for a little more than a month, but he said he already is “bought in” to the expectations. Lovelace, a former Leechburg linebacker, knows the buy-in requires hard work and learning the many designs and coverages crafted by coach Pat Narduzzi...