Kevin Gorman: Pitt’s Jared Wilson-Frame puts punctuation on final game at PeteVideo
Jeff Capel wanted Pitt to punctuate its ACC regular-season finale by stopping its 13-game losing streak, and the first-year coach likened it to putting a period at the end of a paragraph. For Jared Wilson-Frame, it was an exclamation point. The Pitt senior got to walk off the floor at...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Pitt snaps losing streak by beating Notre Dame in home finale
Pitt needed a victory against Notre Dame on Saturday at Petersen Events Center, not just because it was the final home game for three seniors. The Panthers needed a big win so they wouldn’t be the biggest losers. A loss would have secured back-to-back 20-loss seasons for the first time...
Freshman Trey McGowens snaps slump; Pitt beats Notre Dame to end skid
Jeff Capel had several reasons to smile Saturday. The final score, obviously, felt good for Pitt’s first-year coach. Pitt stopped a 13-game, nearly two-month losing streak with a 56-53 victory against Notre Dame at Petersen Events Center, escaping last place in the ACC. Now, the Panthers (13-18, 3-15) enter the...
Pitt’s Rashad Weaver motivated by 9-year-old cancer survivorVideo
Rashad Weaver didn’t have a long speech prepared Friday for his Pitt teammates before the second day of spring drills. He only wanted a few seconds of their time. But, to him, what he had to say mattered as much as anything he’ll do this season. Weaver, a rising junior...
Pitt’s Jared Wilson-Frame wouldn’t mind turning back time
Many seniors who reach the end of their careers might wistfully ponder what it would be like to play one more season in college. Don’t include Pitt’s Jared Wilson-Frame in that group. He’s actually thinking bigger than that. He would gladly turn back the calendar and re-live all four of...
Pitt’s hope for Notre Dame game: Escape last place in the ACC
Pitt is on its way to a third consecutive losing season for the first time since 2000, but there is still an important matter to resolve Saturday. The Panthers (12-18, 2-15) can escape last place in the ACC by defeating Notre Dame (13-17, 3-14) at Petersen Events Center. A victory...
Former Pitt kicker Chris Blewitt joins Bears
Chris Blewitt, who is Pitt’s all-time leader in kicking points with 363, signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday. He will compete for the job vacated when the Bears released Cody Parkey, who missed eight attempts last season, including a 43-yarder that bounced off the left upright...
Change coming to Pitt offense, but Pat Narduzzi keeps details to himselfVideo
Kenny Pickett calls it an offense with “different wrinkles.” “That’s really all I’ll say. You’ll see,” Pitt’s rising junior quarterback said Wednesday at the end of the first day of spring football drills. Pat Narduzzi was equally secretive. “You’ll see it in the spring game,” the coach said of changes...
Pitt’s Paris Ford growing up, finding comfort level at safety
At another time, in another venue, perhaps when the weather’s warmer, Pat Narduzzi will worry about Paris Ford’s interception total, pass breakups and sacks off a safety blitz. But on the first day of spring drills Wednesday on the South Side, Pitt’s coach was more interested in the two extra...
Frigid temperatures chase Pitt inside for start of spring drillsVideo
Temperatures were in the teens and the last game of 2018 was only about two months ago, but football season began Wednesday morning on the South Side with the first day of Pitt’s spring drills. The 88-man team moved inside, of course, where players went through basic drills, many without...
Pitt loses 13th straight, assured of being alone in last place in ACC
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — After the best game of his career, Miami Hurricanes senior Anthony Lawrence said the moment he will remember most occurred during pregame introductions. “Walking out with my parents, I’m not that emotional, and I wasn’t about to cry but I felt it,” he said. Instead of...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi starts over with his players in 5th spring
From the day he stood up at his first news conference, rocking back and forth with nervous energy while laying out his plan for Pitt football, Pat Narduzzi has left his imprint on the program. Players, assistant coaches and staff members from the equipment room to the recruiting office have...
Pitt wrestler Micky Phillippi gets top seed at 133 pounds in ACC Tournament
Pitt redshirt freshman Micky Phillippi (Derry) will be the No. 1 seed at 133 pounds at the ACC Wrestling Championship on Saturday in Blacksburg, Va. Phillippi follows former Pitt wrestler Dom Forys, who also held the top seed at 133 in 2017 and 2018. Ranked No. 5 in the nation...
NCAA announces allocation list for wrestling nationals
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship is less than three weeks away the allocations for each league were recently released. Pitt is hosting to the 2019 tournament March 21-23 at PPG Paints Arena. There will be two sessions each day as 330 college wrestlers will come to the city looking...
Pitt set to meet `deer in headlights’ Miami team
When Pitt visits the Miami Hurricanes on Tuesday night in Coral Gables, Fla., it will meet a team just as desperate for a victory. Miami (12-16, 4-12) has lost nine of its past 12, including a 30-point loss to Zion-less Duke on Saturday. “We were like a deer in the...
What’s missing from Pitt basketball might not be all bad
With only two regular-season games left, plenty still is missing from the Pitt basketball program. Atop that list are victories. The Panthers (12-17, 2-14) are last in the 15-team ACC for the second consecutive season and will try to end its 12-game losing streak Tuesday at Miami (12-16, 4-12). Points...
Lesson learned, opportunities remain for Pitt basketball
Virginia had such an easy time with Pitt on Saturday that coach Tony Bennett found time to rest his starters for their quick turnaround game Monday at Syracuse. Even Jeff Capel used nonscholarship players Anthony Starzynski and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo in Pitt’s second-worst loss of the season, 73-49 to the nation’s...
No. 2 Virginia sends Pitt to 12th consecutive loss
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — With sore knees and another game Monday night, Kyle Guy was fine playing just 25 minutes. He did more than enough with that action, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points as No. 2 Virginia beat Pitt, 73-49, on Saturday for the Panthers’ 12th straight loss. “We’re...
7 Pitt wrestlers earn national ranking as NCAA tournament approaches
With only 19 days before the NCAA wrestling tournament opens at PPG Paints Arena, seven Pitt wrestlers are ranked among the top 33 by the Division I coaches panel. Leading the way is Micky Phillippi of Derry, who is No. 5 (4 in the RPI) and 17-2 at 133 pounds....
Pitt’s Jeff Capel seeks improvement, will worry about ACC standings, 2020 later
The words “last place” never slipped through Jeff Capel’s lips after Pitt’s loss to Clemson. Capel doesn’t concern himself with won/loss records or standings in the conference — numbers that tend to fascinate the public and media. He has a team to coach. His thoughts over the last three games...
Former Pitt linebacker Anthony McKee chooses to leave team
Less than a year after he was named most improved defensive player in the 2018 spring drills, linebacker Anthony McKee Jr. has decided to leave the Pitt program after he graduates this spring. Coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday that McKee chose not to use his fifth year of eligibility. “Which...
Center Jimmy Morrissey accepts role as ‘vet’ of Pitt’s offensive lineVideo
Jimmy Morrissey didn’t want to use the word “power” when describing his hold on Pitt’s offensive line. He’s not that kind of leader. But he knows he has plenty of responsibility, given he’s approaching his third season as Pitt’s starting center and the guy who calls out blocking schemes. “Not...
Qadree Ollison hopes to follow Pitt script, run his way into NFLVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Qadree Ollison rushed for more than 1,000 yards in his freshman season at Pitt. It took him three years to reach that milestone again, but it provided a satisfying conclusion to the running back’s college career. “To come back my senior year and finish it the way I...
Pat Narduzzi’s tug-of-war teaches Pitt players to finish what they startVideo
Dane Jackson considers the football field his “sanctuary,” a place where he can “leave it all out there.” But Pitt’s rising senior cornerback has yet to reach fulfillment during this year’s winter conditioning sessions that coach Pat Narduzzi likes to call “fourth-quarter drills.” No one has challenged Jackson in the...
Pitt’s slow start vs. Clemson leads to 11th consecutive lossVideo
Shoulders are slumping, troubles on offense are affecting the defense and the result is Pitt can’t find a way out of its losing streak. The Panthers looked disjointed and disinterested early, rallied briefly in the second half but in the end couldn’t avoid the inevitable, a 62-48 loss to unranked...
