Second-half surge leads Syracuse past Pitt
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim breathed a sigh of relief. Five days after his Orange’s biggest win of the season, there was no letdown. Tyus Battle scored 22 points, Boeheim’s son Buddy had a season-high 13 points and Syracuse beat Pitt, 74-63, on Saturday, the Orange’s zone defense...
Micky Phillippi’s victory not enough in Pitt wrestlers’ 36-9 loss to Oklahoma State
Keith Gavin was pleased with the most notable occurrence of the day when Pitt redshirt freshman wrestler Micky Phillippi defeated Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix, 3-1, at 133 pounds. But Pitt’s coach left Fitzgerald Field House on Saturday afternoon knowing there’s still a lot of work to do. Oklahoma State, the...
Solving Syracuse’s vaunted zone next lesson for Pitt
Jeff Capel has taught his team plenty of basketball this season. Pitt’s players know how to drive to the hoop, draw fouls and rebound against bigger opponents. But there’s more to building a winning program than talented athletes trying to execute Xs and Os. Capel is hoping to build a...
Concussions force Pitt’s Alayna Gribble to retire from basketball
Norwin’s Alayna Gribble, who has been a part of the Pitt women’s basketball program for the past three seasons, is giving up the game. Pitt coach Lance White announced Friday that Gribble, a junior, has received a medical disqualification from the team due to multiple concussions. “Alayna Gribble is the...
Pitt’s revival under Jeff Capel a surprise to many … but not Pitt
Sophomore guard Khameron Davis appeared to be offended Thursday when he was asked if Pitt is playing above the players’ expectations. “No, not at all,” said Davis, one of only four scholarship players who returned from last season’s disaster. “We put in so much work during the summer, so much...
Derry’s Micky Phillippi leads No. 14 Pitt wrestling against No. 3 Oklahoma StateVideo
Keith Gavin looks at the lineup of wrestlers Oklahoma State will bring to Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House on Saturday, and he quickly understands the enormity of the challenge facing his team. Oklahoma State is ranked third in the nation by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, and nine of its top...
Pitt quality control assistant James Patton named O-line coach at Eastern Michigan
James Patton, who has been a quality control assistant at Pitt the past two seasons, has been named offensive line coach at Eastern Michigan. Patton has 26 years of coaching experience, including seven at Northwestern, four at Indiana University and seven at Oklahoma. “I feel very fortunate to be able...
Pitt’s 2019 football schedule released with seven home games
Pitt’s 2019 football schedule was released Wednesday, and it revealed some good news for the Panthers. Pitt will play seven of its 12 regular-season games at Heinz Field for the third time in the past four seasons. Plus, the first five games will be contested within the confines of Pennsylvania....
3 thoughts on Pitt basketball: Panthers show drive for more success
The chants started at the end of Pitt’s victory against Florida State on Monday night at Petersen Events Center. Who could blame the students in the Oakland Zoo, many of whom (mainly the younger ones) never had seen a Pitt victory against an ACC opponent in person? The chant was...
Trey McGowens powers Pitt to upset win over No. 11 Florida State
Jeff Capel knows he is in the early stages of a long ACC season that will test his players’ toughness. Pitt’s coach is aware the game sometimes won’t unfold as it did Monday night at Petersen Events Center. But Capel’s big bear hug on freshman guard Trey McGowens, who scored...
Pitt hires Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator
If Pat Narduzzi was looking for an experienced play-caller and quarterbacks coach in his quest to hire Pitt’s next offensive coordinator, Mark Whipple fits the description. Whipple, 61, has handled those duties at a variety of places for all but one year of the past four decades, working with prominent...
5 observations from Pitt’s 1st 3 ACC games
No one expected Pitt to win even half of its 18 ACC games this season, and the 86-80 loss at N.C. State made it clear why expectations are low. Even when Pitt plays well, which it did for much of the game … Even when the opponent hands the Panthers...
Pitt gives undermanned N.C. State scare in ACC loss
RALEIGH, N.C. — No. 15 North Carolina State lost both a starting big man and its point guard. Good thing for the Wolfpack their depth is the envy of most teams. DJ Funderburk scored 12 of his career-high 18 points in the second half, and N.C. State beat Pitt, 86-80,...
Jeff Capel hopes Pitt can turn page quickly with ACC road game loomingVideo
Jeff Capel is no killjoy. He enjoyed Pitt’s victory against Louisville as much as his players, even remarking it was a fun game in which to coach. But not long after he walked off the court and left the locker room celebration Wednesday night, he spoke with reporters about the...
Seven Pitt seniors chosen for all-star games
Seven Pitt seniors have been invited to put on a show for NFL coaches and scouts at three all-star games this month. Offensive lineman Connor Dintino, defensive end Dewayne Hendrix and linebacker Elijah Zeise will play in the SPIRAL Tropical Bowl on Sunday in Daytona Beach, Fla. Running backs Darrin...
Pitt’s Sidy N’Dir close to returning from leg injury
Pitt backup point guard Sidy N’Dir could return from his leg injury Saturday at N.C. State, slightly ahead of schedule. The original thought was that N’Dir, a graduate senior, would be out four to six weeks, but he’s missed just four games, starting with the New Orleans contest Dec. 20....
Pitt plans to discontinue women’s tennis after spring season
Pitt will shut down its intercollegiate women’s tennis program at the end of the upcoming spring season, marking the first time in nearly a quarter century the university has discontinued a sport. Men’s gymnastics and tennis were eliminated at the end of the 1994-95 academic year. The elimination of women’s...
Kevin Gorman: Pitt pinning its hopes in post on Terrell Brown
Jeff Capel let out a chuckle late Wednesday night upon reminder that, at this time last year, he was coaching NBA lottery picks at Duke in forwards Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter. The Pitt coach wasn’t laughing against Louisville when center Kene Chukwuka drew his fifth personal foul in...
Pitt snaps ACC skid behind Trey McGowens’ freshman-record 33 points
Before the start of overtime Wednesday night, Jeff Capel looked into his players’ eyes, and he didn’t like what he saw. “The guys were dejected. You could see that,” Pitt’s coach said. “I jumped on them (telling them), ‘We’re going to win. We have to fight for five more minutes.’...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Pitt learns valuable lesson with 1st ACC victory
The Pitt Panthers weren’t just seeking their first regular-season ACC victory in 22 games but their first conference win at Petersen Events Center since beating Florida State, 80-66, on Feb. 18, 2017. If you’re counting, that’s a span of 690 days between ACC victories. That made Louisville the last opponent...
Louisville coach Chris Mack sees a Pitt team unafraid to ‘run through walls’
When Louisville opened its ACC season Sunday with a 90-73 victory against Miami, six of the nine players who were in the game at least 10 minutes were juniors or seniors. Someday, Pitt coach Jeff Capel might have the same luxury. But, for now, he will meet Louisville (10-4, 1-0)...
Terrell Brown’s defense making difference for Pitt basketball
There might be times Terrell Brown appears to be looking in one direction while the basketball is headed somewhere else when Pitt is playing defense. Be assured, Pitt’s 6-foot-10 sophomore center is not day-dreaming, although he doesn’t mind if the other team thinks that’s the case. He knows exactly what...
Five things we learned from Pitt’s loss to No. 15 North Carolina
Cameron Johnson was struck by the fact that no one on Pitt’s roster was on the team when he played there. And the North Carolina graduate student has been gone for only 1 ½ seasons. “It is a little weird. Every single player (wasn’t on the team for his final...
Kevin Gorman: ACC debut a dud, but Pitt has nowhere to go but up under Jeff Capel
Jeff Capel’s concern — the Pitt first-year coach quickly corrected himself to change the word of choice from fear — was that his Panthers would be overwhelmed by the environment. After all, this was Capel’s first ACC game as Pitt’s coach and the first conference game for four Pitt players,...
Pitt puts up little resistance in ACC opener vs. North Carolina
Still four months shy of his 19th birthday, Pitt freshman Trey McGowens heard the noise in Petersen Events Center, felt the vibrations of a sellout crowd of 12,508 and never forgot what team he and his teammates were playing. “I was a little jittery going out,” he said. “Coach had...
