Road gets tougher as Pitt basketball preps for ACC opener at Virginia
No matter what the Pitt basketball team has been through this season — good or bad — coach Jeff Capel is adamant about the Panthers not dwelling on it. Not with the ACC opener looming Friday night at Virginia. “We had a really good practice today, attitudes have been good,...
Amid college coaching carousel, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi declares, ‘I’m all about loyalty’
Sitting in Pat Narduzzi’s office inside Pitt’s South Side training facility is an old, folded-up piece of paper that his father, Bill Narduzzi, kept in his pocket. Why does he keep it? “It’s called loyalty,” Narduzzi said of what the words on that scrap of paper represent. “I’m all about...
Pat Narduzzi proudly reveals how his daughter predicted Pitt’s return to ACC Championship Game
Pat Narduzzi remembers the empty feeling that engulfed him and his team after Pitt’s 42-10 loss to Clemson in the 2018 ACC Championship Game. “After the game, you’re disappointed. You have your head down. ‘What the heck happened?’ ” he said Thursday, sharing his feelings with reporters. But something else...
Pitt’s Kenny Pickett ready to play after bout with flu
The words “Kenny Pickett has the flu” rank up there with “Ben has a sore elbow” in terms of creating panic among area football fans. But Pickett assured reporters Wednesday that his bout with the flu was temporary and he will be “good to go” Saturday when Pitt meets Wake...
WVU releases 2022 football schedule, including renewal of the Backyard Brawl with Pitt
Only days after the end of the regular season, West Virginia is already planning for 2022. WVU athletic director Shane Lyons announced Wednesday six home dates, plus the renewal of the Backyard Brawl with Pitt, on the 2022 football schedule. The season opens Sept. 3 at Heinz Field with the...
Pitt will welcome West Virginia, Penn State to PNC Park for games in 2022
Pitt baseball at PNC Park is becoming an annual tradition. For the third consecutive season, the Panthers will serve as hosts at the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates for games against West Virginia and Penn State. The WVU game is April 19; Penn State arrives May 17. “A special thanks...
Pitt’s Kenny Pickett named ACC Player of the Year
Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett, who hit the historic aerial milestones of 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns this season, was named ACC Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year by landslide votes. Pickett received 52 of 64 first-place votes for Player of the Year in balloting by a...
John Hugley scores 25 points but Pitt loses on late put-back
Jeff Capel stood for nearly all 40 minutes of Pitt’s 54-53 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday night at Petersen Events Center. He directed traffic on the court, encouraged his players, sometimes lowered his head when a play didn’t work, perhaps occasionally thought about slamming his hand on the scorer’s table...
Pitt defense hopes to keep evolving from group that lost to Clemson in 2018 ACC championship game
Three years ago at the ACC championship game, Pitt linebacker Phil Campbell III was a reserve safety who got on the field long enough to record one assisted tackle. He was in another world back then, like many of his future teammates. • Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey was still in...
21 Pitt players receive All-ACC recognition, led by Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison
In the midst of preparations for the ACC championship game, Pitt received a welcome distraction Tuesday morning. The Panthers placed a conference-high 12 players on the All-ACC first, second and third teams, plus nine who received honorable mention. Leading the way are three first-team selections: quarterback Kenny Pickett, wide receiver...
Pat Narduzzi says Pitt learned from mistakes to reach ACC Championship Game
With Heisman and Biletnikoff candidates leading Pitt to its best season in four decades, the situation couldn’t have been much sweeter this season. Actually, if the goal is perfection, there’s always room for improvement. Pitt lost only two games during the regular season by a total of seven points. One...
Pitt women’s volleyball earns No. 3 overall seed for NCAA TournamentVideo
The Pitt women’s volleyball team, which came up just short of earning a spot in the Final Four last season, is among the favorites to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Sunday night, the Panthers (26-3, 13-3 ACC) received the No. 3 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament....
Former Pitt fan will lead Wake Forest against Panthers in ACC championship game
Dave Clawson rattled off the names of some of the greatest players in Pitt football history as if he grew up rooting for them. Which he did. “I grew up being a huge Pitt Panther fan,” Wake Forest’s coach said. “I would listen to games on the radio. That was...
AP Top 25: Michigan rises to No. 2; Oklahoma State to 5th; Pitt up to No. 17
Michigan jumped to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday and Oklahoma State joined the top five for the first time since 2015. Georgia was a unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank for the eighth consecutive week. For the fourth...
Pitt beats Syracuse, wins 10th regular-season game for 1st time in 40 years
To Pat Narduzzi, who won’t be satisfied unless and until he’s holding that ACC Championship trophy around midnight Dec. 4, what happened Saturday night in the Carrier Dome was more worthy of a pat on the back than excessive praise. Winning 10 games by defeating Syracuse, 31-14, was nice. “Monumental,”...
Pitt men’s soccer advances to NCAA Elite 8 with shutout win over Hofstra
The Pitt men’s soccer team is back in the NCAA quarterfinals after blanking Hofstra, 4-0, in a Sweet Sixteen game Saturday evening at snowy Ambrose Urbanic Field in Oakland. The fifth-seeded Panthers (13-5-1) got two goals from junior Raphael Crivello and additional goals from sophomores Filip Mirkovic and Bertin Jacquesson....
UMBC rides hot 3-point shooting to build 1st-half lead, beat Pitt at home
UMBC devised a plan to counter its size disadvantage against Pitt by using its quickness as a weapon, forcing the Panthers to scramble by penetrating the lane and kicking the ball to the perimeter. The Retrievers repeatedly got open looks, sinking 11 3-point shots in the first half to build...
No. 21 Wake Forest beats BC 41-10, will play Pitt for ACC titleVideo
BOSTON — No. 21 Wake Forest earned a spot in the ACC championship game, getting three passing touchdowns and one more on the ground from Sam Hartman to beat Boston College, 41-10, on Saturday. The Demon Deacons (10-2, 7-1 ACC) will attempt to claim their first league title since 2006...
Pitt Take 5: With Syracuse, ACC title game looming, curious Pat Narduzzi tweet surfaces
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi often talks about grabbing an early advantage in games to make managing the second half easier. It’s even more important Saturday at the Carrier Dome. If Pitt (9-2, 6-1) can build a sizable lead against Syracuse (5-6, 2-5), it will give Narduzzi confidence to put some...
No. 23 Texas A&M women beat Pitt at Paradise Jam
ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — Jordan Nixon and Destiny Pitts scored 12 points, Kayla Wells added 10 points and No. 23 Texas A&M used a late run to pull away for a 57-46 win over the Pitt women’s basketball team Thursday night at the Paradise Jam. Wells and Pitts made...
Stuffed with game prep and Thanksgiving dinner, Pitt turns its attention to Syracuse
Stuffed with his mom’s stuffing, Jordan Addison and his Pitt teammates, some of whom took advantage of his open invitation to Thanksgiving dinner, will report back to work Friday. The holiday emerged while Pitt (9-2, 6-1 ACC) was getting ready for its game Saturday against Syracuse (5-6, 2-5) at the...
Vanderbilt’s 2nd-half blitz ends Pitt’s 2-game winning streak
After Pitt’s 68-52 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night, Jeff Capel revealed the concepts he believes could help brighten what appears to be the start of a dark season. “We tried to talk about simple, smart and strong,” he said. For Capel, those three words translate into: Take good shots,...
No College Football Playoff spot price to pay for ACC parityVideo
Pat Narduzzi still can’t make up his mind. Back in July, the longtime Pitt coach thought the College Football Playoff should stand pat at four teams. Now, with the 20th-ranked Panthers assured of a spot in the ACC title game after wrapping up the Coastal Division title, he’s not so...
Apollo-Ridge graduate Tre Tipton made the most of his 7 seasons at Pitt
When one of his players is honored by an outside group or a scholarship is given to a deserving walk-on, Pat Narduzzi likes to inject drama into his team meetings. But when he gathered the Pitt team around him Wednesday to announce the most recent piece of good news, his...
Young, rebuilding Pitt faces busy stretch of games
No matter how much work needs done to mold Pitt basketball into a form Jeff Capel prefers, there isn’t a lot of time to do it. Starting Wednesday at Petersen Events Center, the opponents get tougher and start showing up without much of a break in between them. Pitt (2-2)...
