Pitt will get another shot at Vanderbilt this basketball season — even if it is 33 years too late.
The schools announced Monday a two-game series that will begin this season. The Panthers will host first, welcoming Vanderbilt to Petersen Events Center on Nov. 24. Pitt will visit Nashville, Tenn., to play the Commodores during the 2022-23 season.
It will be the first meeting between Pitt and Vanderbilt since the Panthers lost an overtime heartbreaker 80-74 in the second round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament in Lincoln, Neb. It was a game some Pitt fans had difficulty accepting.
I'm still pissed off about that loss.
— Jill Harmon (@Harmonjs) July 19, 2021
In that game, Vanderbilt’s Barry Goheen inserted himself among the pantheon of those who have wronged Pittsburgh sports teams.
Goheen’s 3-pointer at the buzzer sent the game into overtime. Under coach Paul Evans, Pitt won the Big East regular-season championship that season, was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished No. 8 in the final Associated Press poll with a 24-7 record.
But Pitt coach Jeff Capel didn’t schedule this game as a way to seek revenge. Far from it.
“As we put together our non-conference schedule,” Capel said in a statement released by Pitt, “we are always looking for opponents who will help us prepare for ACC play. I have known Stack (Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse) since we were AAU teammates as teenagers back in North Carolina. He teaches a fast-paced, aggressive style of basketball and his teams compete at a high level.
“This matchup will be a great test for our team and will help ready us for conference play.”
The game will be only the fourth all-time between Pitt and the Commodores. The most recent is more memorable, but Pitt owns victories from 1923, 33-31, and 1935, 57-37.
Former Pitt coach Kevin Stallings, who preceded Capel, won 332 games in 17 seasons as coach at Vanderbilt, but he didn’t coach Goheen.
