Pitt category, Page 116
Pitt’s Justin Champagnie focuses on team while trying to ignore ‘outside noise’
Distractions rush toward Justin Champagnie at a dizzying rate. • Will he win ACC Player of the Year? • Can he wrestle the conference scoring title from Duke’s Matthew Hurt? • What if the lure of the NBA becomes too strong for the Pitt sophomore to ignore? • And what...
Take 5: Pitt’s Jeff Capel says team has ‘bonded’ as season end approaches
Only a handful of games remain for Pitt in another losing ACC season, but it seems different this time. In his chats with reporters and on his radio show, Jeff Capel seems relaxed — content is not the right word, but he’s eager to continue rebuilding his program in the...
First Call: JuJu and J.J. together in Arizona?, Larry Fitzgerald’s future, Baker Mayfield saw a UFO
Friday’s “First Call” is stacked with news about JuJu Smith-Schuster, J.J. Watt, Larry Fitzgerald and Baker Mayfield. Also, UFOs and ice baths. I’ll let you guess the order. My turn! Now that Ben Roethlisberger’s contract is done, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster wants the Steelers to turn their attention to someone...
Pitt senior Nike Sibande says he’ll use bonus season of eligibility, return in 2021-22
A week after two players left the Pitt basketball program, coach Jeff Capel found one who could leave but wants to stay. Guard Nike Sibande, a senior transfer from Miami (Ohio), announced Thursday night on “The Jeff Capel Show” on 93.7 FM, that he plans to take advantage of the...
Greensburg Salem grad Brennan Marion’s dream leads him back home to Pitt
His knee weakened by three ACL tears and his dream of playing in the NFL squashed, Brennan Marion needed another road. It was more than a decade ago and he was living in California, a long way from Homewood, his boyhood home. He had been a star athlete at Greensburg...
Pitt senior Nike Sibande embraces increased opportunities, takes brief look at 2021-22
Jeff Capel said he doesn’t worry about what people say about his team. There’s no need. “I don’t pay attention to what’s said or talked about or written because I’m in it. I know,” Pitt’s men’s basketball coach said. But he can’t expect his players to do the same. Young...
Pitt stops 5-game losing streak with victory against Wake Forest
Long before what remained of Pitt’s basketball team banded together to save what looked like a lost season, freshman William Jeffress did something that amazed coach Jeff Capel. And he did it days before the 70-57 victory against Wake Forest on Tuesday stopped Pitt’s five-game losing streak — away from...
Oldest to youngest: Pitt’s Terrell Brown, William Jeffress have chance to step up
During the final two games of the regular season — plus, whatever magic can get conjured up in the ACC Tournament — Pitt will be relying on a new cast. Among them are the oldest player on the team (senior Terrell Brown, age 22) and the youngest (freshman William Jeffress,...
Pitt basketball attendance at the Pete will stay ‘status quo,’ capped at 500 people
Despite Pennsylvania government officials easing covid-19 restrictions on indoor gatherings Monday, attendance at Pitt’s last basketball game of the season Tuesday at Petersen Events Center will remain capped at 500 people. “Status quo,” a university spokesman said, adding that the Pitt campus is under “elevated risk” status. Pitt has played...
Pitt remains unbeaten in ACC after 3-game sweep of Florida State
Pitt’s baseball team will continue its journey through the ACC on Friday when it travels to Duke after a historic three-game sweep of No. 9 Florida State. The Panthers (6-1, 3-0) rallied for a 9-7 victory in 13 innings Sunday at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. Kyle Hess drove...
Pitt wrestlers Jake Wentzel, Nino Bonaccorsi win ACC championships
Pitt wrestlers Jake Wentzel and Nino Bonaccorsi became 2021 ACC champions Sunday at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum and will join teammates Micky Phillippi and Cole Matthews at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 18-20. Wentzel (South Park) defended his championship at 165 pounds, recording shutout victories (1-0 and...
New-look Pitt battles N.C. State to end, still loses
Jeff Capel paused briefly and looked to the ceiling to consider the question. He wanted to make his answer clear, with no room for misinterpretation. “What seemed different about your team, compared to what you had seen from them and what it had been over the past several weeks?” The...
Pitt pitchers strike out 16 more Florida State batters in 2nd consecutive victory
The strikeouts kept coming Saturday night, helping lift Pitt to its second consecutive victory against No. 9 Florida State, 7-2, at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. Starting pitcher Matt Gilbertson (2-0) threw six scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 10 while allowing only five hits and two walks....
Pitt pitchers strike out 19 batters in 1-0 victory against No. 9 Florida State
Three pitchers struck out 19 Florida State batters Friday night at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., to lead Pitt to a 1-0 victory against the Seminoles, ranked No. 9 in the nation by Baseball America. Starting pitcher Mitch Myers threw a no-hitter for six innings with a career-high 13...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel, Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot learn to ‘move on’ after confronting reality of transfers
Jeff Capel admits the past week has not been easy. He spent the better part of his first three years as Pitt’s coach recruiting, mentoring, counseling, prodding and developing Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney, helping to turn them into good men and better players than they were the day he...
New season, almost a new team: Pitt’s Jeff Capel attempts to recover from ‘interesting week’
You don’t often see a basketball season get started in late February, but it appears that way at Pitt after what Jeff Capel called “an interesting week, to say the least.” With Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney leaving on consecutive days to enter the NCAA transfer portal, Pitt’s program was...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel asks respect for departing players, says it’s time ‘to get guys who really want to be here’
Jeff Capel said losing Au’Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson hurts Pitt in terms of depth and experience for what’s left of this season. Yet he is optimistic his players and coaches can recover in the long term and continue to build the program. “The long term, I don’t see any...
It’s official: Pitt hires Brennan Marion as wide receivers coach
Pat Narduzzi went outside the continental U.S. to hire Pitt’s next wide receivers coach, but he still found someone with strong Western Pennsylvania roots in Hawaii. Greensburg Salem graduate Brennan Marion, whose hiring was reported by many outlets last week, officially joined the Pitt staff Thursday. He replaces Chris Beatty,...
Ex-Pitt football player says he never knew about concussion lawsuit, withdraws claim
Craig Bokor remembers talking to an attorney about seven years ago when lawsuits were being filed regarding the likeness of college football players being used in video games. “There were a handful of us who were interviewed,” he said. Bokor, a defensive lineman at Pitt from 2005-09, said afterward that...
Pitt’s Au’Diese Toney leaves under ‘mutual agreement,’ 2nd starter to depart in 2 days
The destruction of Jeff Capel’s first Pitt recruiting class is complete, and it took barely one day to complete the job. Au’Diese Toney, who was Pitt’s best defender and second-leading scorer and rebounder, has left the men’s basketball program under what Capel described as a “mutual agreement.” There are now...
While others tried to flip him, West Mifflin’s Nahki Johnson remained committed to Pitt
When Nahki Johnson committed to Pitt in the early days of the summer of 2019, he was barely removed from his sophomore year at West Mifflin. Two more seasons of high school football lay ahead. There were still 18 months before he could sign a binding letter of intent with...
Xavier Johnson leaves Pitt, enters transfer portal
An idle week turned into a tumultuous week for Pitt basketball Wednesday when point guard Xavier Johnson left the program. With three games remaining in the regular season, Johnson came to a mutual agreement with coach Jeff Capel to leave and enter his name in the NCAA transfer portal. “The...
Pat Narduzzi family makes 6-figure gift to support Pitt football
Pat Narduzzi is putting his money to work where he works. The third-longest tenured Pitt coach in more than 50 years, Narduzzi and his wife, Donna, have made a significant donation to his football program — a six-figure financial gift to the University of Pittsburgh’s Football Championship Fund. The fund...
With a week off, Jeff Capel keeps Pitt ready for anything
When he walks into the gym for practice, Jeff Capel likes to focus on his players and the gameplan for Pitt’s next opponent. But he might do well this week to stuff a phone in his pocket while running the team through drills. Who knows? Someone from the ACC might...
Senior Nike Sibande still could offer Pitt hope for the future
With so many issues facing Pitt as it works toward ending its 1-7 slide, the 2021-22 season is at the bottom of the list. But senior guard Nike Sibande was asked by a reporter Saturday night about next season. It was a pertinent question because Sibande had just played his...
