Pitt category, Page 56

Befitting a team that was one victory from winning a conference championship, Pitt enjoyed the appropriate representation when ACC awards were passed out Monday. • There’s Coach of the Year Jeff Capel, only the third Pitt coach so honored — joining Ben Howland (2002) and Jamie Dixon (2004) — and...

For nearly 24 hours from Sunday to Monday night, only two people outside the ACC office knew Pitt’s Jeff Capel was voted conference coach of the year. Capel and his 10-year-old son, Elijah, kept the secret all day before the announcement shortly after 5 p.m. on the ACC Network. “I’m...

UCLA is surging, both toward the postseason and in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. While Houston was No. 1 for a third straight week in Monday’s poll, the Bruins rose two spots to No. 2 for their highest ranking of the season. UCLA (27-4) has won its last...

Pitt wrestlers Nino Bonaccorsi and Cole Matthews won ACC championships at 197 and 141 pounds, respectively, Sunday night at the ACC Wrestling Championships inside N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C. Bonaccorsi, a Bethel Park graduate, joined Jake Wentzel as Pitt’s only three-time ACC champion; Matthews repeated his title-winning performance...

ACC Tournament preparations started early for Jeff Capel, who said he planned to watch Pitt’s 78-76 loss to the Hurricanes on the flight home from Miami. No planned nap for Capel, even though he was still in the midst of a long, disappointing Saturday. He probably could have used some...

Jeff Capel read the room and decided it was best to let his players be by themselves after the 78-76 loss to Miami on Saturday night in Coral Gables, Fla. “They’re in there hurting,” he told reporters inside Watsco Center. “I made the decision just for me to come out...

BY SHANE JACKSON | Home Field Sports Contributor It all comes down to Saturday for the Pittsburgh men’s basketball program. The Panthers (21-9) will travel to Miami (23-6) on Saturday with an ACC title on the line. Pitt is tied with Miami and Virginia atop the ACC standings, with all...

The fallout from Pitt women’s basketball’s five losing seasons in the past five years landed on coach Lance White on Friday when he was fired. White is the first Pitt coach hired by athletic director Heather Lyke to be fired. Lyke has led the department since 2017. Pitt concluded White’s...

Maybe the quirk Jeff Capel noticed among his players during the Notre Dame game will disappear merely by everyone understanding what’s at stake Saturday night in Coral Gables, Fla. At least, that’s the hope. But in advance of Pitt visiting Miami with the ACC regular-season championship on the line, Capel...

The chief takeaway from Pitt’s 88-81 loss to Notre Dame is the need to avoid the following cliche that now has lost its relevance. Maybe you’ve heard it already: Before the start of the season, Pitt fans eagerly would have accepted the outcome of the first 30 games if they...

Micky Phillippi first became addicted at the age of 5. More than 20 years later, the addiction still consumes him. What’s more, he has no plans to fight it or make it disappear. Why should he give up wrestling? “This sport is addicting,” he said. Phillippi, a Derry graduate who...

Thursday’s “First Call” has an admission from Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan about Kenny Pickett’s concussions. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey celebrates beating Pitt. Duquesne gets some help. Late-night Metropolitan Division results. And Connor McDavid is just unstoppable. Khan on Kenny’s concussions Appearing on ProFootballTalk’s “PFT Live” at the...

If Pitt was overwhelmed by the emotion from Notre Dame coach Mike Brey’s final home game, the Panthers picked a bad time for a letdown. Whatever the reason, the result was a damaging — and embarrassing — 88-81 loss to the Irish on Wednesday night in South Bend, Ind. The...

Mike Brey said he’s excited about almost everything that will occur Wednesday night at Joyce Center on the Notre Dame campus. He said 30 of his former players are coming to the game against Pitt, Brey’s last at home after nearly 23 years as Notre Dame’s coach. The night will...

Lance White knew rebuilding the Pitt women’s basketball program wouldn’t be easy. Five years ago, he arrived after 15 seasons at Florida State where he was recognized as one of the country’s top assistants. He carried energy, enthusiasm and a difficult challenge into his first head-coaching opportunity. Pitt had won...

The only part of Pitt’s season more consistent than solid performance on the court was fans’ outcry and indignation over their team’s exclusion from the Associated Press Top 25. That so-called disrespect ended Monday when Pitt (21-8, 14-4) slipped into the AP and USA Today Coaches polls at No. 25...

The top five spots in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll remained the same. The rest of the AP Top 25 was a big jumble. At No. 25, Pittsburgh finds itself ranked for the first time since 2016. The Panthers moved up after beating Georgia Tech and Syracuse last...

Since the moment he arrived on campus in Oakland, Aidan Fisch dreamed of wearing a Pitt uniform and contributing to a winning team. His contributions began early on as a team manager for the men’s basketball team. Flash ahead to Saturday night, and Fisch was pinching himself as he scored...

Sam Clancy works in the same building as Jeff Capel. It’s inevitable that Pitt basketball, past and present, cross paths occasionally. One day this season, in the midst of Pitt’s historic recovery from oblivion, Clancy walked up to the coach and announced, “I’m a proud basketball alumni. I’m walking around...

Less than three weeks ago, comments by longtime Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim sent shockwaves through the college basketball world when he accused Pitt, among other ACC programs, of buying players in an interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Lamenting the changing landscape of college athletics in the Name, Image and Likeness...

Perhaps the moment that defined Pitt’s runaway 99-82 victory against Syracuse on Saturday was Nike Sibande’s alley-oop dunk in the second half. The play, initiated by a pinpoint out-of-bounds pass from the baseline by Nelly Cummings, resulted in two points, a 50-40 Pitt lead and a thunderous roar from the...

When Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim took a swat at Pitt and a few other ACC schools for “buying a team,” it didn’t go over well in Pittsburgh. It didn’t go over well elsewhere. Like, in Syracuse. Brent Axe is a radio host at ESPN Syracuse and a columnist for...