Pitt Take 5: Slumping Notre Dame next for Panthers, and they can’t afford to lose
There are five games remaining in Pitt’s regular season, but the last four might be beside the point. If Pitt loses to Notre Dame on Saturday at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind., that would be loss No. 11 for the Panthers (16-10, 7-8 ACC). Worse, it would be against...
‘Brutally honest,’ Pitt’s Ishmael Leggett’s message may be what team needs
Most everyone playing major-college basketball can shoot reasonably well, and most have the requisite strength and size to compete for rebounds and loose balls. And everyone on both sides wants to win. So, what can set Pitt apart from its opponents, especially now in the final two weeks of the...
Brandin Cummings jumps off bench, vaults into vital role in Pitt’s quest to reach NCAA Tournament
For most of this season, Pitt sat just outside the group of four or five elite teams in the ACC. Eighth place in the 18-team conference — which is where the Panthers (16-10, 7-8) stand at the moment — feels about right. But that’s not the goal, and now that...
Bill Hillgrove credits Gov. Josh Shapiro for hoops knowledge during Pitt broadcast
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sat courtside Tuesday night and provided analysis during the broadcast of the Syracuse/Pitt game at Petersen Events Center. But it was no mere political stunt. Shapiro came to play, said longtime Pitt play-by-play man Bill Hillgrove. The governor joined Hillgrove and Curtis Aiken for the first...
4 players score in double figures as Pitt rallies to defeat Syracuse
No one inside Petersen Events Center is talking about it, but Pitt can’t afford more than one regular-season loss (maybe not even one) if it wants to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The Panthers continued to walk that tightrope Tuesday night, fighting back to defeat Syracuse, 80-69, before a...
Pitt’s late push to stack wins can’t be derailed against struggling Syracuse
When ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi posted his latest round of NCAA Tournament projections Monday afternoon, Pitt wasn’t among the last group of teams in the dance. They weren’t in the group of the “first four” teams out of it. They weren’t in the next group of four out, either....
Gov. Shapiro will be courtside for broadcast of Syracuse/Pitt at Petersen Events Center
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who threw out the first pitch at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home opener in 2023, will be back in town Tuesday night, taking another swing in the sports world. Shapiro will sit courtside with longtime Pitt broadcasters Bill Hillgrove and Curtis Aiken at Petersen Events Center and...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel understands Miami victory only counts 1, and there’s more work to do
Two days after the fact, Jeff Capel was pleased Monday to point out many of the positive aspects of Pitt’s 74-65 victory against Miami. “We guarded the ball. We didn’t get blown by (on defense). I thought we had good close-outs, and we understood who the shooters were,” he said....
‘Never a question’: Pitt QB Eli Holstein always wanted to return while schools gauged his transfer interest
Pat Narduzzi did not holler or raise any kind of celebratory racket when quarterback Eli Holstein announced he was returning to Pitt for the 2025 season. “I never really told him I was coming back,” Holstein told TribLive on Sunday when he was a guest server at the Beth Shalom...
Bosnian freshman Amsal Delalic’s emergence from Pitt’s bench offers hope over season’s final month
Amsal Delalic recognizes the difference between basketball in the ACC and basketball in Europe. “It’s very different,” he said after scoring a season-high 14 points in Pitt’s 74-65 victory against Miami. “It’s a lot more contact, a lot more speed. It’s just all-around — I’m not going to say madness...
Pitt ends 4-game losing streak with victory against Miami
Jeff Capel was pleased with Pitt’s 74-65 victory Saturday against Miami, but he also recognizes the reality of his team’s situation. He was happy to see the four-game losing streak end in front of a Petersen Events Center crowd of 8,578. But he also told reporters after the game, “We...
Pitt Take 5: Tone of Panthers-Hurricanes game changes dramatically after only 2 years
Only two years ago, then-Miami coach Jim Larranaga climbed a ladder inside the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., tore the last cord from the basket’s rim and held it in the air joyously. His team had defeated Pitt, 78-76, to claim the No. 1 seed in the 2023 ACC...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel says Jaland Lowe ‘most likely’ won’t play against Miami amid concussion symptoms
Panthers coach Jeff Capel said Thursday that Pitt point guard Jaland Lowe “most likely” won’t play Saturday against Miami after experiencing concussion symptoms Tuesday night during the game at SMU. Capel made his remarks during his radio show on 93.7 FM. In the second half of Pitt’s 83-63 loss, Lowe...
Penn State has 5 players invited to NFL Combine; Pitt will have 4 at event
Led by presumptive first-round picks Adbul Carter and Tyler Warren, Penn State had five players receive invitations to the annual NFL Scouting Combine, which will be held later this month in Indianapolis. Carter, a 6-foot-3, 252-pound defensive end, is viewed as one of the top players in the entire draft...
Wearing coaches’ headsets during bowl game helped Pitt freshman QB Mason Heintschel
The only perk missing from Mason Heintschel’s first two months at Pitt was a microphone for the headset he wore while standing on the sideline during the Panthers’ appearance in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. Did Pitt’s freshman quarterback offer coaches any suggestions? “I wish. Boy, that would have been a...
After losing 4 games in a row, Pitt confronts injuries, issues on offense
The hard truth Pitt’s players and coaches must face after six days of travel — from Pittsburgh to North Carolina to Texas and back home — is that they are a beaten team in more ways than one. The Panthers (14-10, 5-8 ACC) have lost four in a row for...
SMU hands Pitt 8th loss in past 10 games
Pitt’s misery surfaced in various ways Tuesday night in Dallas, Texas, resulting in another blowout loss — the second in eight days for the staggering Panthers. The scars from SMU’s 83-63 victory — the most decisive Pitt defeat since the Duke game Jan. 7 — were as evident as they...
Unconventional Andy Enfield leads SMU among ACC’s elite in 1st season as head coach
SMU coach Andy Enfield doesn’t keep track of stats from across the country, but those who do report that the Mustangs are unique among college basketball teams. “I was told we’re the only program in the country to have six players averaging double figures,” he said. “That means we’re sharing...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel works to keep up team’s confidence while preparing for SMU
Jeff Capel has confronted many difficult situations in his seven seasons leading the Pitt program. • He inherited a team that was winless in the ACC the season before he arrived. • Trying to recruit from that baseline, he ended up with three players who showed promise but ended up...
First Call: Steelers listed as a potential destination for Deebo Samuel; Kenny Pickett ends Super Bowl for the Eagles
Monday’s “First Call” starts with Kenny Pickett’s Super Bowl appearance. We also examine the potential of the Pittsburgh Steelers rebooting their efforts to land a wide receiver from San Francisco this offseason. Multiple reports have Matthew Stafford likely staying put in Los Angeles. Terry Bradshaw is laying out his exit...
Nice try in Pitt’s loss to North Carolina, but still not enough to end a month of misery
Considered by itself — if it had not been preceded by six losses in eight games — Pitt’s 67-66 defeat at North Carolina would have been far easier to accept. “We fought for 40 minutes,” coach Jeff Capel said. “Really proud of my team with how we fought and how...
Pitt comes close, but suffers another loss, 67-66 to North Carolina
In what will be many painful moments of reflection while dissecting a 67-66 loss to North Carolina, Pitt’s players and coaches will see why they deserved to lose a game in which they squandered a real chance to win. The result was Pitt’s seventh loss in the past nine games...
Local ties to the Super Bowl: New Kensington’s Skyy Moore the Chiefs’ ‘good-luck charm’?
The question, presumably, was asked with tongue in cheek. But then again, facts are facts — and since the Kansas City Chiefs drafted New Kensington’s Skyy Moore, the team is 3 for 3 in advancing to the Super Bowl. Moore, appropriately, played along during media day festivities in New Orleans...
Pitt Take 5: When Panthers meet Tar Heels, loser faces uphill climb
If Pitt/North Carolina looks like an elimination game, that’s because the loser is in serious trouble. Each team will have more than a month to recover, but a loss Saturday at Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill would be North Carolina’s 11th and Pitt’s ninth. What’s left of the...
Ex-Pitt safety McMillon hopes his passion for football came across in pre-NFL Draft interviews
Questions ranged from girlfriends to youth wrestling, but Donovan McMillon answered them all with his ultimate goal in mind: to one day cash an NFL paycheck. McMillon, a Peters Township graduate and former Pitt safety, spent the past month training in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and traveling between Florida and Texas...
