Ben Howland out as Mississippi State coach after 7 seasons
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland is out after seven seasons with the program. A release on Thursday did not provide details about Howland’s departure, and a message left with a basketball spokesman was not immediately returned. Athletic director John Cohen thanked Howland for his devotion...
Pitt loses backup forward Chris Payton to transfer portal
Pitt basketball lost another player Thursday when sophomore forward Chris Payton, who spent only one season on the team, entered the NCAA transfer portal. Payton joins former Pitt teammate Noah Collier, who entered the portal earlier this week. Pitt coach Jeff Capel is beginning to reconstruct his roster after a...
Pitt hopes to build foundation this spring for improved run game
Kenny Pickett showed up Tuesday for Pitt’s fourth practice of the spring. Likewise, Damarri Mathis and Lucas Krull were there, scoping out what they left behind while taking a break from preparations for Pitt’s Pro Day next Monday. All three played major roles last season in helping Pitt capture its...
Pitt backup forward Noah Collier enters NCAA transfer portal
The first move of Pitt basketball’s offseason occurred Tuesday when backup forward Noah Collier entered the NCAA transfer portal. Collier, a sophomore, entered games when center John Hugley was in foul trouble or needed a break. He made only two starts in two seasons, averaging 9.4 minutes, 1.3 points and...
Pitt, Duquesne, RMU among local basketball teams stuck in a rut
At a watering hole in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield section over the weekend, Guy Fieri’s “Tournament of Champions” was showing on two TVs. At the head of the room on a main screen, The Players Championship PGA Tour event was in plain view until someone changed the channel to ION, which was...
Plum’s Kaley Simqu commits to play soccer at Pitt
Kaley Simqu helps form the defensive nucleus for the Plum girls soccer team and has been a part of a strong run of success the past three seasons. The junior said she is looking forward to her final season with the Mustangs as they hope to make another run to...
Pitt AD Heather Lyke says coach Jeff Capel will return for 2022-23 season
Pitt will give coach Jeff Capel at least one more season to reverse the misfortunes of its men’s basketball program. Not long after athletic director Heather Lyke told CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein that Capel will return next season, Lyke released a statement Friday night declaring Pitt’s commitment...
Pitt will return to Barclays Center next season for Legends Classic
Pitt started assembling its men’s basketball schedule for the 2022-23 season Friday, announcing plans to return to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the 16th annual Legends Classic Nov. 16-17. Pitt ended its 2021-22 season at Barclays on Tuesday in the ACC Tournament. Pitt is a familiar Legends participant, after...
Plum grad Ryan Loebig, other local players lead Pitt club hockey to nationals
Ryan Loebig is confident. The Plum graduate and senior defenseman on the Pitt club hockey team likes the way the Panthers are shaping up heading into the 20-team American College Hockey Association Division I national tournament set for Thursday through March 20 in St. Louis. “It’s all about embracing the...
Rebuilding Pitt’s basketball program will require several difficult decisions
Perhaps the two most difficult jobs in the Pitt athletic department belong to Heather Lyke and Jeff Capel. Lyke must decide what action — if any — she might take to jolt the basketball program back to life. Does she give Capel, who is signed through 2027, a fifth season?...
Oldest living Olympic medalist Herb Douglas returns home to celebrate 100th birthdayVideo
What better way to celebrate a 100th birthday than a trip across the commonwealth? For legendary native son Herb Douglas, a century of life meant a journey from a residence in Philadelphia back to his hometown. “Oh, Pittsburgh, that city is part of my health,” Douglas said by phone Tuesday,...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel: Better players, recruiting needed in wake of ACC tourney loss to Boston College
In the moments after Pitt bowed out of the ACC Tournament and walked away from another miserable season, Jeff Capel didn’t need to be reminded of what is required to shake Pitt basketball out of six years of lethargy. “It takes discipline. It takes commitment. It takes sacrifice,” he said....
Pitt Take 5: Panthers drag 4-game losing streak into ACC Tournament
Perhaps Jeff Capel’s most difficult task this season will surface Tuesday afternoon in Brooklyn, N.Y., when Pitt opens the 2022 ACC Tournament against Boston College. Tipoff is 2 p.m. on the ACC Network. Pitt’s coach must find a way extract a few more determined efforts from his players, who are...
ACC returns to Brooklyn, not its typically strong self
NEW YORK — The Atlantic Coast Conference returns to Brooklyn this week, not quite the college basketball powerhouse it has historically been. The ACC Tournament starts Tuesday at Barclays Center, with just two teams ranked in the latest AP Top 25. No. 7 Duke is the top seed heading into...
9 Penn State, 6 Pitt wrestlers qualify for NCAAs after conference tournaments
Through performances at their respective conference tournaments, Pitt and Penn State combined to qualify 15 wrestlers for the NCAA championships to be held later this month. Nine Nittany Lions and six Panthers assured themselves participation in the event March 17-19, in Detroit. Among Pitt’s six qualifiers from this past weekend’s...
Former Pitt volleyball, basketball player dies in Blair County car crash
Monica Wignot, who played four seasons for Pitt volleyball before becoming one of the top all-time shot blockers for the women’s basketball team, died in an automobile crash Friday in Antis Township, near Altoona, in Blair County. She was 29 years old. Wignot, a native of Wilkes-Barre, was a volleyball...
Many factors contribute to Pitt basketball’s fall from NCAA contender to bottom of ACC
Noise used to sweep Petersen Events Center like a tidal wave. So did great teams and iconic players. Focus was difficult for opponents while the home team fed off the atmosphere. Conversations with the person in the next seat were nearly impossible. The noise was so pervasive, even the screens...
Pitt loses to Notre Dame, stretches streak to 4 in advance of ACC Tournament
Pitt’s three most recent opponents have shot the basketball at a 56.8% success rate — 160 shots, 91 makes. The past three defeats to Miami, No. 4 Duke and Notre Dame — part of a four-game losing streak the Panthers will drag into the ACC Tournament on Tuesday — occurred...
Predictably, minor skirmish breaks out between 2 Pitt teammates on 1st day of padded practice
Pitt players donned their big-boy pads Friday for the first time since the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 30, and three elements surfaced, according to coach Pat Narduzzi. Intensity. Enthusiasm. A fight. Friendly fire is nothing new to football practices, and Narduzzi was not upset by it. Nonetheless, he declined...
‘What’s up, Junk?’ For longtime Pitt coach, recruiter Bob Junko, it’s time to retire
For Bob Junko, the best moments of his 54 years as a football coach and administrator weren’t the Missouri Valley Conference and ACC championships he helped bring to Tulsa and Pitt, respectively. They weren’t his role in recruiting future Pro Football Hall of Famers Steve Largent (to Tulsa) and Jason...
Season’s final games will offer additional insight into present, future of Pitt program
The calendar, finally, has turned to March, and the madness that has been Pitt’s season soon will end. But the remaining games — starting Saturday at Notre Dame and continuing Tuesday with Pitt’s ACC Tournament opener — are not meaningless. Keeping watch over the game will be TV cameras, announcers,...
Tim Benz: Feeling nostalgic about college basketball after a rough year for the sport in Western Pa.
Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing in sports. Just look at the way Pittsburgh recently basked in the memories of Ben Roethlisberger’s career as he faded into retirement in January. We are also just getting back from our extended trip in the “way back machine” to relive Sidney Crosby’s journey...
First Call: Joe Manganiello narrates Sidney Crosby doc; progress on Aaron Donald contract; Tom Brady update; Gronk to Bills?
In Thursday’s “First Call,” Hollywood star Joe Manganiello channels his Western Pennsylvania roots as narrator of a new Sidney Crosby documentary. Also, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not look kindly on Tom Brady going elsewhere if he comes out of retirement. The Buffalo Bills may try to bring Rob Gronkowski...
Pitt’s Jordan Addison eager to accept increased expectations
If you’re a wide receiver and you insist on running past opposing players like they’re fence posts … If you get your kicks wrestling the football from a cornerback, turning and running into the end zone to clinch a championship … If you must make 166 catches at more than...
Nearing the end of his farewell tour, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s emotions run high, but he said it’s all about team
There were grown men holding back tears on the floor of the Petersen Events Center on Tuesday, but emotions might flow more freely Saturday night in Durham, N.C. Before its 86-56 loss to the Blue Devils, Pitt honored retiring Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski with a ceremony recognizing his 47 years...
