As summer workouts end, Pitt men's basketball coach Jeff Capel likes makeup of roster

A bouncing basketball caught the attention of Jeff Capel this week while the Pitt coach was sitting in his office at Petersen Events Center.

What’s so strange about the sound of basketballs bouncing in a gym? Not a thing, unless, of course, no one was expected to be around.

“I look out on the court, and it’s Omari (Witherspoon), Damarco (Minor) and Macari (Moore). They’re doing full-court zig-zags against each other,” Capel said Thursday on the next-to-last day of his Panthers’ summer workouts. “Defensive zig-zags. I’ve never had that. That’s not something we’ve told them to do. No coach was in there. That’s them doing it, and I’m grateful for that.”

While Capel was reminiscing about the scene before an open practice designed with Pitt donors in mind, he was hoping it would play the part of a larger scenario depicting a hungry team on the move.

Pitt’s roster for the second year in a row and the fourth time overall includes five international players.

“The goal was to try to improve in areas where I felt like we weren’t as good last year,” Capel said. “We wanted to become bigger, more physical. We wanted more of an emphasis on being better defensively and on rebounding. I thought we did a good job in the portal getting that.”

Minor, a point guard from Oregon State by way of the NCAA transfer portal, is entering his fifth college season, and Witherspoon and Moore are a pair of freshmen guards fresh out of high school.

They represent three first-time Pitt players who managed to warm Capel’s heart months away from the start of the season with their prompt dedication to the team.

“I really like our roster and what we were able to do from March to June and July,” Capel said, acknowledging support from not just the modest group of donors on hand to get a glimpse of the new-look Panthers during an evening workout at “The Pete.”

“We’re grateful to the university, to the athletic department, to Allen (Pitt athletic director Allen Greene), to the development (offices), to the donors, to everyone that contributed to help us put together this roster.”

After multiple player losses in the offseason, including all-conference point guard Jaland Lowe to Kentucky, Capel’s staff went to work and established a new-look team: four players through the portal and five fresh-faced former high school stars to go with returning starter Cam Corhen and reserves Brandin Cummings — the former Lincoln Park star — and Papa Amadou Kante.

Capel said he is hopeful the NCAA will grant another year of eligibility to guard Damian Dunn, who missed much of last season with a fractured elbow.

“He wants to be here. We want him here. We feel like he has a very compelling case,” Capel said. “He would be an unbelievable addition. When he was healthy, we were really good. We were a top-25 team.”

Dunn, who previously attended Temple and Houston, averaged 9.9 points in 16 games, 12 in a starting role, before he was sidelined with thumb and elbow ailments.

Capel will be eager to resume practices in about a month, when he figures to have a complete roster on hand. The Panthers have been less than full strength during team’s summer schedule.

As an example, Australian freshman recruit Roman Siulepa has yet to arrive at school because of visa issues, but Capel was hopeful the 6-foot-6 forward from Brisbane would be in camp “some time by the end of the first week of August.”

“I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen this summer, but we just haven’t been whole and that’s been frustrating,” he said. “We haven’t had our whole team. We’ve had a couple of guys that were here for like three weeks and they couldn’t practice with us” because of the low numbers at the start.

Joining Minor from the portal is shooting guard Barry Dunning Jr. from South Alabama and center Dishon Jackson and shooting guard Nojus Indrusaitis, both from Iowa State.

The remaining incoming freshmen are Australian forwards Siulepa and Henry Lau, and 7-foot Canadian center Kieran Mullen, whom Capel said is likely to be redshirted.

“That’s been the plan,” the coach said.

Mullen averaged 9.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 blocks for St. Thomas More (Conn.), which finished as runner-up at the 2025 National Prep Championship.

“Been really, really impressed with him, how he works and some of the skill that he has,” Capel said. “All five of them have big upside. They’re really great kids.”

On the floor Thursday evening, the Panthers — those who were on campus — looked crisp in what amounted to some light drills with a chance to entertain an important group of fans.

Pitt will open the season with an Oct. 19 exhibition game against Providence at Fitzgerald Field House.

“It’s an opportunity for fans to see another old Big East team,” Capel said. “We thought it’d be pretty cool to play it in the Field House, where Jerome Lane broke the backboard against them.”

Until then, Pitt’s coaches will evaluate.

“They’ve worked their butts off, and we’ve seen enough in our workouts and practices where we feel really good about where we are and what we’ve been able to accomplish this summer,” Capel said. “It gives us, as a coaching staff, some data to kind of download.”

He appeared at ease throughout the afternoon and into the evening, at times mingling with some of his visitors. But Capel was quick to tell his listeners of a burning desire for wanting the Panthers to improve.

“(Friday) is our last workout and we’ll get back together on the 25th (of August),” he said. “So it gives us some film, some stuff on film, stuff that we’ve seen that we can talk about and plan. Really, when we get back in late August, when school starts, we can start putting this puzzle together.

“We feel like we have the pieces to have a great puzzle.”