Increased cross-country travel is a reality for collegiate programs across sports these days owing to conference realignment.
As a result, coaches frequently lean into narratives surrounding the challenges of being ready to play far from home.
Pitt is undertaking such a journey. After the Panthers lost at Stanford on Wednesday, they head to Berkeley for a Saturday afternoon meeting with the Cal Golden Bears.
“You come to the West Coast, it’s not a vacation,” Pitt associate coach Tim O’Toole said on 93.7 FM after the Panthers fell to Stanford. “You need to come ready to swing left and right from the get-go.”
The result for Pitt on Wednesday, a 75-67 defeat, was disappointing, but the Panthers’ start to the game was far from it.
Cam Corhen got hot early, and the Panthers (10-18, 3-12 ACC) led for a significant chunk of the first half, taking a two-point lead into the break.
Pitt overall played a competitive game but was overwhelmed by the heroics of Cardinal freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie, who finished with 34 points, 28 coming in the second half.
Okorie drove to the rim, shot it from long range, converted free throws and facilitated offense for teammates, collecting a team-high six assists.
Still, the Panthers hung tight and led as late as the 4:19 mark of the second half but, from there, mustered only three more points.
The loss relegated Pitt to second-to-last place in the ACC and, with three games remaining, out of the field for the upcoming ACC Tournament.
“If you want to be in this thing and you want to make anything, it’s coming down to the last four minutes every game,” O’Toole said. “Who’s going to be the one left standing? Unfortunately, (Wednesday, Stanford was).”
Now, head coach Jeff Capel and Co. prepare for a Bears (20-8, 8-7) squad featuring more than one distinct scorer.
Four Bears players are averaging 14 or more points: guards Dai Dai Ames (16.6) and Justin Pippin (15) and forwards John Camden (14.4) and Chris Bell (14).
As was the case with Stanford, Pitt has played Cal only twice previously, winning the inaugural meeting with the Bears as ACC members Jan. 1, 2025, at Petersen Events Center.
But Saturday marks Pitt’s first visit to Haas Pavilion, where Cal has 16 wins this year, tied for most by an ACC team on its home court.
As Capel, O’Toole and Pitt’s players prepare for Cal, a postgame diagnosis of what went wrong at Stanford is sure to precede tipoff.
But for the injury-depleted Panthers, their capacity for adjustments does not extend much into personnel tweaks, with Capel continuing to utilize a six-man rotation of Corhen, Damarco Minor, Barry Dunning Jr., Nojus Indrusaitis and Omari Witherspoon.
True freshman guard Macari Moore has not played the last two games, and center Kieran Mullen is deployed for only a handful of minutes per night at best.
As February ends, the Panthers are who they are. Three games, starting with Cal on Saturday, remain. For now, a path to the league tournament remains within reach.
“The thing you have to do is just one game at a time,” O’Toole said. “All the other stuff can happen. We’ve got to go to Berkeley, and we’ve got to be ready to play and we’ve got to fight like there’s no tomorrow, because that’s the reality.”
