Pitt gets more than a good player with William Jeffress
The 2021-22 season had not gone well for coach Jeff Capel and the Pitt basketball program. After a 66-46 loss to Boston College in the ACC Tournament — the last of a five-game, season-ending losing streak — Capel needed some encouragement. He was just beginning the process of exit interviews...
Pitt 5 Things: With Irish, past Pitt stars in town, Panthers have reason to pay attention to history
Saturday is a big night for Pitt fans eager to see what the immediate future holds but remain tethered to the past for all the right reasons. While the Panthers attempt to return to relevance this season, members of the 1974 and 2009 Pitt teams will be honored at Petersen...
First Call: 2 NFL coaching moves have Steelers ties; bar set for Jake Guentzel’s trade return?
Friday’s “First Call” spotlights a pair of NFL coaching moves that tie into the Pittsburgh Steelers. We reflect on a very important Steelers Super Bowl anniversary. The market for a Jake Guentzel trade may have just been set for the Penguins. Also, both Robert Morris hockey teams have important conference...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel believes his 7-man rotation is sustainable ‘if it needs to be’
For the second time this season, Pitt freshman guard Bub Carrington walked off the floor Wednesday night only at halftime and during timeouts. The seat offered to him during those moments felt good. Yet Carrington wasn’t asking for one while the outcome of Pitt’s 77-72 victory against Wake Forest was...
Pitt rallies in 2nd half to defeat Wake Forest, 77-72
The raw numbers in the box score will show that Pitt defeated Wake Forest, 77-72, on Wednesday night by scoring 50 points and seizing nine offensive rebounds after halftime and rallying from a 12-point deficit. It also will give Pitt’s defense credit for harassing the Demon Deacons with 11 steals...
After transferring from Alabama, quarterback Eli Holstein seeks ‘new, fresh start’ at Pitt
Eli Holstein was the scout quarterback last season at Alabama, a freshman thrown into practice situations with the intent of emulating that week’s opponent. Sometimes, he got hit with friendly fire from what he called “the best defense in the country.” “I got popped a couple times by some big...
Pitt looks to duplicate its road success when Panthers come home to meet Wake Forest
Pitt reaches the halfway point of its ACC season Wednesday night looking to prove a point. Those two road victories at Duke and Georgia Tech raised hopes that another run toward the NCAA Tournament was possible, if extremely difficult considering the circumstances. Then, they fell behind Miami by 19 points...
Pitt freshman guards Jaland Lowe, Bub Carrington learning tough lessons
Pitt coach Jeff Capel was properly complimentary of freshman guards Jaland Lowe and Bub Carrington during his regular Monday chat with reporters on the ACC conference call. But in the wake of Pitt’s sixth conference loss in nine games Saturday at Miami, Capel’s overall point is more important and goes...
Analysis: Time has come for pride to turn into consistent victory for Pitt
The question in the wake of Pitt’s dramatic, but inadequate, rally from a 19-point deficit in Miami is this: What really matters? Is it the way players never quit when the cause looked hopeless less than 10 minutes from the end of the game? Or, is it Pitt’s poor shooting...
Pitt fails to complete rally from 19-point deficit against Miami
Jeff Capel is too smart and has seen too many close calls in 30 years playing and coaching college basketball to get drawn into the eternal question: Was he fouled, or wasn’t he? Knowing that, no one should be surprised that Pitt’s coach declined definitive comment Saturday on the decisive...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers’ road less rocky away from The Pete
Home games are supposed to generate comfort and confidence. Players sleep in their own beds. There’s no need for 7-foot centers to fold themselves into airplane seats. Students looking to get on TV don’t hurl insults at foul shooters. None of that has been enough to deter the Panthers, who...
Pitt, West Virginia extend basketball Backyard Brawl through 2027-28 season
Pitt and West Virginia can’t get enough of each other. Officials at both schools Thursday announced a four-game extension of the basketball version of the Backyard Brawl that will run through the 2027-28 season. The teams will meet at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center during the 2024-25 and 2026-27 seasons and...
Pitt’s 2024 football schedule features another Backyard Brawl, matchup with Clemson
Pitt will play seven of its 12 regular-season games at Acrisure Stadium in 2024, including an Oct. 12 date with California, one of three new ACC member schools. Pitt and Cal haven’t met on the football field since a 30-15 Golden Bears victory in 1966. Two other highlights of Pitt’s...
Pitt transfer defensive linemen credit assistant Charlie Partridge for tilting scale toward Pitt
Smoked wings on Carson Street, french fries and cole slaw on sandwiches and, of course, Charlie Partridge are among the benefits in and around town that made Pitt an attractive option for transfer football players this offseason. Pat Narduzzi’s makeover of his 3-9 team began hours after the last game...
Analysis: Pitt faces long odds in its quest to continue changing the season’s trajectory
During his team’s journey from Pittsburgh to Durham, N.C., to Atlanta, Pitt coach Jeff Capel used only seven players to craft two important victories. William Jeffress came off the bench for a total of six minutes. Jorge Diaz Graham didn’t play at all. This is not meant as a criticism...
Pitt earns 2nd straight ACC road win, defeating Georgia Tech
The box score from Pitt’s 72-64 victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday night shows Bub Carrington scored 19 points, his largest point total in five games. But assistant coach Tim O’Toole was more interested in talking about Carrington’s defensive efforts after Pitt’s second consecutive road victory and third overall in...
Jeff Capel wants Pitt to put Duke victory in rear-view mirror, look ahead to Georgia Tech
If Jeff Capel had anything to say about it (and he did), Blake Hinson has moved on from his record-setting seven 3-pointers and Pitt’s victory against Duke. Social media might never end its fun with Hinson’s table-hopping interaction with the Cameron Crazies. But at least the last of those angry...
Blue Devil downer: 3 takeaways from Duke basketball’s puzzling home loss to Pitt
DURHAM, N.C. — No. 7 Duke played without two of its starters due to injuries, and Pittsburgh’s Blake Hinson made the Blue Devils hurt even more. Hinson scored 24 points, making all seven of his 3-point attempts, as the Panthers upset Duke, 80-76, Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The...
No time to rest, Pitt heads directly to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech
Pitt coach Jeff Capel gave his team a few hours before lights-out in Durham, N.C., to enjoy the upset victory of Duke. Actually, there wasn’t even time to go home. After the game Saturday, Pitt’s traveling party went directly to Atlanta on Sunday to get settled and prepared for the...
Pitt adds high school wide receiver Tyreek Robinson to its class of 2024
Pitt continued to add potential playmakers to new coordinator Kade Bell’s offense Sunday when coach Pat Narduzzi secured a verbal commitment from wide receiver Tyreek Robinson of Evangel Christian in Shreveport, La. Robinson announced his decision on his X (formerly Twitter) account. Robinson (5-foot-9, 170 pounds) is unranked among prospects...
Sam Clancy reflects with pride after Pitt, Blake Hinson repeat history by defeating Duke
Blake Hinson crosses paths with Sam Clancy on occasion while both men go about their daily business on Pitt’s campus. Two stout men, with a gift for basketball and big-time plays, separated by 41 years in age, now linked forever in Pitt, Duke and college basketball lore. It’s a good...
Blake Hinson’s 24 points lead Pitt to road stunner against No. 7 Duke
If anyone in the crowd of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium did not see Blake Hinson’s passion overflowing Saturday night, he offered an encore performance moments after Pitt’s stunning 80-76 upset of the No. 7 Blue Devils. Hinson jumped up on a table — inches from the Duke student section...
Pitt Take 5: After confronting Duke at Cameron, will Panthers’ road get easier?
No one should be surprised North Carolina and Duke are the only two ACC teams that appear to have Final Four potential. At least, to this point of the season, with seven weeks left before the conference tournament. Yeah, it’s early, but ESPN’s Joe Lunardi posts his bracketology in June....
Former Pitt sports information director Beano Cook elected to College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame
Born in Boston, but a Pitt man until the day he died, Carroll H. “Beano” Cook has been posthumously elected to the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame Class of 2024, the organization announced Wednesday. Known as the Pope of College Football because of his love for and knowledge of...
Analysis: While The Pete sits empty for 2 weeks, Pitt hopes to become fighters on road
Say goodbye to the Pitt men’s basketball team for the next two weeks. Players will be around campus, of course, practicing on their appointed days, going to class and meeting with coach Jeff Capel and his staff. But the next home game is Jan. 31 against Wake Forest after three...
