Pitt survives scare from Murray State, pulls away to 83-68 victory
Pitt coach Jeff Capel believes his team has the ability to score at a high level, and not just in nonconference games against mid-majors. The Panthers have totaled 179 points in their first two games — both victories — including 83-68 Friday night against Murray State and 96-56 in the...
Pitt Take 5: Loss to SMU doesn’t end hope for Panthers to finish season strong
Simple math tells you Pitt can lose Saturday to Virginia and still maintain hope for getting to the ACC championship game. Reality, however, tells you that’s not the case. Yes, conference co-leaders Miami and SMU could stumble, creating opportunity for Pitt or Clemson, but that’s not happening. The Hurricanes and...
Whether he’s speaking English or Spanish, Pitt’s Guillermo Diaz Graham happy to embrace leadership role
Guillermo Diaz Graham is 21 years old now, no longer a newcomer to the rigors of ACC basketball like he was in 2022. He’s a Pitt junior, entrusted by coach Jeff Capel to shoot 3s, rebound and launch his 7-foot frame off the dribble and toward the basket. Diaz Graham...
Pitt’s 7-1 record, No. 18 CFP ranking increase the urgency to win
Compared to other sports, college football seasons are short — 12 games and three months for a team to state its case amidst the pressure of often-unreasonable expectations. For Pitt, they became great expectations after the Panthers started the season 7-0. There is a school of thought, however, that the...
Pitt players believe it’s their turn to punch someone ‘in the mouth’
The difference between the two acts of force in question is obvious, but perhaps the end result is the same. At least, that’s the way Pitt hopes matters turn out after the decisive loss to SMU: • Either you get punched in the mouth, • Or you do the punching....
Pitt’s volleyball powerhouse was built on foundation of coach Dan Fisher’s early teams
Were it not for a quirk of fate, Angela Seman would not have had a front-row seat to one of the most important wins in Pitt volleyball history. Seman, a Seneca Valley grad, was a freshman in 2014, current coach Dan Fisher’s second season, when Pitt traveled to face No....
Pitt positioned at No. 18 in 1st College Football Playoff rankings
Despite a 48-25 loss to SMU, Pitt remains relevant nationally, listed No. 18 in the first College Football Playoff top 25 rankings released Tuesday night. Selection committee chairman Warde Manuel, the athletic director at Michigan, said members valued Pitt’s seven-game winning streak to start the season. Pitt is 7-1 for...
Pitt WR Konata Mumpfield says players-only meeting after SMU loss was ‘helpful’
Players can lift weights until their joints ache, crash into each other for two hours, three days a week, and study video until it’s time to get some sleep. But football is also a game of relationships and pulling together, and sometimes talk helps. That’s what Pitt players turned to...
Pitt puts offense on display in 96-56 victory against Radford in season opener
There were plenty of numbers on the stat sheet that pleased Pitt coach Jeff Capel after the Panthers opened the 2024-25 season Monday night with a 96-56 victory against Radford at Petersen Events Center. He believes his team can score, so nothing about the career-high 21 points from sophomore guard...
Pitt gets back to work after a fall from the nation’s undefeated teams
Pat Narduzzi couldn’t hide from his family. Even after Mass, his demeanor was miserable Sunday morning. “My kids said I was miserable in the morning before I left (for the office), after church,” he said Monday, less than 48 hours after Pitt’s first loss of the season. But he said...
Women’s basketball preview: 1st-time head coach Chandler McCabe aims to get Robert Morris back on track
When Chandler McCabe flew to Pittsburgh in March to be introduced as Robert Morris’ women’s basketball coach, it snowed. Welcome to Western Pennsylvania, Florida girl. But the frosty weather couldn’t cool the Orlando native’s enthusiasm to step into her first head coaching job. Hired March 18, McCabe will try to...
In wake of season’s 1st loss, Pitt senior Brandon George questions team’s practice habits
Perhaps too easily, collegiate athletes are called kids by those who observe them and analyze the games they play. No doubt, some of them are, especially in this time of prospects skipping half of their senior year in high school to enroll six months before graduation. But Brandon George is...
Pat Narduzzi shoulders bulk of blame after Pitt’s 1st loss of the season to SMU
If you paid attention to Pat Narduzzi’s news conference after Pitt’s miserable performance Saturday night against SMU, you should have spotted a trend. Narduzzi willingly exposed himself to his critics while discussing SMU’s 48-25 victory, taking blame for everything that led to Pitt’s first loss of the season. In a...
Pitt assistant Jacob Bronowski builds ‘special’ relationship with his players
Jacob Bronowski began his college football journey as a freshman quarterback at New Mexico in 2013. He was not part of the Lobos’ 49-27 loss to Pitt that year, but it didn’t matter. Coaching was in his future. No later than 2016, he was a 22-year-old graduate assistant for his...
Pitt basketball ready to open season with a dose of physicality
At the outset of this century, Pitt basketball players patrolled the Petersen Events Center and Fitzgerald Field House floors with intensity and physicality. If a bit of blood appeared on someone’s jersey at practice, play on. Worry about it later in the locker room. No wonder Pitt earned 10 consecutive...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers’ road to ACC championship game runs through Dallas
A couple of years have passed since Pitt played a game with the significance of its confrontation Saturday with SMU in Dallas. It’s a prime-time 8 p.m. matchup between ranked schools (No. 18 Pitt and No. 20 SMU) and the Panthers’ first as a Top 25 team versus a Top...
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi says his players don’t feel disrespected, are singularly focused on SMU
Pat Narduzzi doesn’t remember the Kent State/Rutgers game played Oct. 27, 2012, in Piscataway, N.J. Nor did the game register in his consciousness that day. He was too busy in Madison, Wisc., preparing Michigan State’s defense for its 16-13 overtime upset of No. 25 Wisconsin. But what happened to Rutgers...
Pat Narduzzi says Eli Holstein will start for Pitt against SMU
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi told reporters to “wait and see” when he was asked how quarterback Eli Holstein was feeling after leaving the Syracuse game in the fourth quarter with an injury Thursday night and not returning. The wait turned out to be less than three days. Narduzzi announced on...
Pitt’s offensive stats fall off while No. 18 Panthers remain undefeated
No one — fan, coach, player or Associated Press Top 25 voter — expected Pitt to keep up the offensive pace it set over the season’s first five games. The Panthers averaged more than five touchdowns (total: 26) and 522.2 yards per game (7.5 per play). The schedule wasn’t particularly...
On Sports: Steelers’ path to AFC North title gets a little more challengingVideo
Today’s “On Sports” features a familiar face returning to the AFC North, a familiar face getting cheers at PPG Paints Arena and some recognition for the unbeaten Pitt Panthers football team. Remember him? Diontae Johnson has found his way back to the AFC North. The Carolina Panthers traded the former...
Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates praises ‘good day’ vs. Syracuse while looking for more
Pitt’s defense toyed with Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord last week, and Randy Bates called it “a good day.” Five interceptions. Three pick-6s. Four sacks. Holding the opponent under 25 points for the fourth consecutive game. Good, but … “I think we had a lot more in us, quite frankly,” said...
Pitt No. 1 in volleyball poll for 8th week in row; Penn State holds at No. 3 riding 12-match winning streakVideo
For the eighth week in a row, the Pitt volleyball team took the top spot in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Panthers (19-1, 9-1 ACC) received 51 of the 61 first-place votes. Pitt scored a big win over No. 4 Louisville, 3-2, this past Friday at Petersen Events...
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi says ‘wait and see’ on subject of Eli Holstein’s injury situation
When the subject of Eli Holstein’s health first was presented to Pat Narduzzi on Monday at his weekly news conference, it was half of a two-part question. Guess which half Pitt’s coach conveniently ignored. Right. The one with Holstein’s name in it. A few minutes later, he was reminded he...
Pitt volleyball team follows up big Louisville win with 4-set victory over Notre DameVideo
No post-big game hangover for the Pitt women’s volleyball team. The No. 1-ranked Panthers followed up Friday’s five-set victory over ACC rival Louisville by defeating Notre Dame, 3-1 (25-14, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19), on Sunday at Fitzgerald Field House. The win moved Pitt to 19-1 overall and 9-1 in the ACC....
Pitt moves up 1 spot to No. 18 in AP poll, awaits SMU showdown in Dallas
A month ago, one of the most iconic players in SMU history was speaking to coach Rhett Lashlee. Craig James said Lashlee’s Mustangs reminded him of another SMU team he knew well. He was referring to SMU of the 1980s when James teamed with Eric Dickerson to form the Pony...
