Short work week disrupts Pitt’s Sunday routine; Pat Narduzzi forced to miss Mass
Sunday started badly for Pat Narduzzi. “I didn’t get to Mass,” Pitt’s coach said. “Sunday, I like to get to 7:30 (a.m.) Mass. That’s the first bad part of the day because we were in the office before that.” The day did get better, however, as soon as Pitt associate...
After South Side arrest, Pitt guard Ithiel Horton suspended indefinitely
Pitt basketball player Ithiel Horton has been suspended indefinitely after he was arrested Saturday morning and charged with punching a police officer on the South Side. During the suspension, he will be ineligible to participate in practices and games. Horton, a redshirt junior who was expected to be a starting...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi won’t let that extra hour go to waste
Any politician trying to eliminate the November practice of setting clocks back one hour won’t get any support from Pat Narduzzi. Not this week. Narduzzi believes his Pitt players and coaches need as many hours as possible to prepare for Thursday night’s nationally televised game against North Carolina at Heinz...
Pitt women’s basketball preview: Experienced lineup returns to court for coach Lance White
At long last, Lance White feels like he can do exactly what he was brought to Pitt to do: coach. “It’s so good to have a little bit of normal back,” White said with a noticeable sigh of relief. Not much has been “normal” for White since taking over the...
Pat Narduzzi wonders if ex-Pitt player Carson Van Lynn was stealing signals to help Duke
Dating back to basketball player Cam Johnson’s transfer to North Carolina in 2017, Pitt officials have been opposed to transfers within the ACC. Pat Narduzzi likes them even less after what he believes might have happened involving former Pitt offensive lineman Carson Van Lynn, who transferred to Duke in the...
Pitt survives slow start, recovers to defeat Duke, retain 1st place in ACC Coastal
All sorts of misfortune struck Pitt in the first half of its game at Duke on Saturday. • A safety was finally called, but this time it went against the Panthers. • Heisman Trophy candidate Kenny Pickett was sacked and lost a fumble in the first quarter. • Duke’s Jaylen...
Pitt basketball player Ithiel Horton charged with South Side assault on police officer
University of Pittsburgh basketball player Ithiel Horton was arrested Saturday morning and charged with punching a police officer during an altercation on Pittsburgh’s South Side, a source confirmed to the Tribune-Review. Horton, 21, a third-year guard from New Jersey, was in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting arraignment following his arrest...
Pitt men’s basketball preview: Roster upheaval marked Jeff Capel’s offseason
Bad news has followed Pitt coach Jeff Capel into the 2021-22 men’s basketball season. After Pitt’s three leading scorers and four of its top five rebounders transferred during and after last season, Capel was struck with two additional blows within the time frame of five days — a week before...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers hope to hold tight to respect earned through eight games
For anyone who believes Pitt doesn’t get enough national respect, the first College Football Playoff rankings offer an argument to the contrary. Pitt is ranked No. 25, one of only three ACC teams in the Top 25 and the only one from the Coastal Division. How did that happen only...
Pitt notebook: Panthers likely to be short-handed at wide receiver against Duke
After three consecutive games against high-profile opponents Virginia Tech, Clemson and Miami (and North Carolina looming next Thursday), Pitt must fit Duke into its schedule Saturday in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils (3-5, 0-4 ACC) will carry a four-game losing streak into the game, a stretch in which they have...
Parity-ridden ACC producing unpredictable results, nailbitersVideo
It seems parity has arrived in the ACC — just look no further than the results on the scoreboards. Nailbiters have become commonplace with Clemson in a down year and no truly dominant team. Even unbeaten Wake Forest has had its moments. Of the 35 conference games played so far,...
Linebacker Wendell Davis decides to leave Pitt, enter transfer portal
Two years ago, Pitt might have lost the Central Florida game if Wendell Davis had decided out of high school to attend another school. Thanks for all the folks reaching out. Unfortunately I’ve decided to move on but I’ll be a proud graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in a...
Pitt ranked No. 25 in first College Football Playoff rankings
While players and coaches were trying to recover from a disappointing loss to unranked Miami, Pitt received some good news Tuesday night when the College Football Playoff committee ranked the Panthers 25th. The committee released its first rankings of the season on ESPN. Despite the Miami loss, Pitt (6-2, 3-1...
In his mind, Pitt’s Phil Campbell sets aside loss to Miami, focuses on bigger goals
Phil Campbell wasn’t hiding a camera phone in his shoulder pads when he wrapped up Miami’s Jaylan Knighton for what everyone wearing the Pitt colors insists was a safety. But he does have visual evidence that, he claims, shows Knighton’s forward progress was stopped in the end zone in Pitt’s...
Pitt guard Nike Sibande will miss entire 2021-22 season with knee injury
Nike Sibande was one of the loyalists through the trying times of Pitt’s 2020-21 basketball season. While others were leaving the team and making plans to transfer in the final days of the season, Sibande decided to stay when he could have gone elsewhere. But his 2021-22 season ended Monday...
First Call: More updates on Melvin Ingram’s trade request; Steelers’ opponents face significant injury concerns
Tuesday’s “First Call” has the latest Pittsburgh Steelers trade rumors regarding linebacker Melvin Ingram III. Some upcoming Steelers foes are dealing with significant injuries. And we look at Pitt’s next opponent. Angry Ingram Trade rumors continue to swirl around Steelers pass rusher Melvin Ingram III. The latest comes from the...
Rebuilding Pitt opens with exhibition victory against Gannon
Pitt coach Jeff Capel was pleased by what he saw come together on the floor of the Petersen Events Center on Monday night. Sophomore point guard Femi Odukale scored 20 points and added seven rebounds and three assists with no turnovers in almost 28 minutes. Senior transfer Mouhamadou Gueye, one...
Pat Narduzzi thinks twice about moments that led to Pitt’s loss to Miami
Mistakes were plentiful during Pitt’s loss to Miami on Saturday, and Pat Narduzzi made a list. He wasn’t shy about talking about them Monday during his weekly news conference, perhaps hoping that getting the angst off his chest might be therapeutic. The second-guessing included: • A better gameplan against Miami’s...
First Call: Chris Boswell mocks himself with injury update; ex-Steelers in headlines; Pitt out of Top 25
Monday’s “First Call” has an update on Chris Boswell’s health after the Pittsburgh Steelers kicker was injured Sunday afternoon. Also, one ex-Steeler scores a touchdown. Another gets busted for a bad penalty call. And Pitt is out of the Top 25. All is well Despite having to leave Sunday’s game...
AP Top 25: Michigan St. up to 5; Wake Forest in top 10 for 1st time
Michigan State moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll and Wake Forest became a top-10 team on Sunday for the first time in school history. Georgia is a unanimous No. 1 for the fourth straight week in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank....
Analysis: Championship or bust, Pitt defense needs to give Kenny Pickett more support
After Pitt lost to Miami on Saturday, there was a tendency (not among its irritated fans, of course) to excuse the penalties, middle school tackling display and Kenny Pickett’s two interceptions with the old platitude, “Nobody’s perfect.” Not true. There are six teams in college football that haven’t lost, including...
Pat Narduzzi: ‘No comment’ when calls went against Pitt in loss to Miami
During his postgame news conference Saturday – after Pitt lost 107 yards in penalties and, finally, the game to Miami, 38-34 — Pat Narduzzi had no interest in talking about the officials. When asked what led to the nine penalties marched off against his team, he said, “No comment.” When...
Kenny Pickett throws two interceptions, defense struggles in No. 17 Pitt’s loss to Miami
When Pitt’s players, coaches and their somber faces gather Sunday to point the finger of blame, there will be many appropriate places where it should land. Start with the defense — a repeat offender — that kept missing tackles while allowing five touchdowns in Miami’s 38-34 victory Saturday in front...
Tom Richards, point guard on Pitt’s 1974 NCAA Elite Eight team, dies
Thomas E. Richards, who directed traffic as the point guard on one of greatest basketball teams in Pitt history and later became chairperson of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees, died Thursday at his home in Naples, Fla. He was 66. Richards, a star guard at Moon High School...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers hope to end touchdown drought against Miami
Let’s get the obvious facts out in the open immediately. Although it’s true Pitt takes a three-game losing streak against Miami into its game Saturday at Heinz Field, those three games have nothing to do with what will happen after someone’s toe hits the football at noon. For the record,...
