Men’s Basketball: City Game entering a new era

When considering the Pitt men’s basketball team’s most intense rivals, a few schools come to… When considering the Pitt men’s basketball team’s most intense rivals, a few schools come to mind — namely West Virginia and Connecticut, perhaps even Syracuse and more recently Villanova.

But sometimes it’s easy to forget about one of Pitt’s oldest rivalries: A nonconference game — although it wasn’t always that way — against a school located only three miles down the road on Forbes Avenue.

This year marks the 79th meeting between Pitt and Duquesne in what is known as the City Game, a matchup that players and coaches remember for its intensity.

“We’ve had some great games,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said in a news conference. “Rivalries are great, because whatever happened last year or the previous two years … those things don’t matter. It’s a new game, and everything’s forgotten. And it’s who’s playing that night.”

The teams met for the first time in 1932, and the location of the City Game has varied since its start. From 1932-39, the game was played in Pitt Pavilion. When the series resumed in 1953, it took place in Pitt’s new home, the Fitzgerald Field House.

Starting in 1966, the Panthers and the Dukes met in Civic Arena, also known as Mellon Arena, for 10 straight years. After the 1976 season, the City Game alternated between Mellon Arena and the two schools’ home courts.

From 2002 until the City Game last year, the matchup was played either in Duquesne’s A.J. Palumbo Center or the Petersen Events Center. Starting this year, the rivalry game will take place on the Consol Energy Center floor, where both schools have their own locker rooms.

From 1976-82, Pitt and Duquesne played in the same conference, the Eastern Eight, made up of the two Pittsburgh schools as well as Villanova, West Virginia, Penn State, George Washington, Massachusetts and Rutgers.

This period created some of the most intense games between the Panthers and the Dukes. Former Pitt point guard Kirk Bruce, who played from 1971-75, just before Pitt entered the Eastern Eight, remembers why.

During that time, there was a freshman team and a varsity squad. The rivalry with Duquesne, Bruce said, started when the players were freshmen, and he played against some of the opposing athletes in high school.

The rivalry was particularly strong during Bruce’s time as a Panther because Pitt assistant coach Tim Grgurich and Duquesne assistant coach Mike Rice both attended their respective schools and played against each other in the 1960s.

“For sure, our assistant coach instilled in us the rivalry he had when he was a player at Pitt,” Bruce said. “I think the other reason why it was so intense is that most of the players back then on both teams were local.”

Bruce said the players became friends in the summer and played pickup basketball against each other, so when college basketball season rolled around, the City Game was mostly about bragging rights.

“The funny part about it was that we were friends off the court, but when the game started, you had guys trying to rip each other’s heads off,” Bruce said.

All of the City Game matchups were intense, Bruce said, and many were close games. The two schools played every year in a Christmas tournament known as the Steel Bowl.

“Duquesne was very good back then,” Bruce said. “It meant something for us to try to strive and beat them.”

The matchup on Dec. 7, 1973 is the game Bruce remembers most fondly. The Panthers defeated Duquesne 82-65 in a game where former Pitt great Billy Knight scored 32 points. Pitt went on to put together a 25-4 season and advance to the NCAA Elite Eight.

“We beat them pretty bad,” Bruce said. “That particular game really propelled us to have a great season.”

Bruce went 1-3 against the Dukes during his time as a Panther. Former Pitt guard Curtis Aiken had more luck from 1983-87, during which time the Panthers won every game against their crosstown rivals.

The matchup never lost its intensity.

“I always remember feeling more nervous about that game than any other game we played,” Aiken said. “We were favored every year when we played against them, although the score didn’t dictate that every year.”

Pitt and Duquesne played close games in both 1983 and 1984, when the Panthers won by five and six points, respectively.

Over the summer, Aiken said players from both schools would be geared up for the game and talk trash back and forth. Although they were all friends off the court, Aiken, like Bruce, said all affable feelings disappeared when it was time to play.

“The coaches made it intense,” Aiken said. “The coaches wanted to win that game as bad as any game in the conference because of the significance behind the rivalry.”

Aiken said he remembers being under a tremendous amount of pressure leading up to the City Game. In terms of games the Panthers looked forward to, the matchup with Duquesne was the top contest circled on their calendars.

“The fun part was when the ball went up in the air, and you got to play the game,” he said. “The pressure and the nerves leading up to the game weren’t fun.”

Beginning in the 1982-83 season, Pitt joined the Big East Conference. Since then, the Panthers have won 25 of 28 City Games, including a record-tying nine in a row since 2001. Dixon remembers the loss to Duquesne in 2000 “like it was yesterday.” Former guard Julius Page missed a chance to tie the game on a technical foul free throw.

Even with Pitt’s recent dominance, Aiken said he doesn’t see much difference in the rivalry he experienced and the City Game today.

Pitt and Duquesne players still face off in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club’s Pro-Am Summer League, he said, and the coaches and players understand the significance behind the rivalry, making it as intense as it’s ever been.

“It was a great game last year, and I know Duquesne felt like they should have won the game,” Aiken said. “They’ll be looking for some revenge. It’s very intense and exciting. If you’re a fan of basketball in Pittsburgh, you don’t want to miss this game.”

Bruce believes much of the intensity now stems from the fans.

“The similarities are that you have two teams that are basically located on the same street,” he said. “That’s always going to be a natural thing. The difference now is [Pitt] is ranked pretty high, and Duquesne is lower looking up. We want to continue being a good team, and Duquesne is in the way a little bit.”

Last season, in the final basketball game inside Mellon Arena, Pitt clawed back from a 17-point deficit in the second half to force overtime. Ashton Gibbs hit a 3-pointer with 2:06 left that sent the game to the first overtime, but the game stretched into a second overtime, where the Panthers out-shot the Dukes 11-2 to secure the victory.

Pitt senior Brad Wanamaker expects Duquesne to “come out swinging,” in this year’s version of the City Game, which marks the first basketball game in the new Consol Energy Center.

“They probably felt like they should have won last year,” Wanamaker said. “We gave them some chances.”

Senior Gilbert Brown agreed with Aiken that the Pro-Am League helps to sustain the rivalry, saying that the league brings a new level of passion and excitement to the game. When Brown played his first game at Duquesne’s Palumbo Center, he realized how important the rivalry was to the fans.

“It was a crazy atmosphere,” he said. “The place was packed.”

Dixon said that the game means a lot to fans from both schools. In turn, he added that the game means more to the players. The programs have done everything right in carrying on the tradition, he said, from closing Mellon Arena to opening Consol Energy Center with the City Game.

Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart said just having the chance to play the City Game is a great opportunity for Duquesne, and he praised the Pitt program.

“They’re a very good basketball team and a team certainly capable of winning a national championship,” he said. “Again, you look at it as an opportunity in a sense to put up or shut up.

“[The Panthers] are good, they’re real good, and you just hope as a coach you can make your guys understand that you have to play as hard as you can for the entire 40 minutes to have a chance to compete against guys like this.”

Dixon said that with the Pitt and Duquesne teams, as well as the recent resurgence of the Robert Morris program, basketball is on the rise in Pittsburgh. Playing the City Game in the Consol Energy Center will only help the rivalry to grow.

“It’s a special game for us,” he said. “I’m glad the tradition continues, and I think we’ve done everything right in moving [the City Game to Consol].”

Pitt and Duquesne will tip-off in the Consol Energy Center Wednesday at 9 p.m. Tickets are still available.