Old and new faces: Men’s basketball ramps up for 2024-2025 season

Basketball season is finally here and the Panthers start their season on Monday, November 4th against Radford at the Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers are coming off a strong campaign (22-11, 12-8) in which they narrowly missed the NCAA tournament after finishing fourth in the regular season and reaching the ACC semifinals.  This season, they’re looking to get back to the dance in the seventh year of the Jeff Capel era.

Let’s start with what the Panthers lost. Bub Carrington built himself into a lottery pick in the 2024 NBA draft after a breakout rookie season where he put up 13.8 points and 4.4 assists per game.  The Panthers also lost graduating fan favorite Blake Hinson, who shot 42 percent from three last year and made his mark as an all-time Pitt player. The team also said goodbye to big man Fede Federiko and wing Will Jeffress as they hit the transfer portal.

And what did Pitt bring back? The Panthers will depend on grad student Ishmael Leggett and Jaland Lowe for leadership and statistics this season. Leggett returns for a final season after an ACC sixth man of the year campaign. Leggett is a firm starter this year, and the Panthers will depend on him on both sides of the floor. Many media personalities, including ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, project Lowe to have a breakout campaign. The returning guard showed lots of promise last season, and now, as a leader on the team will have the opportunity to completely break out.

Senior Zack Austin, junior Guillermo Diaz-Graham and junior Jorge Diaz-Graham will also play significant roles for the Panthers. Austin started 31 of the 33 games in 2023-24 and Guillermo Diaz-Graham averaged 40.5 percent from three, playing a crucial role off the bench in the late stretch of games. 

Jorge Diaz-Graham returns from a season-ending ankle injury and is projected to play a bigger role off the bench on the wing for Pitt. A wildcard for the upcoming season, redshirt freshman Papa Kante makes his first appearance for Pitt this year after a season-ending ACL injury in summer 2023. Redshirt first-year Marlon Barnes will also make his first appearance for the team.

The roster features many newcomers of different capacities. Graduate student Damian Dunn brings a leadership presence after transferring from national powerhouse Houston and junior Cam Corhen transferred in from Florida State, a program under Leonard Hamilton that typically fields lots of developed big men. The Panthers will look to him as a starting presence at the center position.  

Freshman guard Brandin Cummings garnered a lot of buzz in the offseason and will hope to gain experience in the backcourt. Another wildcard, first-year Amsal Delalic, joins the team from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dubbed by Coach Capel as “Bosnian Bub,” Delalic presents a unique archetype for the Panthers. A 21 year old 6’8 shooting guard with multiple years of EuroLeague experience, Delalic’s role in the squad has yet to present itself, but expect him to show up for the Panthers in big moments this year at some point. Pitt also welcomes first-year big man Amdy Ndiaye to the squad.

Get ready for the season early, as the Panthers’ non-conference schedule stands as the most important part of the season.  After missing out on the 2024 tournament largely due to a weak non-conference schedule, Jeff Capel stacked the deck for this year’s slate. The Panthers play West Virginia, LSU, Ohio State, Mississippi State and one of Wisconsin or UCF in non-conference play.

Pitt’s ACC slate also has a new look.  With the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU to the ACC, it only has two home-and-away games. The three double features see the Panthers play Louisville, Syracuse and North Carolina twice. Get ready Panther fans!