In front of an animated home crowd, Pitt and West Virginia played a game befitting its nickname. In a chippy matchup between rivals, the Panthers succumbed to “Press Virginia,” turning the ball over 32 times in a 74-59 loss to the Mountaineers.
College basketball isn’t a great sport because there is something inherently “good” about a group of 18-to-22-year-olds putting a ball in a metal ring. College basketball is thrilling because of its pageantry and is deeply personal — especially for a student journalist — because you can write about a player dominating national television one night and go to class with them the next morning.
Pitt men’s basketball entered the ACC Tournament desperate to pull themselves out of a downward spiral that goes back months.
It began when the Panthers (10-12 overall, 6-10 ACC) dropped a one-point contest to Wake Forest on Jan. 23, snowballed into a streak during which they lost nine of 11, reached its climax when junior stars Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney transferred and ends with a 79-73 loss to under-manned Miami (9-16 overall, 4-15 ACC) on the first day of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina.
After a long and bumpy ride, the ACC men’s basketball regular season has finally come to an end, and there will be no shortage of storylines as the ACC Tournament approaches. The matchups were finalized after the completion of the regular season on Saturday night.
Pitt men’s basketball (10-11 overall, 6-10 ACC) was unable to overcome sluggishness on both ends of the court early. The Panthers’ comeback effort fell short in a 77-62 loss at Clemson (16-6 overall, 10-6 ACC) on Saturday afternoon.
Pitt (9-10 overall, 5-9 ACC) has now lost eight of its last nine games after falling 62-65 at NC State (12-9 overall, 8-8 ACC) on Sunday afternoon. In the wake of two key personnel losses, head coach Jeff Capel insisted that he felt this loss could be better attributed to the eight-day layoff between games and not the recent roster attrition.
By Stephen Thompson, Assistant Sports Editor
• February 24, 2021
Pitt men’s basketball junior guard Xavier Johnson confirmed a report from Craig Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday morning that Johnson will immediately leave the Pitt program and enter the NCAA transfer portal.
By Stephen Thompson, Assistant Sports Editor
• February 24, 2021
After the COVID-19 pandemic and a contentious transfer process kept him out of action for 262 days, Nike Sibande spent his first nine games at Pitt shaking off the rust. But he showed flashes of dynamism in his breakout game on Saturday that indicate his game is growing along with the comfort of a still-new home in Pittsburgh.
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