Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 49
How Jeff Capel made Pitt a winner again
Pitt’s run toward the top of the ACC started on the Monday after the 2022 conference tournament. Jeff Capel and his staff started preparing for 2022-23 only days after a 66-46 loss to Boston College, Pitt’s fifth in a row, the second losing streak of at least four games in...
Central Catholic junior defensive end Ty Yuhas verbally commits to Pitt
Pitt is in the early stages of building its 2024 recruiting class, but so far three of the four verbal commitments, including Central Catholic junior defensive end Ty Yuhas, reside in Pennsylvania. Yuhas confirmed his verbal commitment Thursday through his Twitter account. Locked in…H2P????????@CoachPartridge @CoachDuzzPittFB @Pitt_FB @PCC_FOOTBALL @CoachLehmeier @JasonPinkstonOL pic.twitter.com/5ZAo6XmpgF—...
Leaving Leechburg early wasn’t easy, but Braylan Lovelace didn’t want to wait to wear the Pitt jersey
Braylan Lovelace has been a Pitt freshman football player for a little more than a month, but he said he already is “bought in” to the expectations. Lovelace, a former Leechburg linebacker, knows the buy-in requires hard work and learning the many designs and coverages crafted by coach Pat Narduzzi...
Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot wins 500th game, walks into basketball history with LeBron JamesVideo
Two decades before Keith Dambrot won the 500th game of his 25-year coaching career, he walked into Shaka Smart’s office and said, “Come with me.” Off they went to a gym in Akron where Smart, not knowing what would happen next, watched a Hummer pull up to the curb. Out...
Duquesne rolls over George Mason for coach Keith Dambrot’s 500th career victory
Duquesne continued its slow climb through the Atlantic 10 standings Wednesday night with a 75-52 victory against George Mason at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The victory was the 500th in coach Keith Dambrot’s 25-year career (the past six at Duquesne), but it also was important for the Dukes in their season...
Calijah Kancey, Joey Porter Jr. among 15 Pitt, PSU, WVU players invited to NFL Combine
The spoils of the 2022 college football season showed up for 15 Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia players in the form of invitations to the NFL Combine. The one-stop scouting mission, one of the biggest events on the NFL calendar, will be held Feb. 28 through March 6 at...
Unafraid of the fight, Diaz Graham twins part of reserve squad helping fuel Pitt’s run to 1st place
Jorge Diaz Graham lifted a lock of hair off his forehead to reveal a prize from Pitt’s victory against Louisville. A red welt the size of a quarter, earned while fighting for a rebound in a game Pitt won by 34 points Tuesday night. Diaz Graham and his twin brother,...
Pitt pounds Louisville, 91-57, moves into a tie for 1st in ACC
Pitt’s 91-57 victory against Louisville on Tuesday night was a milestone moment for the Panthers, who moved into a three-way tie for first place in the ACC. It was Pitt’s largest margin of victory in 10 years playing against ACC competition, but coach Jeff Capel knows the real score. Pitt...
Pitt prepares for improved Louisville while trying to extend 3-game winning streak
There is no denying Jeff Capel’s claim that Louisville, Pitt’s opponent at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Petersen Events Center, has improved since a 75-54 home loss to the Panthers on Jan. 18. The Cardinals are shooting better, hitting 47.8% of their shots in the past four games, compared to 33.9%...
NIL questions emerge after Jim Boeheim’s comments, but Pitt’s Jeff Capel focuses on his team
Predictably, Jeff Capel didn’t want to talk Monday about Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s charge that Pitt, Miami and Wake Forest “bought” their teams. With Pitt’s next game Tuesday night against Louisville at Petersen Events Center, Capel’s mind is far from the name, image and likeness question and what an opposing...
Pitt makes news with help from Jim Boeheim and others
Perhaps the true indication of how far the Pitt basketball team’s notoriety has carried this season is that its name is in the news even on an off day. The first story Saturday was how Pitt was on the cusp of moving into a tie for first place in the...
Dae Dae Grant leads Duquesne in Keith Dambrot’s 499th victory
Duquesne and coach Keith Dambrot reached four historic milestones Saturday in a 93-67 victory against George Washington at Charles E. Smith Center in Washington D.C. • The 26-point margin of victory was Duquesne’s largest in an Atlantic 10 road game, dropping George Washington to 11-12, 5-5. • The Dukes’ 28-0...
Pitt’s Nelly Cummings thrives on basketball’s most intense moments
Not only does Nelly Cummings embrace the most challenging moments on a basketball floor, but he’s been known to create them in his mind — even when they don’t exist. For proof, turn back the pages of the calendar to March 21, 2014, and the PIAA Class A championship game...
Pitt Take 5: Everybody gets in the act to help winning streak reach 3 in a row
The assignment for Saturday while Pitt enjoys a weekend off is to identify the most impressive stat on the Panthers’ resume. But let’s not make it too easy. The 9-3 record in the ACC and 16 overall victories with eight regular-season games remaining give fans a chance to gloat. But...
Pitt coach Jeff Capel focused on now, not the future
The first words that came from Jeff Capel’s mouth were about the game, not the victory. “What a great, hard-fought college basketball game,” he said after Pitt’s impressive 65-64 victory Wednesday night at North Carolina’s Dean Dome. “Guys stepped up and made some big-time plays on both sides.” The man...
Pitt squeaks by North Carolina on 2 free throws in final seconds
Pitt won a big game Wednesday night in front of a loud, hostile crowd of 20,421 in North Carolina’s Dean Dome. The winning points came off the sure hands of senior guard Jamarius Burton, who hit two foul shots with 3.6 seconds left, lifting the Panthers from a one-point deficit...
After adding new faces this offseason, Pitt looks for improvement in its passing game
Perhaps the biggest difference between the Pitt team that won the ACC championship in 2021 and the 2022 version that failed to repeat was the regression in the passing game. Kenny Pickett threw for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns in ’21, but those numbers fell precipitously to 2,898 and 13...
Pitt’s Capel gets another chance to coach against Carolina’s Davis, whom he used to emulate
The relationship between Pitt coach Jeff Capel and North Carolina’s Hubert Davis, whose teams meet Wednesday night at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, N.C., stretches back to the 1990s in Capel’s backyard in Fayetteville, N.C. Only Davis might not be aware of the origin. In those days, Davis was...
WVU opens football season with 3-game stretch of games vs. Penn State, Duquesne, Pitt
West Virginia’s 2023 football schedule opens with a distinctly Pennsylvania flavor, featuring back-to-back-to-back nonconference games against Penn State, Duquesne and Pitt. The Mountaineers open Sept. 2 at Penn State in the third-longest series in school history. The series has been dormant since the most recent meeting in 1992, but it...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel talks about love of wine, fine art, friendship with Mike Tomlin
When Jeff Capel sits down for one of his regular chats with reporters, the subject is always basketball. Eventually, however, the conversation Monday flowed toward Capel’s love of wine and fine artwork and his friendship with Mike Tomlin. Right, no kidding. All three topics are parts of Capel’s life away...
Trip to Yankee Stadium highlights Pitt’s tough 2023 schedule
Seven months from kickoff, Pitt’s 2023 schedule already is shaping up as a challenge from start to finish — with 11 Power 5 opponents. After playing four Power 5 opponents in September, Pitt will visit foreign soil for four of its final six games. Overall, Pitt will play eight of...
Jerry DiPaola: Why I slipped Pitt into my AP college basketball poll ballot
At the top, the voting was easy. All 62 voters in the Associated Press poll made Purdue (21-1) the No. 1 team in college basketball this week. At the bottom, not so much. What team would slip just under the wire and claim that 25th and final spot? Some of...
Pitt football will return to the Bronx this season to play Syracuse at Yankee Stadium
Pitt is going back to the Bronx, N.Y., to meet Syracuse at Yankee Stadium and commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the first college football game played at the original “House That Ruth Built.” The game will be played between the long-time rivals Nov. 11. “We look forward to celebrating this...
Nostalgia mixes with big Pitt victory to get The Pete rocking again
Pitt went to great lengths last week to celebrate the legacy of its basketball program. First, the school honored Jerome Lane and his remarkable, backboard-shattering dunk from 35 years ago. Then, coaches and players from the 2002-03 team — the first at Pitt to win a Big East Tournament championship...
Pitt rallies from 11-point deficit for 71-68 victory against No. 20 Miami
If you didn’t know better, you might too quickly call Pitt’s improbable 71-68 victory Saturday against No. 20 Miami a defining moment in a season of rebirth. The truth: Sure, Pitt was down 11 points in the second half and eight with under 2½ minutes to play. But this wasn’t...
