Pitt opens its basketball season tonight at home against Radford, which went 16-17 last season. The Highlanders play in the Big South Conference, where they are picked to finish seventh out of nine schools by the conference’s coaches and media.
Pitt was 22-11 and made it to the ACC semifinals last season but was snubbed by the NCAA Tournament. They declined an invitation to the NIT.
Gone from last year’s team are Blake Hinson, Bub Carringon, Federiko Federiko, and William Jeffress. New to the mix this season are transfers Damian Dunn and Cam Corhen, freshman Brandin Cummings, and Amsal Delalic, a 21-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who is starting the season recovering from a broken hand. They join Pitt veterans Jaland Lowe, Ishmael Leggett, and the Diaz Graham twins, Guillermo and Jorge.
Seventh-year Pitt coach Jeff Capel says guards Lowe and Leggett, joined by Dunn, make Pitt formidable at a key position.
Last year’s team featured Hinson and Carrington launching three-pointers, but Capel says this year’s Panthers can all shoot the long ball.
Capel says ultimately, it will be Pitt’s defense that makes or breaks the season.
Tonight’s game tips off at 7 o’clock, with the pregame beginning at 6:30 on WCCS.
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