Monday night's loss to Cincinnati should have served as a wakeup call to Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon. It also should serve as a reminder of why the Panthers need to do a better job with their out of conference schedule. Don't get me wrong, there has been plenty to like about Pitt's first 10 wins of the season. There's also no shame in losing to a team like Cincinnati, although the Bearcats could be a bubble team at best in this year's NCAA Tournament field. On a night where the Panthers ... Read More
Dukes Must Avoid Road Woes of Last Season
Certainly Coach Ferry understands his team’s current precarious position all too well. After all, it was around this time last year that Duquesne’s fortunes took a turn for the worse. It was a loss on December 22nd of last year at Louisiana-Lafayette that started an eleven game, two-month skid for the Dukes. This year’s three-game road trip, which began December 17th with a win at St. Francis, will also take Duquesne to Lowell, Massachusetts to play UMass-Lowell, and Edinburg, Texas to play ... Read More
Duquesne Takes Down In-State Rival in Comeback Win
Duquesne found themselves facing a daunting second-half deficit Tuesday night in Loretto, Pa. But the Dukes (4-5), led by transfer senior transfer Ovie Soko, overcame a ten point St. Francis lead to snag a 78-71 victory. The win was a much-needed one for the Dukes, who had previously lost back-to-back games to Penn State and Robert Morris. The Red Flash (2-8) used a 16-4 first half run to gain a 37-27 halftime advantage. Ben Millaud-Meunier was lights out in the opening period for the ... Read More
PSAC West Hardwood Moment: Teams enjoying much needed time off
After starting the season with games aplenty, finals weeks around the PSAC West bring some much needed time off for teams to study and get practice in. With that, three of our PSAC West teams were in action this past week - Slippery Rock, Gannon and Clarion. Slippery Rock picked up an 80-41 wallop over Penn State New Kennsington. Mauric Lewis-Bridges led the way with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Tabari Perry posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Gannon went 1-1 in ... Read More
PSAC West Hardwood Moment: PSAC West play takes off
The PSAC West teams began playing each other this past week, setting up some interesting matchups and giving some insight into the division. Seton Hill and Edinboro started the week off with a close game in which Seton Hill won, 95-93. Max Kenyi led the way for the Griffins, which had five players in double figures, with 20 points. Henri Wade-Chatman led Edinboro with 28 points and 6 rebounds. Seton Hill would fall to IUP later in the week, 56-54. Malachi Leonard led the Griffins in that game ... Read More
Duke of the Week: Derrick Colter
After a sluggish run to start the season, the Duquesne basketball team is looking to get back on track. They played only one game this past week, but they picked up a sound 94-88 victory over UMBC. In that victory, one guy stepped up big for the Dukes: Derrick Colter. Colter, who's averaging 12.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game this season but he went above and beyond those averages in the win over UMBC. The 5-foot-11 sophomore guard scored 20 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the ... Read More
Panthers scratch and claw their way to victory over Penn State
It wasn't as easy as Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon may have liked, but eventually the size and depth of the Panthers wore down visiting Penn State as Pitt improved to 8-0 on the season with a 78-69 victory in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. But the Panthers had their hands full with the Nittany Lions all night long. Penn State took a 30-28 lead at the half thanks to the fact that the Panthers could not buy a bucket. "Not a good first half," said Dixon. "I spent halftime emphasizing the amount ... Read More
Pitt’s Cameron Wright poised for breakout season
One of the big keys to success coming into the season for Jamie Dixon's Pitt Panthers was whether or not junior guard Cameron Wright could handle the increased role as a starter. After averaging only 3.3 points per game off the Panthers bench during the first two years of his career, Wright has done his best to answer any questions about whether or not he was up to the challenge as the Panthers are off to a 7-0 start to the season. Coming off the best game of his career in which Wright scored ... Read More
PSAC West Hardwood Moment: IUP, Slippery Rock creating distance
Another week has come and gone in the PSAC West on the hardwood. IUP and Slippery Rock are slowly edging out in front of the pack. IUP is 6-0 and 2-0 in the PSAC while Slippery Rock is 6-1 and 2-0 in the PSAC. Here's the rundown. As of the November 26th NCAA.com D2 rankings, IUP sat at #10 in the coaches poll and IUP added two of their six wins this past week. They beat Shaw 74-57 and University of the Sciences (Phil.) 72-59. Big man Marcel Souberbielle led the way with 20 points and 4 ... Read More
Panther of the Week: Lamar Patterson
The Pittsburgh Panthers are off to a hot start in their new basketball conference this season. The Panthers have a 7-0 record early on and three of the those wins came this past week. In each of those wins, Pitt was led by senior guard Lamar Patterson. In the first game of the week, a 76-53 victory over Texas Tech in the Legends Classic tournament, Patterson scored 23 points to lead the way. The 6-foot-5 guard hit 8 of 13 shots (.615 %) while adding 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. He was ... Read More