Pitt Basketball Season Preview: Panthers Look to Use Toughness to Exceed Expectations
The Pitt men’s basketball program — led by head coach Jeff Capel in his eighth year on the job — is looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2022-23 season and second time under Capel.
The Panthers returned a trio of contributors from last year’s team, but still look largely different with as a wave of transfers and freshmen overhaul the roster.
While this is one of Capel’s least talented teams, at least on paper, the roster heralds a newfound sense of size, toughness and physicality which should help balance out the level of talent that they face each night in the ACC.
“We can’t be a team that thinks we can just show up,” Capel said following the team’s second exhibition. “There is a certain way that we have to show up. We aren’t one of these teams that is just going to out-talent you. That’s not who we are. We have talent but we don’t have the type of talent that some of these teams do. But if we are tough, and we are together, and we play with an edge, then we can be a really good team.”
Pitt Brings Back Limited Returners
Two of the three returnees, guard Brandin Cummings and forward Cam Cohren, were important contributors a season ago and look to lock in starting roles, while forward Papa Kante will be a main rotational piece for the Panthers.
Cummings appeared in 31 games for the Panthers as a freshman last season and received four starting assignments. He averaged 6.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per game.
Cohren was the team’s center a year ago and the original plan was to bring in a true center to allow Cohren to move to the four. While the Panthers secured a true center through the portal in transfer Dishon Jackson, the Iowa State transfer is out indefinitely due to a medical situation.
Corhen averaged 11.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in his first season as a member of Pitt.
Kante popped onto the scene as a true freshman for his part in the stunning win over Ohio State a season ago, but fell into a rotational role for the Panthers following that performance. He averaged just 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per contest last year.
Minor Running the Point
Alongside Cummings and Cohren, the only other true projected starter is Oregon State transfer guard Damarco Minor who is expected to man the point guard position for the Panthers this season.
Unlike his predecessor Jaland Lowe, Minor is described as a true playmaking guard which is evident based on his play last year. He averaged averaged 9.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.5 steals per game in his lone season at Oregon State.
While Minor was among the bright spots in the preseason, he is expected to improve as he learns his teammates and becomes more comfortable as the leader of the team.
“He is learning his team and learning each personality which I think is one of the primary keys for a really good point guard,” Capel said. “You have to understand who it is that you are leading, what makes them tick, what buttons to push and the only way that you can learn that is through relationships.”
Varying Lineups & Role Players
It should not shock people to see multiple different lineups, especially earlier in the season, for the Panthers. That was already the case in the team’s two exhibitions as Iowa State transfer Nojus Indrusaitis started against Providence while true freshman Omari Witherspoon started against Pitt-Johnstown.
While Capel will likely rely on the more experienced Indrusaitis earlier in the season, it would not be surprising if Witherspoon challenges him for a starting role relatively early into the season.
“I liked everything about him from the time that he got here,” Capel said about Witherspoon. “He is a talented player, there is a toughness, there is a belief and there is a work ethic that is there. He is advanced as a freshman defensively. That was his identity in high school.”
South Alabama transfer Barry Dunning Jr. manned the forward position opposite of Cohren through the two preseason showings.
Dunning averaged 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game while at South Alabama last year.
While Dunning showcased his freakish athleticism in the exhibitions with some monster dunks, he was quiet outside of those select plays. He will need to find some confidence through the first handful of games to be able to satisfy Capel’s requirements of him.
“I think he has done some good things in both scrimmages, he has done a lot of good things in practice. We need those things to translate more consistently to when we get into playing opponents,” Capel said. “Barry is talented. There has to be a level of competitive spirit all of the time with him. He is a really, really nice guy and a good guy but we need him to flip a switch when he is on the court.”
Capel will expect a lot of the work to be done by the players already listed, but since the roster is not top-loaded with talent, he will likely rely on a handful of other freshman to provide quality minutes.
One of those freshman is Australian phenom Roman Siulepa, who was rated as his native country’s top NBA talent before he opted to go the college route. Siulepa started both of the exhibitions despite arriving to campus after the conclusion of summer workouts and practices.
Siulepa managed to showcase some of his physicality and defensive abilities through the team’s two preseason contests, he is still very raw on the offensive side of things. The player that the Panthers get at the start of the season will be totally transformed by the end of the year.
“Roman’s getting better,” Capel said. “He is not where he wants to be yet, and not exactly where we need him to be but he is getting better. This has been a huge adjustment for him. He didn’t get here until sometime during the first week of September so he didn’t have a summer with us.”
“Then, this is his first time in America and so everything is different,” Capel continued. “This kid, this is his first time here and he doesn’t get here until September, we’ve been working since June 26th. So, all of this is new to him, everything.”
The other freshman that will likely play a key role for the Panthers this season is guard Macari Moore, who did a little bit of everything through the first two exhibitions. Moore was initially an Iowa State commit but flipped to Pitt late in the cycle.
He was named as a Michigan Mr. Basketball Finalist and was the second best prospect in the state for the 2025 class.
“The way that he came in defensively, cutting and driving, just playing with energy, I thought changed the game,” Capel said about Moore after the win over Providence.
Capel and his staff added two more freshman in the latest recruiting cycle, Australian forward Henry Cody Lau and center Kieran Mullen, but they are not expected to play a role for the Panthers as freshman.
Lau missed the two exhibitions with an apparent hand/wrist injury while Mullen played in the second one but is expected to be a redshirt candidate. Though, with Jackson out indefinitely, if another forward goes down, Mullen may get some burn as a freshman.
The last returner to the Panthers was forward Amdy Ndiaye, who played in just 21 minutes as a true freshman last year. Since he played a total of just seven minutes in the preseason, it is not likely he plays a big role on this year’s squad either.
Pitt Men’s Basketball Schedule Outlook
Pitt opens up its season on Monday night against Horizon League hopeful Youngstown State and has a handful of intriguing non-conference showdowns including games against Ohio State, Texas A&M, Penn State, UCF and Villanova before tipping off ACC play at the end of December.
For a team that was projected to finish 14th in the ACC but with a preseason win over Kenpom top-50 Providence, the aggressive and physical nature of this year’s Panthers’ squad could help them shock people come the end of the season.
Become a Pittsburgh Sports Now Premium Member
With the Pitt men’s basketball season finally here, become a Pittsburgh Sports Now premium member for exclusive content on the Pitt beat and from On3 and Rivals’ national analysts. Join here to become a member today!
