Pitt Earns Second Consecutive 20-Win Season
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers pummeled Florida State at home in their penultimate game of the regular season and hit a significant milestone in the process.
With a victory over the Seminoles, the Panthers earned their 20th win of the 2023-24 season and have now won 20 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2014.
Pitt ran the Seminoles out of the Petersen Events Center, scoring 16 points off 12 turnovers and outscoring its opponent in the paint 40-28. Seven of the eight Panthers to see the floor scored multiple buckets and they finished the game having shot 56% from the field and 42% from 3-point range.
20 wins may seem ordinary to some of the more elite programs in college basketball and even to some who remember Pitt's glory days in the late 2000s and early 2010s. But after seeing the depths to which this program had fallen to from 2016 to 2022, the idea that the Panthers are back to winning consistently is remarkable.
But as Jeff Capel and company will tell you, the job isn't finished quite yet. The Panthers are still chasing an even greater milestone - those consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances that haven't come since 2014.
"To me, that’s a testament to Heather, to Chancellor Gallagher and now our new chancellor, to the board of trustees, our staff and the guys that we’ve been able to recruit, that we’ve taken a lot of lumps, but we continued to show up," Capel said. "One of the things we talk about in our program is to show up, and it would have been very easy for all of us, the people that I mentioned, to walk away or to give in to it. But we continued to show up. I’ve had unbelievable support and I’m grateful - again, first time in a decade, that’s pretty cool, but I want more."
They took a step in the right direction by downing Florida State and will aim to finish the regular season strong this weekend against N.C. State at the Petersen Events Center.
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