The Palestra Provides Backdrop For 150th Pitt-Penn State Meeting

Sunday, November 8

Philadelphia, Pa.

8:00 PM

Pitt

Penn State

11/7/2026 9:17:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Pitt Game Notes Watch on ESPN2 Live Stats

Pitt (2-0) vs. Penn State (2-0)

Date: Nov. 8, 2026
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Philadelphia, Pa. | The Palestra (8,722)
Television/Streaming: ESPN2 (Mike Corey | Time Welsh)
Panthers Radio Network: Flagship Coverage 93.7 The Fan (Bill Hillgrove | Curtis Aiken)
X/Instagram: @Pitt_Athletics | @Pitt_MBB

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt and Penn State will play for the 150th time Sunday, taking part in the 100th anniversary of The Palestra with a neutral site game. The contest will tip at 8:00 p.m., following a 5:00 p.m. game between Richmond and Temple.
Both games of the doubleheader will air on ESPN2 with Mike Corey and Tim Welsh on the call for both.
Now in his 58th season on the mic, Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play) and broadcast partner Curtis Aiken (analysis) will provide the commentary of the game on the Panthers Radio Network (flagship coverage on 93.7 The Fan).
Pitt rallied back from a 15-point second half deficit to defeat Buffalo 80-61 Thursday night. The Panthers outscored the Bulls 48-16 in the second half to earn the 19-point victory.
Penn State also got to 2-0 on the season Thursday night, but did it in opposite fashion. The Nittany Lions led Chattanooga 54-31 at the half but held off the Mocs, 97-93, despite a 62-point second half.
Penn State leads the all-time series 76-73 but Pitt routed the Nittany Lions a year ago, 80-46.

QUICK HITTERS FROM BUFFALO

In Pitt's 80-61 win over Buffalo Thursday night, the Panthers had a handful of notable stats and performances.
Baye Ndongo had 23 points and 21 rebounds, earning the first 20/20 game by a Pitt player since 2020. In fact, he became just the third Panther in the last 30 years (joining Justin Champagnie and DeJuan Blair) to record a 20/20 game.
Ndongo's 21 rebounds was a career-high. His previous best was 19 boards against Penn State during the 2023-24 season.
Ndongo's 17 free-throw attempts are the most for a Pitt player in a single game since John Hugley IV went 15-of-20 in a 69-67 win over Boston College on Jan. 8, 2022.
Chase Foster became the first freshman in Pitt history to score at least 20 points in each of his first two games. He had 23 Monday against Rider, setting a new Pitt record for a freshman debut. He followed that with 20 Thursday against Buffalo.
Pitt attempted 49 free-throws Thursday night, taking 25 in the first half and 24 in the second. The school record in a game is 60 free-throws attempts at NYU on Dec. 18, 1954.
Pitt's second half splits were eye-popping. The Panthers outscored Buffalo 48-16, held the Bulls to 12.5 percent shooting and 1-of-17 (5.9 percent) from three. Pitt also outrebounded Buffalo 32-11 in the second half.

"CHASE"ING AFTER RECORDS

It took just one game into his college career for Chase Foster to start breaking Pitt records.
Making his debut, Foster scored 18 first half points and finished the game with 23 points, along with six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
Foster's 23 points were the most in Pitt history for a freshman making his debut. His three-pointer late in the game pushed him past Associate Head Coach Ricardo Greer, who had 21 points in his debut on Nov. 17, 1997.
It didn't take long for Foster to set another record though. With 20 points Thursday night, he became the first freshman in Pitt history to score 20+ points in each of his first two games.

BAYE BAYE BAYE

Baye Ndongo had a rare 20/20 game Thursday night, finishing with 23 points and a career-high 21 rebounds. It was just the 16th 20/20 game in program history.
Ndongo became just the third Pitt player in the last 30 years with a 20/20 game, joining Justin Champagnie and DeJuan Blair. Champagnie and Blair each had two 20/20 games in their careers.
Billy Knight holds the Pitt program record with three career 20/20 games, doing so between 1972 and 1974.

IN-NAIT ABILITY

Naithan George entered Pitt with 530 career assists and led the ACC in assists as a sophomore in 2024-25 at 6.5 per game.
That being said, the knock on George was the 2.75 turnovers per game he committed prior to coming to Pitt.
While it is early, George has cut down on the turnovers tremendously, while increasing his assist average. Thus far, he is averaging 7.5 assists and just 1.5 turnovers per game through two contests.
A year ago, George had 8+ assists with one or fewer turnovers just three times. This year, he did it in the season opener against Rider, then followed it with seven second-half assists in the win over Buffalo.

POWELL PACKS A PUNCH

Junior Jonathan Powell got off to a slow start Monday in his Pitt debut, missing his first two three-point attempts. But that was short-lived as he began a barrage on the Rider defense.
Powell's first three-pointer of the game came with 3:12 to play in the first half and he added a second one just 28 seconds later. He knocked down his third of the half with 50 seconds left that put Pitt ahead 48-26.
In the second half, Powell made his first three long-range attempts to give him six in a row and he ended the game 6-of-9 from three.
Although Powell was just 2-of-9 from long range against Buffalo, his two three-pointers may have been the biggest shots of the night. With Pitt down seven and just over 10 minutes to play, he made both of his threes in a 40-second span that started a 14-0 run. By the time the dust settled, the Panthers led 60-53 and never looked back.

PITT IN THE PALESTRA

Pitt will play for the 23rd time inside The Palestra Sunday. The Panthers are 7-15 all-time inside the building.
Pitt's most recent contest in The Palestra came on Nov. 25, 2011 as the Panthers defeated Penn 78-58.
On top of those previous 22 appearances, Pitt played two Olympic trial tournament games at the Palestra in 1935-36, defeating St. John's 29-21 before losing to Temple 41-37. Those contests were not official games within the regular college schedule.

THE TIES THAT BIND

Pitt Head Coach Jeff Capel and Penn State Head Coach Mike Rhoades have coaching careers that have seen the two connected to each other.
Capel was the head coach at VCU from 2002-06, during which time Rhoades was the head coach at Randolph Macon College, approximately 20 miles apart from each other.
Capel left VCU for Oklahoma following the 2005-06 season and the Rams rolled through head coaches Anthony Grant (2006-09), Shaka Smart (2009-15) and Will Wade (2015-17) before naming Rhoades head coach in 2017.
Of course, Capel was named the head coach at Pitt for the 2018-19 season and Rhoades left VCU after the 2022-23 season to take over at Penn State.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

The Pitt men's basketball team has undergone a transformation from a year ago, with 13 new players joining one scholarship returnee (Macari Moore) and two walk-on returnees (Benjamin Mayhew and Jajuan Nelson).
However, fans of the ACC will recognize some of them, as six of the transfers have prior ACC experience.
Jonathan Powell spent the 2025-26 season at North Carolina and also played against Pitt during his 2024-25 campaign at West Virginia.
Jalil Bethea played the 2024-25 season in the ACC at Miami before transferring to Alabama last year.
Naithan George has been at two previous schools, beginning his career at Georgia Tech from 2023-25 before transferring to Syracuse a year ago.
Akir Souare took the same path as George, playing two years at Georgia Tech before transferring to Syracuse for the 2025-26 season.
Baye Ndongo played alongside George and Souare at Georgia Tech as he played three seasons for the Yellow Jackets from 2023-26.
Finally, Armani Mighty spent two seasons at Boston College (from 2022-24) before transferring to Central Michigan and then a breakout campaign at Mercer in 2025-26.

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM

Five of those six players have already seen the Panthers from the other bench.
Jonathan Powell, Naithan George, Akir Souare, Baye Ndongo and Armani Mighty have combined to play in 14 games against Pitt. The Panthers were 8-6 in those contests.

PORTAL PASSENGERS

Five Pitt transfers have not played in the ACC, and they come from a variety of situations around the country.
A'lahn Sumler was an all-conference player at Charleston Southern a year ago, leading the Big South in scoring (18.9 ppg) and assists (3.8 apg). That came after sitting out the entire 2024-25 season following a breakout sophomore campaign, averaging 14.2 points per game. He began his career at Northern Kentucky, where he played 28 games as a freshman in 2022-23.
Colin Hawkins played two seasons at Gardner-Webb before transferring to Pitt. He started all 31 games for the Runnin' Bulldogs in 2025-26, averaging 8.2 points in 27.4 minutes.
Dominique Diomande began his career at Washington, where he joined the program in January of 2025 and sat out the remainder of the season. Last year he played in 24 games at BYU, where he learned behind the NBA's No. 1 draft pick AJ Dybantsa, who led the country in scoring.
Kraig Gilbert was a dynamic scorer at NCAA Division II Concord (W.Va.). As a freshman in 2024-25, he averaged 9.1 points and 6.0 rebounds and then elevated his game as a sophomore, averaging 16.3 points over 14 games before injury shortened his season. He was 36-of-75 (48.0 percent) from three-point range in those 14 games.
Timofei Rudovskii continues to rehab from injury but averaged 12.9 points and 4.6 rebounds as a freshman at Bryant in 2025-26. He shot 35.1 percent from three-point range, making 67.

FRESH FACES, HIGH CEILINGS

Along with those 11 transfers, Pitt added two highly touted freshmen in Chase Foster and Jermal Jones Jr., who played together at IMG Academy.
Foster will look to make an immediate impact on the Panthers. As the highest-ranked recruit in the class, Foster has size, shooting touch and versatility to stretch the floor and defend multiple positions.
Jones Jr. has the type of toughness and grit that defines Pittsburgh. He has defensive potential and versatility as a guard. He can knock down shots, defend at a high level and attack the basket.

HOMECOMING ON THE BENCH

When Jeff Capel retooled his coaching staff in the offseason, he went looking for coaches who could teach his team how to win with grit, and he found two perfect fits in former Panthers Ricardo Greer and Ronald Ramón.
Associate Head Coach Ricardo Greer played for Pitt from 1997-01, leading the Panthers through one of their most successful eras in the Big East. He finished his career among Pitt's all-time leaders in scoring and rebounding. Following a successful professional playing career, Greer turned to the coaching profession and most recently served as associate head coach at Dayton.
Assistant Coach Ronald Ramón is a 2008 Pitt graduate and compiled a 101-35 record during his career. He helped Pitt reach four NCAA Tournaments and win the 2008 Big East Tournament. Most recently, he served as an assistant coach at Iona.

MORE OF MOORE

Macari Moore is the lone scholarship player to return to Pitt from a year ago.
A 6-foot-3 guard from Ann Arbor, Mich., Moore appeared in 22 games as a freshman in 2025-26, averaging 1.4 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists. The numbers were modest, but the efficiency wasn't: he shot 75.0 percent from three-point range and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line.
A three-star signee out of Huron High School, Moore was ranked among the nation's top point guards in the 2025 class and originally committed to Iowa State before reopening his recruitment and choosing Pitt.
With every other scholarship player new to the program, Moore is the only scholarship Panther who doesn't need to learn Pitt's culture, program standards or day-to-day rhythms from scratch.
His freshman season may have come with limited minutes, but it makes him the most experienced voice in a locker room otherwise full of newcomers, from former high-major starters to proven mid-major scorers.

FOUR-DIGIT FIREPOWER

Pitt enters the 2026-27 season with three players who have already surpassed 1,000 career points, two of whom have done it playing their entire careers in the ACC.
Following the Buffalo game, Baye Ndongo is the team's leading career scorer with 1,168 points. Naithan George follows with 1,075 and A'lahn Sumler has 1,041 career points.

PASSPORTS PLEASE

Pitt's 2026-27 roster has a distinctly international flavor, with players bringing connections from Canada, Senegal, Guinea, France and Russia to Oakland.
Naithan George and Armani Mighty both hail from Toronto, while Baye Ndongo was born in Senegal, Akir Souare in Guinea, Dominique Diomande in France and Timofei Rudovskii in Russia.
It gives Jeff Capel's newest roster a unique makeup: a group of players who have taken very different paths to Pittsburgh, but all arrived with the same goal—to make their mark in the ACC. Pitt's 2026-27 roster isn't just new. It's global.
With six international players on the roster, it makes for the most diverse men's basketball team in program history, just ahead of teams that featured five international players in 2025-26, 2024-25, 2018-19 and 2017-18.

WHEN IT'S 80, IT'S GREAT

Pitt is 57-3 under Jeff Capel when reaching the 80-point mark in a game, including each of the first two games of the 2026-27 season.
Pitt won 32 consecutive games when scoring 80 or more points until falling 98-88 to NC State in the ACC Tournament second round to close the 2025-26 season.
Pitt improved to 42-0 at home under Capel when scoring 80+ points with Thursday's 80-61 victory over Buffalo.
Pitt has won 155 consecutive home games when scoring 80+ points since a 90-83 double overtime loss to St. John's on Jan. 22, 1998.