Pitt released its men’s basketball nonconference schedule Wednesday, with the hope that it turns out to be challenging enough to help the Panthers return to the NCAA Tournament.
The 11-game schedule (seven home, four away from Petersen Events Center) includes five against opponents from power conferences: West Virginia, LSU, UCF or Wisconsin, Ohio State and Mississippi State. All but WVU will be played outside of Pittsburgh.
Plus, Pitt will play its final two nonconference games at home against mid-majors Eastern Kentucky (17-16, 12-4 last season) of the Atlantic Sun and Sam Houston State (21-12, 13-3) of Conference USA. Both teams finished first in their conference’s regular season.
The first five games are at the Pete, starting Nov. 4 against Radford (16-17, 5-11) of the Big South. Radford nearly upset James Madison, ranked No. 24 in the nation at the time, in a 76-73 loss last season.
The Panthers welcome Murray State (12-20, 9-11) of the Missouri Valley Conference on Nov. 8 and the Big South’s Gardner-Webb (17-16, 11-5) on Nov. 11. In games against Power 5 teams last season, Murray State lost to Mississippi State, 85-81, and Gardner-Webb lost to Arkansas, 86-68.
West Virginia (9-23, 4-14) returns to the Pete on Nov. 15 with new coach Darian DeVries for the 190th Backyard Brawl before Pitt hosts VMI (4-28, 1-17) on Nov. 18. The latter will be an on-campus game part of the Greenbrier Classic.
Coach Jeff Capel takes his team on the road for the first time in the 2024-2025 season in the Greenbrier Classic in White Sulpher Springs, W. Va. Pitt plays LSU (17-16, 9-9) on Nov. 22 and either UCF (17-16, 7-11) or Wisconsin ( 22-14, 11-9) on Nov. 24.
The string of games away from the Pete continues the day after Thanksgiving on Nov. 29 when the Panthers meet Ohio State (22-14, 9-11) in Columbus. Pitt visits Mississippi State (21-14, 8-10) on Dec. 4 in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Pitt defeated Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament in 2023.
The Eastern Kentucky and Sam Houston State games are at home Dec. 11 and 21.
Pitt’s ACC home schedule includes North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Louisville, Clemson, Miami, Georgia Tech and Boston College, plus first-year conference members Stanford and California.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.