PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – They’ve only played three times but an interesting history as Pitt basketball announces a home-and-home series with Vanderbilt on Monday.
Pitt will host the first game on November 24 this year with a game in Nashville in 2022.
“As we put together our non-conference schedule, we are always looking for opponents who will help us prepare for ACC play,” said head coach Jeff Capel in a statement released by Pitt. “I have known Stack [Jerry Stackhouse] since we were AAU teammates as teenagers back in North Carolina. He teaches a fast-paced, aggressive style of basketball and his teams compete at a high level. This matchup will be a great test for our team and will help ready us for conference play.”
Most recent of the connections between the two is head coach Kevin Stallings. Hired by Pitt in March of 2016 after a NCAA Tournament appearance coaching the Commodores. Stallings won just 24 games in two seasons with the Panthers, eight in his last year before fired by at the time new athletic director Heather Lyke.
Before arriving at Pitt, Stallings forced Sheldon Jeter to sit out a season after transferring in 2013. It caused hard feelings between the schools, but obviously not hard enough to prevent Pitt from hiring Stallings.
Pitt won two of the three matchups on court, but the loss was especially painful. Leading with four seconds to go in a 1988 second round NCAA Tournament game, Panthers allowed Barry Goheen to dribble free and make a 23-footer to force overtime. Vandy would go on to beat the second-seeded Panthers 80-74 in OT. A team with Charles Smith, Jerome Lane, Demetreus Gore, Sean Miller, Jason Matthews and Darelle Porter.
This year’s Pitt team is a rebuilt roster. While Vandy is coming off a 9-16 season and led by the 20.8 ppg of Scottie Pippen, Junior.