It may have been only two points, but the 98th and 99th point of Saturday’s victory for the Pitt Panthers men’s basketball team were the biggest and most emotional.
As he said on The Fan Morning Show Monday, Aidan Fisch has been a part of the program longer than other player.
He began as a team manager and made the team as a walk-on in 2020.
It been a long journey for Fisch, but a dream came true when he scored those points to secure a 99-82 win against Syracuse.
While it was his name that was being chanted during the final moments of the game by the Oakland Zoo and his teammates and coaches were elated by the basket, talking to The Fan on Monday, Fisch deflected and talked about the other guys.
“All they care about is winning and the success of others,” said Fisch. “Individual success is secondary to every single guy on the team and that starts at the top with Nelly (Cummings), Greg (Elliott), Nike (Sibande), Blake (Hinson), (Jamarius Burton) . . . these guys are not only phenomenal basketball players but they’re phenomenal people and phenomenal teammates.”
Fisch also had praise for his coach, Jeff Capel, saying he never doubted him when the team was struggling in year’s past.
“He is one of the greatest guys I’ve ever been around and I know what he’s capable of,” said Fisch.
When it comes to the basket itself, Fisch doesn’t remember much after it went down.
“All I remember was just turning, running and screaming and I was screaming at anyone and everything in front of me, I kind of blacked out just on adrenaline,” said Fisch.
Listen to the entire conversation above to hear Fisch talk more about his teammates and believing in the team even after a slow start to the season.