Pitt Revives Home Court Advantage Against Wake Forest

The Pitt Panthers took a step toward rebuilding their home court advantage

PITTSBURGH -- In the heyday of Pitt Panthers basketball, the Petersen Events Center was a fortress. In front of one of the most intimidating home crowds in college basketball, they ran up a dominant home record that made it a house of horrors for everyone from mid-majors to top-10 opponents alike. 

The Panthers had lost some of that mystique as they spiraled following Jamie Dixon's departure and rebuilt a tremendous homecourt advantage during the 2022-23 campaign, when head coach Jeff Capel built a winner out of nowhere that ran up a 14-3 record - including an 8-3 mark against Power 5 teams - at home. This season though, it took almost three full months for Pitt to beat a high-major team at the Petersen Events Center and in beating Wake Forest, the Panthers bucked another negative narrative on their road back to contention. 

Entering the Wake Forest game, Pitt was 0-5 against Power 5 competition at the Petersen Events Center and had shot 26% from 3-point range in those losses. The last time they played at home, the building was lifeless as rival Syracuse raced to a crushing 69-58 victory that left fans, players and coaches asking existential questions about the program's health. 

Victories over then-No. 7 Duke and Georgia Tech on the road stabilized things but if Pitt couldn't count on their once-reliable home court advantage, how could the notion of an in-season turn-around be taken seriously?

For whatever reasons, the rims were friendlier to Pitt on the road than they were at home, which is a dizzying and disappointing phenomenon for those who remember this program's glory days, when home losses were simply unheard of and unacceptable. 

This season's home slate has certainly been tough. Duke, Clemson, North Carolina, Missouri and Syracuse have all stormed into the Petersen Events Center and picked up wins with varying degrees of ease and Pitt drew the line at letting Wake Forest steal a win in Pittsburgh. 

Panthers returned some of that vintage feel to the Petersen Events Center with a vintage performance. They finally made some shots on familiar rims but more importantly, they followed their defense, which suffocated one of the best offenses in the ACC and America, and effort to a critical win. A steely veteran who scored just two points made far and away the biggest impact on the victory. It doesn't get any more throwback than that. 

Pitt had been sitting on 298 wins at the Petersen Events Center for 42 days and finally got all-time win No. 299 on their home floor. They can hit a major milestone - 300 wins inside The Pete - this weekend when they host a Notre Dame team that's won twice since the Christmas holiday. 

They aren't contenders and they haven't completely rebuilt the Petersen Events Center's defenses yet, but this is a step in the right direction. The Panthers created their own energy inside of a half-empty arena and earned the right to have their crowd at their back again. 

The worst of Pitt's remaining schedule comes on the road and in environments they've handled before, but the biggest question is whether they can take care of business at home. Confidence goes a long way with this group and perhaps this winning performance can spark a run over the final two minutes 

"Very important. Very important," freshman point guard Bub Carrington said about the significance of winning at home. "Just because we have an amazing student section, to come out and actually perform for them, it feels amazing because they’re always going to be cheering for us."

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