Stallings takes Pitt’s latest loss harder than most
The way Kevin Stallings sees things, one can look at the reeling Pitt men’s basketball team one of two ways.
Option A: “OK, we’re in last place, well that doesn’t feel any good to anyone. That doesn’t feel good to the fans, to the players, the coaches, the administrators, nobody. Even the media that has to cover the team, that doesn’t feel any good.”
Option B: “We’re in the process of trying to build something. When you look out there, do you have hope in what’s being built? And that’s an individual answer. For me, I certainly have hope.”
As his group sits at 0-8 in the ACC, still stuck on eight wins for the season after its first and only soul-crushing near-miss so far in conference play Wednesday night against N.C. State, Stallings remains steadfast that no one can question his players’ effort or their heart.
And though he has been at this for decades, 19 of those 25 years coaching in a major metro area in a power conference, Stallings gave a slight chuckle Thursday afternoon at Petersen Events Center as he noted that he’s “human.” Criticism of the head coach doesn’t just roll off his back, as much as he tries to steer clear of it, especially during a stretch such as this.
“I’m probably pretty sensitive to it,” he said after Pitt blew a 15-point lead in its 72-68 loss against N.C. State less than 24 hours earlier in