Carrying swagger into the Sweet 16
Elite Eight, Final Four runs bolster their confidence
While Nov. 26 marks the start of hunting season in the state of Pennsylvania, Jay Vidovich’s club likes to believe it’s been on the prowl for big game since late August.
The latest trophy kills added to Pitt’s collection include a Viking helmet (Cleveland State) and a Kangaroo pelt (Akron), but even before its success in the NCAA tournament — where it advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third season in a row — the scrappy team from Oakland has been hunting top-tier
competition all year long.
The challenges began in nonconference play, where the Panthers (10-4-5) faced a ranked opponent in six of their seven matchups. Five of those six teams were ranked in the top 15 at the time of the match.
Pitt’s conference schedule wasn’t any easier — the ACC had eight teams qualify for this year’s NCAA tournament, more than any other athletic conference in the country. Test after test, high-profile match after high-profile match, the Panthers continue coming back for more. And despite accumulating a few battle scars along the way, the Panthers remain on the hunt for the ultimate prize: a national championship.
On Sunday, Vidovich’s group will look to take down the biggest cat in the jungle, as it’s set to face
No. 1-seeded Kentucky at 6 p.m. The Wildcats (15-0-5) possess home-field advantage as the top overall seed in the bracket.
For many, a postseason bout on the road against an unbeaten foe would be intimidating. However, it’s high-stakes competition like this that the Panthers claim to live for.
“We know it’s going to be a hard game, but we have nothing but winning on our minds,” junior Filip Mirkovic told the Post-Gazette. “We’re more than capable of doing it. We have confidence. I feel very good about our team going into this matchup.”
“I feel like as a whole, our team has a tendency to play up to the competition,” added Panthers captain Jackson Walti. “Whether it’s Akron, Virginia on the road, or Duke on the road, we’re excited. We think we can get ourselves another big win and hand Kentucky their first loss of the season and end their dreams for an undefeated run.”
Perhaps Pitt has a reason to feel confident. A handful of the Panthers’ key players are more than familiar with the big stage, having logged key minutes in each of the two past postseasons, when the program reached the Final Four in 2020 and Elite Eight in 2021.
Although some notable figures from years past are no longer around, Pitt didn’t rebuild, but instead reloaded this summer, adding a handful of experienced graduate transfers to its roster — who, according to Vidovich, hit the ground running from Day 1.
“We had several players with extra eligibility because of COVID who wanted to try and upgrade their game,” Vidovich said. “They wanted an opportunity to chase a trophy and play here at Pitt.
“We made it pretty clear in the recruiting process that everyone had to earn their jersey. Nothing was guaranteed for anyone. I think that allowed everyone to buy in before the year started, regardless of how long they’ve been here.”
Pitt’s cohesion was best on display last weekend, when it knocked off No. 16 Akron 3-0 on the road in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Valentin Noel — who leads the Panthers with nine goals this year — scored Pitt’s first two goals in the contest, while Luis Sahmkow chipped home the third. The victory marked the program’s first road win against the Zips since 1965, providing an already prideful Panther squad with even more swagger.
“It was a huge win for us,” Mirkovic said, “to give us that little boost, that little push that we needed for the next game against the Number 1 seed. Confidence comes from wins like that, but if you watched the game, we played as a team. They couldn’t damage us. We stuck together. We were a unit the whole time.”
With its season, along with an opportunity to host an Elite Eight matchup on the line, Pitt will once more look to remain united in its hunt toward the top.