Another postponement for Pitt

There has been another adjustment to Pitt’s 2020-21 basketball schedule, as the ACC announced on Saturday that the Panthers’ game at Georgia Tech on Wednesday has been postponed.

The postponement came due to COVID-19 issues in the Yellow Jackets’ program.

The game was originally scheduled to be played on Tuesday, Jan. 12, but was moved to Wednesday, Jan. 13, last week by the conference and then postponed on Sunday.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the college football schedule through the fall, Pitt’s men’s basketball team made it through its first month without any issues or postponements, playing seven games and building a 5-2 record.

Then the Panthers’ eighth game, scheduled for Dec. 29 at Duke was postponed, as was the next game, a home date with Notre Dame on Jan. 2. Both of those postponements were due to COVID issues in Pitt’s program that stretched back to the middle of December when head coach Jeff Capel tested positive and was unable to coach the team for the Dec. 22 loss to Louisville at the Petersen Events Center.

With more than two weeks off, Pitt was finally prepared to get back on the court for a Jan. 9 home game against Florida State. But when COVID issues in the Seminoles’ program caused their game at Syracuse on Jan. 6 to be postponed, the ACC sent the Panthers to the Dome on that date instead.

FSU’s COVID issues didn’t end at midweek, though; they carried into the weekend and led the Pitt-FSU game on Jan. 9 to be postponed. Now, with the Georgia Tech game postponed, Pitt’s next time on the court could very well be the Jan. 16 game against Syracuse at the Petersen Events Center.

Pitt’s game at the Dome that was played on Jan. 6 had previously been scheduled for Feb. 13; the move created an open date for the Panthers in February, which will come in handy since they currently have three unscheduled postponed games: at Duke, at Georgia Tech and home vs. Florida State. Pitt does not have a game scheduled for this week, so a postponed contest could be placed there.

As it stands, though, the Panthers don’t have room under the current schedule to fit all three postponed games. They have an opening at midweek this week and don’t have any games scheduled the weekend of Feb. 13. But unless the ACC extends the regular season or schedules three games in a week, Pitt is unlikely to play all 20 conference regular-season games.

Here’s the remaining ACC games as they are currently scheduled:

Saturday, Jan. 16 - vs. Syracuse
Tuesday, Jan. 19 - vs. Duke
Saturday, Jan. 23 - at Boston College
Tuesday, Jan. 26 - vs. North Carolina
Saturday, Jan. 30 - vs. Notre Dame
Wednesday, Feb. 3 - vs. Virginia Tech
Sunday, Feb. 7 - at Wake Forest
Wednesday, Feb. 10 - at Louisville
Wednesday, Feb. 17 - vs. N.C. State
Sunday, Feb. 21 - vs. Clemson
Wednesday, Feb. 24 - at Virginia
Sunday, Feb. 28 - at N.C. State
Tuesday, Mar. 2 - vs. Wake Forest
Saturday, Mar. 6 - at Clemson