For each of the past two years, there hasn’t been a City Game, the once-annual matchup between Pitt and Duquesne, the two largest men’s basketball programs in Pittsburgh.
That gap between games will extend one more year — and perhaps even longer than that.
In a video conference call with reporters Tuesday, Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said that he “wouldn’t count on” the Dukes playing Pitt this season and that the break in meetings may not end there.
“I doubt if Pitt and Duquesne will play as long as coach [Jeff] Capel and coach Dambrot are the coaches,” Dambrot said. “I'd be surprised if we played. I'm not going to go play at Pitt every year. I'm old and stubborn. I'm not doing that.”
Dambrot’s comments echo what multiple sources have told the Post-Gazette since the series was put on hiatus for a second-consecutive year in 2020 — that the rivalry’s resumption likely wouldn’t occur until one or both of the programs’ current coaches were no longer in their role.
One of the barriers that exists is the terms of a potential game. Dambrot said Pitt wanted the Dukes to play them every year at its home court, the Petersen Events Center, which he said “we aren’t going to do.” Each of the past 10 meetings between the two schools occurred at a neutral site, first Mellon Arena and later what is now known as PPG Paints Arena.
Dambrot said Duquesne would be more open to playing the Panthers on the road every year if they were willing to pay them tens of thousands of dollars like they do for home games with other programs from smaller conferences. Short of that, though, the situation is at a bit of a standstill.
“We talked earlier in the year,” Dambrot said. “The terms weren't amiable for us at that point. I don't know where it stands right now.”
Separated by only about two miles, Pitt and Duquesne have played 87 times, making the Dukes the Panthers’ fourth-most-frequently-played Division I opponent, behind only West Virginia, Penn State and Syracuse. Pitt leads the all-time series, 55-32, and has won 17 of the past 18 matchups, with its only loss coming in 2016 in a game in which standout guard Jamel Artis was serving a one-game suspension.
The two sides had played every season from 1969-70 through 2018-19. The current three-year hiatus is the longest since the Panthers and Dukes didn’t play from 1940-52.
It was announced in March 2019 that Pitt and Duquesne had agreed in principle to play in 2020 and 2021 after what was originally thought to be a one-year hiatus in 2019, but those plans have been shelved. Last season, Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper said he was informed that Pitt did not wish to play the game at PPG Paints Arena, as was originally planned.
“This is an event that is annually anticipated by the City of Pittsburgh and was well on its way to growing back to being a great college basketball rivalry,” Harper said in a statement released last year. “We have worked hard to build our program into a postseason contender. We finished 94th in the 2020 NET rankings and anticipate having an even better ranking in 2020-21, which makes us a quality non-conference opponent for any program with postseason aspirations. The NCAA selection committee values Quad 1 and Quad 2 games, and we are actively seeking games against Power [Five] opponents and have secured them. This situation is unfortunate for many entities involved, in particular the college basketball fans of Western Pennsylvania, but ultimately Pitt declined to play us.”
In a message from an athletic department spokesperson, Pitt said the City Game “is not part of our non-conference scheduling plan. However, that does not preclude a series renewal at some point in the future should the circumstances be right for both programs.”
For as lopsided as the recent City Game history was, it served as an event that placed basketball on a prominent stage in a region where it’s often an afterthought. In the past 10 meetings, all of which were held at neutral sites, there was an average crowd of 12,749 fans, a much higher figure than a non-conference game for either program would typically produce.
The gulf emerging between the two universities isn’t just limited to men’s basketball. Though it came in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Panthers and Dukes didn’t play in women’s basketball last season for the first time since 1982-83. Pitt leads that all-time series, 21-17, but has lost nine of the past 11 games.
Additionally, Duquesne hasn’t played Robert Morris in men’s basketball since the 2017-18 season, meaning that over the past two seasons, there has been just one game between two of the three Division I men’s programs in the Pittsburgh area — Pitt’s 71-57 victory in Nov. 2019 at Robert Morris, the first men’s basketball game played at the Colonials’ UPMC Events Center.
The City Game’s absence has come as Capel and Dambrot both work to build programs that were in tatters at the time they took over, in 2018 and 2017, respectively. Capel is 40-48 in three seasons while Dambrot is 65-47 in four seasons.
For now, that work continues with reshuffled rosters as each man enters a crucial point in his respective tenure. It just won’t be happening against what were once familiar faces, names and jerseys.
“Just to be clear, everybody at Robert Morris, Pitt and Duquesne have to do what's in the best interest of their program,” Dambrot said. “I really don't have any problem if coach Capel really doesn't want to play or coach [Andy] Toole doesn't want to play or we don't want to play. Coaches are getting fired left and right. Programs are trying to turn their program around. I don't have an issue with it.”
Nubyjas Wilborn contributed to this report. Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: May 25, 2021, 7:39 p.m.
