1987–88 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team

1987–88 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
1987–88 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Big East Regular Season Champions
NCAA tournament, second round, L 74–80 vs. Vanderbilt
Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 8
Record	24–7 (12–4 Big East)
Head coach	Paul Evans (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	Norm Law (2nd season); Mark Coleman (2nd season); John Calipari (3rd season);
Home arena	Fitzgerald Field House; (Capacity: 4,122)
	Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

1987–88 Big East men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Pittsburgh	12	–	4	.750	24	–	7	.774
No. 9 Syracuse†	11	–	5	.688	26	–	9	.743
Georgetown	9	–	7	.563	20	–	10	.667
Villanova	9	–	7	.563	24	–	13	.649
St. John's	8	–	8	.500	17	–	12	.586
Seton Hall	8	–	8	.500	22	–	13	.629
Boston College	6	–	10	.375	18	–	15	.545
Providence	5	–	11	.313	11	–	17	.393
Connecticut	4	–	12	.250	20	–	14	.588

† 1988 Big East tournament winner As of April 4, 1988^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

The 1987–88 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Paul Evans, the Panthers finished with a record of 24–7.^[2] They received an at-large bid to the 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament where, as a #2 seed, they lost in overtime in the second round to Vanderbilt.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 28, 1987*	No. 4	Robert Morris	W 96–70	1–0	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dec 2, 1987*	No. 4	Saint Francis (PA)	W 88–70	2–0	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dec 7, 1987*	No. 2	Chicago State	W 89–63	3–0	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
December 12, 1987*	No. 2	at West Virginia	W 70–64	4–0	WVU Coliseum Morgantown, West Virginia
December 21, 1987*	No. 3	vs. Akron	W 67–63	5–0	Richfield Coliseum Richfield, Ohio
Dec 26, 1987*	No. 3	at Jacksonville	W 81–67	6–0	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum Jacksonville, Florida
Dec 28, 1987*	No. 3	vs. Florida State	W 72–71	7–0	Orange County Civic Center Orlando, Florida
Dec 29, 1987*	No. 3	vs. Alabama	W 87–51	8–0	Orange County Civic Center Orlando, Florida
January 2, 1988* CBS	No. 3	No. 8 Florida	W 80-68	9-0	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Big East regular season
January 6, 1988 ESPN	No. 2	at No. 14 Georgetown	L 57–62	9–1 (0–1)	Capital Centre (13,970) Landover, Maryland
January 9, 1988 Big East TV	No. 2	No. 20 St. John's	W 81–70	10–1 (1–1)	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Non-conference regular season
January 11, 1988*	No. 6	Duquesne	W 85–58	11–1	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Big East regular season
January 13, 1988 Big East TV	No. 6	Connecticut	W 61–58	12–1 (2–1)	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
January 16, 1988 Big East TV	No. 6	Villanova	W 85–73	13–1 (3–1)	Fitzgerald Field House (6,798) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Non-conference regular season
January 23, 1988* CBS	No. 6	at No. 11 Oklahoma	L 83–86	13–2	Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Oklahoma
Big East regular season
January 25, 1988 ESPN	No. 11	Providence	W 90–56	14–2 (4–1)	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
January 30, 1988 Big East TV	No. 11	at Boston College	W 73–67	15–2 (5–1)	Boston Garden Boston, Massachusetts
February 3, 1988 ESPN	No. 9	at No. 20 St. John's	W 88–71	16–2 (6–1)	Alumni Hall Jamaica, New York
February 10, 1988 ESPN	No. 5	No. 11 Syracuse	L 75–84	16–3 (6–2)	Civic Arena (16,798) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
February 13, 1988 Big East TV	No. 5	at No. 20 Villanova	W 87–75	17–3 (7–2)	John Eleuthère du Pont Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, Pennsylvania
February 16, 1988 Big East TV	No. 8	at Providence	W 87–86	18–3 (8–2)	Providence Civic Center Providence, Rhode Island
February 20, 1988 CBS	No. 8	No. 18 Georgetown	W 64–58	19–3 (9–2)	Civic Arena (16,721) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
February 22, 1988 ESPN	No. 6	at Seton Hall	L 72–89	19–4 (9–3)	Meadowlands Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey
February 27, 1988 Big East TV	No. 6	at Connecticut	W 74–69	20–4 (10–3)	Hartford Civic Center Hartford, Connecticut
March 1, 1988 Big East TV	No. 7	Boston College	W 87–79	21–4 (11–3)	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March 2, 1988	No. 7	Seton Hall	L 79–83	21–5 (11–4)	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March 6, 1988 CBS	No. 7	at No. 12 Syracuse	W 85–84	22–5 (12–4)	Carrier Dome (32,492) Syracuse, New York
Big East tournament
March 11, 1988* Big East TV	(1) No. 5	vs. (9) Connecticut Big East tournament Quarterfinal	W 75–58	23–5	Madison Square Garden (19,591) New York City, New York
March 12, 1988* Big East TV	(1) No. 5	vs. (4) Villanova Big East tournament semifinal	L 69–72	23–6	Madison Square Garden (19,591) New York City, New York
NCAA tournament
March 18, 1988* ESPN NCAA Productions	(2 MW) No. 8	vs. (15 MW) Eastern Michigan NCAA tournament first round	W 108–90	24–6	Bob Devaney Sports Center (14,375) Lincoln, Nebraska
March 20, 1988* CBS	(2 MW) No. 8	vs. (7 MW) Vanderbilt NCAA Tournament second round	L 74–80 ^OT	24–7	Bob Devaney Sports Center (14,433) Lincoln, Nebraska
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest.

^[3]

Rankings

References

^ sports-reference.com 1987-88 Big East Conference Season Summary
^ "1987-88 Pitt Panthers Schedule and Results".
^ College Basketball @ Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-Sep-18.

[1] sports-reference.com 1987-88 Big East Conference Season Summary

[2] "1987-88 Pitt Panthers Schedule and Results".

[3] College Basketball @ Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2019-Sep-18.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Venues	Motor Square Garden (1905–1912) Duquesne Gardens (1905–1912) Trees Gym (1912–1925) Pitt Pavilion (1925–1951) Fitzgerald Field House (1951–2002) Civic Arena (alternate; 1984–2002) Petersen Events Center (2002–present)
Rivalries	Duquesne West Virginia
Culture & lore	Oakland Zoo "Hail to Pitt" "Pitt Victory Song" Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics