New Look Panthers Open 2023-24 Season Tuesday Night At Home Against Yale

PITTSBURGH - The University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team will officially kick off a new era on Tuesday night as they play host to the Yale Bulldogs inside the Petersen Events Center in the 2023-24 season opener. The first game for the Panthers under head coach Tory Verdi will tip at 7:00 pm and air live on ACC Network Extra.

HOW FOLLOW

Tuesday's game will air live on ACC Network Extra by clicking HERE.
You can also listen to the game on pittsburghpanthers.com as the voice of Pitt women's basketball, Josh Rowntree, will have the call from the Pete starting at 6:45 pm. To listen, click HERE.
Live stats of the game can be found by clicking HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

STORYLINES

The Panthers 2023-24 roster features four returners from a season ago and eight newcomers for new head coach Tory Verdi. Pitt returns just 31% of their scoring and 35% of their rebounding from last season.
Of the eight newcomers for the Panthers, five are transfers. Four of the five transfers have Power 5 playing experience (Perkins, Jordan, Boswell, Chatzileonti).
Senior forward Liatu King will be looking to build off a big junior campaign. The talented post player posted a career-high 9.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while shooting 39.4% from the floor. King ranked fourth in blocks (1.4 bpg) and fifth in rebounding (7.6 rpg) in the ACC last season.

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt opens a new era of basketball Tuesday night as they host Yale in the 2023-24 season opener at 7pm inside the Petersen Events Center.
Senior Liatu King and sophomore Marley Washenitz were named team captains earlier this season. The two returners will be looking to lead a new roster that features eight newcomers this season.
A season ago, the Panthers were one of the best three-point shooting teams in the ACC as they ranked fourth as a team in three-point percentage (32%). Sharpshooter Aislin Malcolm led the Panthers charge shooting 41.2% from behind the arc as a freshman.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

The Yale Bulldogs posted a 13-14 overall record and a 7-7 Ivy League mark last season. The capped the season posting a 6-7 road record.
The Bulldogs return seven of their top eight scorers from a season ago including leading scorer Jenna Clark who averaged 10.9 points, 5.4 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals while connecting on a team-high 42 three-pointers. Nyla McGill returns after leading the team in rebounding (8.9 rpg) while adding 7.9 points and a team-best 2.6 steals per game.
As a team, Yale averaged 59.5 points per game while allowing 64.6 points against per game. They also averaged 37.0 rebounds per game while allowing 35.6 rebounds against per game.

HOME & SEASON OPENING SUCCESS

Entering Tuesday's season opener against Yale, Pitt owns a 34-15 overall record in season openers.
Pitt will be looking for their fourth straight season opening win and seventh in the past nine seasons.
Last season, Pitt secured a 56-41 season opening win over Coppin State and a 63-45 home opener win against George Mason.
The Panthers also own a 36-13 overall record in home openers in program history. They have won four straight home openers by an average of 15.0 points per game.

NON-CONFERENCE DOMINATION

The Panthers have been dominant in the non-conference portion of their schedule over the past couple seasons.
Pitt has posted a winning record in non-conference play 18 times in the past 19 seasons including a 7-4 non-conference mark last season.
The Panthers outscored non-conference opponents by an average of 12.6 points per game last season in home games, going 5-2 at home.
Pitt is 66-36 (.647) against non-conference foes over the last nine seasons heading into the 2023-24 campaign.

THE VERDI ERA OPENS UP TUESDAY NIGHT

After being named as the 10th head coach in Pitt women's basketball history on April 7, Tory Verdi will officially coach his first game as bench boss for Pitt Tuesday.
Verdi has been successful at each of his previous two stops (Eastern Michigan and UMass), turning those programs around from losing programs to winners.
After a losing season in his first in Ypsilanti, Verdi led the Eagles to three straight WNIT's for the first time in program history. Prior to his arrival at UMass, the Minutewomen had just one winning season in the past 15 seasons but posted five winning seasons in seven seasons with Verdi in command.
Over the past two seasons at UMass, Verdi led the Minutewomen to a 53-14 record while earning the A-10 tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2021-22 and the regular season A-10 title in 2022-23. Last season, he helped lead UMass to a program record 27 wins.
He has posted a career head coaching record of 203-154 (.569) including an impressive 128-86 (.598) record the past seven seasons at UMass.
He has recorded five 20+ win seasons over his 11 full seasons as head coach and helped his squads earn six postseason bids (5 WNIT's, 1 NCAA Tournament).

NEXT UP

The Panthers will stay at home on Saturday, November 11 as they welcome rival West Virginia Mountaineers to the Petersen Events Center for a non-conference battle.
Saturday's rivalry game will tip at 2:00 pm and air live on ACC Network Extra.

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