1987–88 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team

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.

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

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

Main article: 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

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.