A revamped Pitt roster bolstered by experienced newcomers hosts a Rider team that underwent a complete roster overhaul when both teams open their seasons Monday in Pittsburgh.
Coming off a 13-20 campaign, Pitt coach Jeff Capel is counting on a pair of transfers to rebuild his roster. Entering his ninth season at the helm, Capel prioritized two key positions in an effort to compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Capel landed point guard Naithan George, who averaged 10.9 points and 5.4 assists at Syracuse last season, and Georgia Tech forward Baye Ndongo, who averaged 11.8 points and 8.1 rebounds.
George and Ndongo bring familiarity to Pitt’s revamped roster, having spent two seasons together as teammates and roommates at Georgia Tech. Ndongo started all 90 games he played for the Yellow Jackets.
“It was really important to get a really good point guard and a really good interior player,” Capel said. “And then build everything around that.”
Despite the roster overhaul, Capel is aware the Panthers have plenty of ground to make up.
“We were bad last year,” Capel said. “We’ve taken steps forward as a program from where we were nine years ago when I was first hired but it’s still not where we need to be, where we want to be or where I thought we would be right now.”
After the Broncs finished 4-25 and missed the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament for the first time last year, coach Kevin Baggett decided to turn over Rider’s entire roster, an unprecedented move for the program.
“As a staff, we met, we talked about spending more time getting to know these guys before we recruited them,” Baggett said. “And I think we hit home runs as far as our guys; great character guys.”
UMass-Lowell transfer Khalil Farmer and Old Dominion transfer Bryce Baker were named team captains.
“It’s been a fun time,” Baker said. “It’s definitely a family, and you can’t really say that all the time.”