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The Pitt men’s basketball team added a game to its non-conference schedule for the 2020-21 season on Friday, as a matchup with Morgan State was slated for Nov. 25. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports first reported the news, and it was confirmed by Craig Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Meyer added that Pitt will pay Morgan State $85,000 to play the game.
Source: Pitt will host Morgan State as part of its 20-21 non-conference schedule.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 22, 2020
The matchup between Pitt and Morgan State will be the third in the teams’ history and the first since 2001. The Panthers lead the Bears in the all-time series 2-0, as they previously beat them 80-67 at the Fitzgerald Field House on Jan. 26, 1982, and 76-55 at the Petersen Events Center on Nov. 16, 2001. Pitt’s most recent win over Morgan State came against a team that would go 3-25. And while the Bears have improved since then, they haven’t posted a winning record since 2013.
Last season, Morgan State went 15-16 overall and had a 9-7 record in the MEAC under first-year head coach Kevin Broadus. Pitt was 16-17 and 6-14 in the stronger ACC. In addition, the Panthers notably boast a 29-0 all-time record against MEAC opponents, and their most recent win was a 78-43 drubbing of Maryland - Eastern Shore that came on Dec. 15, 2018, during Jeff Capel's first year at Pitt.
News of the addition to Pitt’s non-conference schedule comes just days after Pitt pulled out of the 2020 City Game with Duquesne, angering a vocal contingent of fans in the Pittsburgh area. The City Game was an annual tradition in Pittsburgh between 1970 and 2018, but with Pitt canceling it in 2019 and 2020, the future of the rivalry game is now uncertain.
At this point, Pitt’s non-conference schedule for the 2020-21 season consists of West Virginia on Nov. 13, the Myrtle Beach Invitational from Nov. 19 to Nov. 22, Morgan State on Nov. 25, and an ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchup at an unknown date. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge opponent is unknown, but the Myrtle Beach field includes Charlotte, Dayton, Loyola - Chicago, Missouri, Nebraska, Penn and Utah State as potential opponents for Pitt.