text: Jeff Capel era (2018–present) On March 27, 2018, Duke associate head coach Jeff Capel reached an agreement to become the 16th head basketball coach at Pitt. Capel previously served as head coach at VCU (2002–06) and Oklahoma (2006–11). In the 2022-23 season, the Panthers finished with a regular season record of 21-10 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. The 11-seed Panthers defeated Mississippi State 60-59 in the First Four and 6-seed Iowa State 59-41 in the first round before suffering a loss to 3-seed Xavier by a score of 84-73.
  Traditions
  Student section
  The "Oakland Zoo" is the student cheering section for the men's and women's basketball teams. The Zoo cheers on the Panthers from the bottom tier of the stands at the Petersen Events Center, primarily across from the teams' benches and on the baselines under the baskets. The "Pete" holds a rowdy crowd of 1,500 students that are typically uniformly clad in gold t-shirts, and the Zoo student section is consistently sold out for Panthers home games. The Oakland Zoo is named after Oakland, the neighborhood in which the university is located. The name "Oakland Zoo" is used for the basketball cheering sections only; the football cheering section has often used the title, "The Panther Pitt."
  Rivalries