1-10-19

The Pitt News

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | january 10, 2019 ­| Volume 109 | Issue 81

PITT ENDS ACC LOSING STREAK WITH 89-86 OVERTIME WIN OVER LOUISVILLE

PANTHERS CLAIM FIRST ACC WIN IN TWO YEARS

Tessa Sayers

Assistant Sports Editor At the end of the second half before going into overtime, head coach Jeff Capel told his players to keep a strong face. They took that advice and ran with it, ultimately beating Louisville 89-86, ending an ACC losing streak that had lasted 690 days and beating the Cardinals for the first time since 2010.

Tied with 45 seconds left in overtime, Louisville’s redshirt junior Ryan McMahon took and missed a 3-point attempt that would have given the Cardinals the lead.

First-year Trey McGowens got the rebound and took it to the basket, making a layup to make the score 88-86, giving Pitt its final lead of the game. First-year Xavier Johnson stepped to the line 22 seconds later, making one of his two foul shots, sealing Pitt’s victory.

McGowens led both teams with 33 points in the Panther’s win at the Petersen Events Center Wednesday night. Johnson was just behind him with 20 points.

“First of all, I’m really proud of my team,” Capel said. “And I’m really happy for them.

I thought we were incredibly tough tonight against a really good basketball team … For See Basketball on page 9

Men’s basketball head coach Jeff Capel celebrates after the team’s 89-86 victory over Louisville Wednesday night.

Thomas Yang | assistant visual editor

NEW CLASS ADDRESSES ANTI-SEMITISM

Erica Guthrie

as “Night of the Broken Glass,” occured in Nazi Germany on the night of Nov. 9-10, Just shy of two weeks after the deaths 1938. About 100 Jewish people were killed, of 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Syna- their homes and buildings vandalized and gogue in Squirrel Hill, a crowd of nearly synagogues lit ablaze.

This larger-than-average attendance 60 people gathered in Posvar Hall for Pitt’s annual commemoration of Kristallnacht was one of the reasons why a group of Pitt on Nov. 9, 2018. Kristallnacht, also known professors decided to get together to create the one-credit pop-up lecture series Staff Writer

“Anti-Semitism Then and Now: Perspectives after Tree of Life.” The lecture series is hosted this semester by the Jewish studies department, in cooperation with the history department, religious studies department and the European Studies Center. The class, which runs from Jan. 23 to April 24, meets Wednesdays at See Anti-Semitism on page 3

News

RECENT REPORT EVALUATES COLLEGES’ FREE SPEECH RULES

Neena Hagen Staff Writer

Free speech rights are among the most debated topics on college campuses across the country. But the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE, put free speech issues into numbers in a report last month.

The free speech advocacy group released a report in December 2018 claiming more than a quarter of colleges openly and significantly restrict free speech on campus, earning a red-light rating. The same report said nearly 90 percent of Pennsylvania colleges unconstitutionally restricted some amount of speech, earning a yellow-light rating.

“We base the rating on how the Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment jurisprudence,” Laura Beltz, the lead author of the report, said in an interview. “If we see a policy at a university that infringes on speech protected under those legal standards, we give it a red- or yellow-light rating.”

According to the Center for Media and Democracy, FIRE is funded by organizations like the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Charles G. Koch Foundation, which donate extensively to conservative political causes.

But Alex Rose, a junior political science major and the president of College Democrats, said he believes the criteria that FIRE used are appropriate.

“I think this report is very important because we need to keep an eye on free speech issues everywhere in universities, in governments, really every sector of public life,” Rose said. “The standards they use seem very fair and very much in line with the Constitution.”

A yellow-light rating, which Pitt earned in the report, often pertains to vaguely worded policies open to broad interpretation, which can unintentionally clamp down on students’ free speech rights. Pitt also elicited criticism in the report for charging Young America’s Foundation a $5,546 security fee for Ben Shapiro’s speech on

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Pitt’s campus Nov. 14, 2018.

But the speech, according to first-year accounting major and College Republicans’ communications director TiOlu Oresanya, did not provoke the kind of violent protests to warrant such a fee.

A small number of protestors showed up at the entrance to the building during the event, and all of them were peaceful.

“The security fee has no reason ascribed to it,” Oresanya said. “It was basically a hamper on free speech.”

YAF threatened to sue Pitt in response to the security fee, calling it a “heckler’s veto” in a public letter — a practice that, by definition, suppresses controversial speakers by charging exorbitant appearance fees dressed up as necessary security costs.

But Rose believes the proposed lawsuit is purely a publicity stunt.

“Problems arise when protests are actively shutting down an event, but the protestors have an equal right to be heard just as much as someone like Ben Shapiro,” Rose said. “I think [YAF] is just playing the victim to garner publicity. Many prominent political figures have spoken at Pitt. The University doesn’t care what you’re saying, they care whether you have a massive enough crowd there to pose a security threat.”

According to FIRE, vague wording and lack of transparency in university speech codes are partially to blame for lawsuits like these.

“Universities should put in place policies that detail very clearly where security fees come from and make sure it’s crystal clear that it’s on a content and politically neutral basis,” Beltz said.

Universities must also ensure the wording of their policies is in line with First Amendment standards, according to Beltz. She said there are many gray areas in the First Amendment that can render colleges’ broad-brush or vaguely worded policies unconstitutional in certain circumstances.

“We encourage schools to stick with restric-

Ben Shapiro speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. via gage skidmore, wikimedia tions in line with the First Amendment — harassment, intimidation, true threats and defamation,” Beltz said. “But at the same time, they also need to be tracking the Supreme Court standard for [these restrictions] in the educational setting because when they stray from that definition, university policies can have a chilling effect on free speech and could even punish protected speech.”

According to University spokesperson Joe Miksch, Pitt is fully committed to fostering an oncampus environment that allows for open debate across the political spectrum.

“As a university, one of our roles is to engage in conversations on difficult topics,” Miksch said.

“Our policies and procedures defend free expression for all University community members and we pledge that our adherence to the principles of free expression will always be part of the bedrock of this University.”

But beyond written policies or stated commitments to free speech, Beltz said formulating a game plan to keep counterprotests nonviolent helps mitigate the tension associated with hosting a controversial speaker like Shapiro.

“Universities could even set up counterpro-

January 10, 2019

gramming for protestors so it wouldn’t result in the shutting down of the speech,” Beltz said. “But on the actual day of the event, the University does need to make sure that the speaker is able to carry out their talk.”

One way to ensure that, according to Beltz, is to educate students about free speech principles before they set foot on campus. FIRE works one-onone with students in high school classrooms, teaching them to value freedom of expression that will be so vital to their learning experience in college.

“It seems like students are arriving on campus with the mindset that censorship might be the best tool possible,” Beltz said. “We highlight very plainly what the legal standards are on a college campus while also encouraging students to embrace an open marketplace of ideas.”

An increasing number of colleges now offer “open-mindedness training” for students as well, Beltz said. UCLA, a university that received a green-light rating in FIRE’s report, unveiled its annual “Freedom of Speech Week” in September 2017. Featured prominently in the event calendar are discussions about speakers’ rights on campus and how to civilly confront hate speech.

Oresanya said she would like to see similar initiatives on Pitt’s campus.

“It’s important to make sure as many rights as possible are being protected on every campus,” she said. “Pitt has been hanging up posters around campus encouraging students to embrace free speech and to respect ideas different from their own … I think it’s a great start.”

While Beltz believes universities have a lot of work to combat free speech restrictions on college campuses, she said it’s vital that universities embrace free speech.

“It’s just gonna take more and more students expressing to colleges that they care about this issue,” Beltz said. “If you have an open marketplace of ideas, those ideas can compete for prominence and the best ideas will prosper.”

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Anti-Semitism, pg. 1 noon for 50 minutes.

One of the class’ featured lecturers is Rachel Kranson, an associate professor and head of undergraduate studies in the religious studies department. Kranson said education on anti-Semitism is important because people can learn to recognize anti-Semitic ideology and prevent the further dissemination of such ideas.

“After the Tree of Life shooting, there were many people, in the University of Pittsburgh community and beyond, who struggled to understand how and why something so horrible could have happened. Nothing can fully answer this question,” Kranson said in an email. “However, learning about anti-Semitic ideologies and myths, and the destructive impact of these ideas both today and in the past, can offer some critical perspective.”

Adam Shear, department chair of the religious studies department and another of the class’ lecturers, said the faculty decided on a one-credit lecture series after it went through several other ideas, such as a one-day teach-in or revitalizing a past course on anti-Semitism.

“We wanted something that students could have access to and get credit for if they were attending regularly,” Shear said. “The main thing was thinking about bringing all the expertise at Pitt in a way that would be helpful.”

Shear said instances of mass gun violence in American society tend to get lumped together, regardless of the motive behind them. In presenting a course about anti-Semitism, professors could make sure to distinguish the context of the Tree of Life shooting as an act of antiSemitism.

“There are other experts on gun violence in America who can put [Tree of Life] into the history of gun violence in our society. There are other psychologists who deal with the mentality of somebody who would break down the bounds of what’s normal and commit violent acts,” Shear said. “But since we have the expertise on anti-Semitism, we wanted to give students that opportunity, and it’s something they’re not necessarily going to get in other discourses, either.”

Other featured Pitt faculty include European Studies Center Director and political science associate professor Jae-

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Jae Spoon and Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences Dean Kathleen Blee. The 12 lectures will be presented in chronological order from Biblical times to modern day. Each week’s lecture will present antiSemitism in a different context, ranging from early Christian anti-Semitism to Nazi Germany to modern white supremacy.

“Sometimes Jews have been targeted because of their religious beliefs, sometimes they have been attacked for their perceived racial, economic, gender or political differences,” Kranson said. “This course will … explain the social, political and economic dynamics that bred various forms of anti-Jewish animus.”

Irina Livezeanu, Jewish studies director and associate professor in the history department, said each lecture would last approximately 30 minutes, and the next 20 minutes would be devoted to a discussion about the lecture topics. In order to receive credit, registered students must attend at least 10 out of the 12 lectures.

As coursework, each student is expected to write posts for a blog about the course.

In addition to eight Pitt faculty members, two lecturers will come from outside Pitt — Michal Friedman, a visiting professor in the history department at CMU, and Lauren Bairnsfather, the director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

“Some of [Friedman’s] students will come for extra credit to these lectures, some CMU students who aren’t taking her course maybe will come,” Shear said.

“Lauren Bairnsfather is just a real expert on the Holocaust, so we wanted to invite her in to be a part of this, also. She’s a part of the Pittsburgh Jewish community so we thought that was a good idea.”

Funding for a teaching assistant for the course was secured through the European Studies Center. It is one of few European Union Centers of Excellence in the United States, which provides generous funding for programming about Europe and its place in the world.

“Since people are concerned, we should use it as a teaching moment and talk with people from an interdisciplinary point of view about what antiSemitism is, what scholars have done in their work to try and explain its occurrence over hundreds of years of history and different disciplinary perspectives,” Livezeanu said.

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Opinions

column

VEGANISM IS NOT ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL Leah Mensch

not practical. There is nothing inherently wrong with veganism. The complications begin to arise when the diet turns into a moral obligation, or when people, including the Veganuary organization, see the diet as one-size-fits-all.

According to the Veganuary website, two of the most common myths regarding the diet are that it is unaffordable and unsustainable for everyone. But these kinds of blanket statements are rarely accurate.

Some people do not have the means to adopt a vegan diet.

If organizations like Veganuary want to

For The Pitt News For more than 600,000 people, the month of January has taken on a new name.

Introduced in 2014, Veganuary is a registered charity aiming to receive pledges from people committing to a vegan diet for the month of January, and hopefully beyond. Almost 1.2 million people have signed their names.

In many cases, vegan diets can produce profound environmental and physical health effects. But a diet is a personal choice, and for some, adopting a diet with the consumption of no animal products is

Daniel Walsh | STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

See Mensch on page 5

from the editorial board

The real consequences of Trump’s fake crisis In his first Oval Office address Tuesday evening, as well as throughout the currently three-week-long government shutdown, President Donald Trump has claimed the government is only shut down because Democrats won’t fund border security.

Then he walked out on a meeting yesterday with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling it a “total waste of time.”

Trump is both a hypocrite and wrong to blame Democrats for a lack of resolution to the shutdown. Democrats have presented several budget proposals, each of which contained more than a billion dollars to go toward border security. And the longer he blames others for a problem created entirely by himself, the more people he puts at risk.

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The president has talked about a supposed crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border for years, ever since his first campaign rally where there were chants to “build the wall.” Now, he wants to declare it a national emergency in order to obtain $5.6 billion in funding for a border wall, in reality the only emergency happening there is a result of his advertising a crisis that doesn’t exist to the extent he says it does. During his Oval Office address, he talked about the threat illegal immigration poses to our country, but he tried to use fear and hyperbole to attempt to get support for his hard stance during this shutdown.

The real crisis at the border is a result of Trump’s policy of detainment, which has separated children from families and stretched thin the resources the government has provided them as they

await their fate. This real “humanitarian crisis,” as he called it, was created by his own policies — and it’s not the only problem he’s created.

The longer he stokes the flames of fear and paranoia, the worse the situation gets at the border for those seeking asylum and the worse things get for American citizens. It seems that with each additional day that the government is partially shut down, we hear about another way people are hurt or even put in danger by the absence of another government program or government-run service.

Hundreds of Food and Drug Administration officials have been put on furlough, which has decreased the number of food inspections made in the past few weeks. In fact, all inspections of foodproducing facilities have been halted

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for the time being, including those that handle seafood, dairy products and vegetables. Facilities that have had problems with contamination in the past are also currently operating unchecked.

In the wake of several E. coli outbreaks on romaine lettuce, this inadequate staffing is especially concerning.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year, 1 in 6 Americans are affected by a foodborne illness. A lack of control over what food is put out to the consumer poses a major safety threat, far more significant than the supposed threat at the border Trump has been claiming exists.

Not only is the president being hypocritical about the situation, but he’s also determined to stick to his own agenda — even in the face of very serious health and safety threats to the American people.

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Mensch, pg. 4 encourage animal welfare, sustainability and health, they are better off encouraging people to add plants to their diets, rather than take away meat entirely.

Mark Bittman, an acclaimed food journalist for The New York Times, follows his own philosophy: “part-time veganism.” He does the best he can to eat plant-based foods, but said in an NBC interview he also allows himself to consume animal products. He understands that many members of society simply lack the resources, income or motivation to sustain an entirely plant-based diet. But that doesn’t mean they cannot reap the benefits of vegan diets.

“I want to emphasize that any strategy that enables you to eat more plant foods, more natural foods, more whole foods […] fewer animal products, any strategy that works for you is the right strategy,” he says during the interview.

A number of Pitt students agree that maintaining a full vegan diet is difficult.

Pitt requires all on-campus residents to pay for a meal plan each semester. For students like Brittany Brickus, who lived on campus for her first and sophomore years, this leaves a limited selection of vegan options.

“I paid more than $1,500 for my meal plan,” the sophomore psychology major said. “I can’t not use it.”

Like Brickus, sophomore Kami Beckford does not have access to a kitchen to cook vegan meals and lacks the money to purchase premade vegan-friendly food off campus. She agreed that maintaining a vegan diet in the on-campus dining facilities can be difficult.

“Pitt forces you to buy a meal plan, and it’s so hard,” the architectural studies and theater arts major said. “One time, I had to eat toast and barbeque sauce for dinner.”

Both Brickus and Beckford now try to eat mostly plant-based diets but also consume some animal products as well.

For some, the price is only part of the problem. Christina Hogg, a junior majoring in rehabilitation sciences, found veganism to be both inaccessible and unaffordable and gave up pursuing a vegan diet two years ago.

“Accessibility in general, even for someone like me, who can afford college,

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seems to be the biggest issue,” she said.

“But the options that are available are much more expensive than a meat equivalent, too. It just isn’t affordable for me.”

Hogg is one of many Americans who finds a plant-based diet to be impractical.

Veganism, in many ways, is a privilege.

It is most easily accessible to members of upper- and middle-class America.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association suggests that an average low-income family would have to dedicate up to 70 percent of its food budget solely to fruits and veggies in order to meet the five-tonine servings suggestion in the United States.

Since fruits and vegetables are staple aspects of a vegan diet, this statistic suggests low-income families attempting to follow a vegan diet would have to spend even more of their budget on these items.

That often does not leave enough money for other essential protein-heavy vegan items, such as tofu, almond milk, cheese substitutes, beans and nuts.

This statistic does not account for the low-income citizens who rely on government support for food. These people often receive help from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, most commonly referred to as food stamps.

Food banks typically cannot accept perishable items, but over the past decade some politicians have called for change. According to Slate, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative has distributed more than $500 million to poor communities, aiming to increase access to fresh produce.

Despite a rise of fresh fruit availability in low-income areas, according to the USDA, food deserts — typically in lowincome areas — still do not have enough affordable grocery stores or farmers markets to meet the demands of residents.

For members of the working class and residents of food deserts, a strict vegan diet is often not a sustainable lifestyle.

This New Year, we need to stop pushing lifestyles like Veganuary and start encouraging a more sustainable and inclusive alternative, like “part-time veganism.” Recognize that no matter its health or environmental benefits, veganism is not a practical lifestyle for many Americans, and nobody has the right to shame anyone for their dietary choices.

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Culture SMALL MALL HOSTS SELF-CARE WORKSHOP Alexa Marzina Staff Writer

Lawrenceville’s Small Mall, an art market concept store, definitely lives up to its name size-wise, but that did not prevent a number of guests from attending the artistic workshop dedicated to improving one’s self-concept.

The marketplace, located on the corner of Butler and 53rd streets, opened in July. It showcases both local and regional artists in a space only as large as a typical bedroom. As part of Casey Droege Cultural Productions, the space holds about 30 artists’ works of various mediums.

One of the artists on display currently, visual artist Atiya Jones, popped into Small Mall last night to teach another form of expression: self-care.

“The purpose of this project is to hear the way we communicate with ourselves about ourselves projected through the bodies of other people,” Jones said.

Her workshop, entitled “Our Stories in Other Voices,” used her self-made zine of the same name to encourage self-reflection among the 14 women in attendance.

“I think that as human beings, we’re not always extraordinarily kind to ourselves,” Jones said. “So this is a little bit of space to be honest and if your honesty is kind, that’s great.”

The zine contains eight pages and 23 short writing prompts like “What was the last thing you did before bed?” and “Please compliment yourself in regards to a nonphysical attribute.” Jones had the participants fill out a few select questions then swap books randomly, ending up with the workbook of an unknown person.

Going around the circle, individuals read out the selections from their received book — the words and feelings of another human being.

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Atiya Jones distributes copies of “Our Stories in Other Voices” at her Small Mall self-care workshop.

Alexa Marzina | contributing writer “I think that hearing other people say your own thoughts out loud was a really interesting sensation and it really does put a new perspective on how I speak … to myself,” said Maura Mullen of Garfield.

One of the selected questions asked to describe desires through the five senses.

As responses were spoken into existence, nodding heads and thoughtful facial expressions rippled through the group.

“So everyone is trying to smell lavender,” Jones said, laughing at the similarity of answers in the group. “We’re all just here feeling the same feelings.”

For the next exercise, participants were to fill in three more prompts in the random book before they found their ways back to their original owners. Going around the circle again, those feelings were shared as well.

Personal affirmations, goals, flaws, desires and everything in between flowed

freely and easily through the lips of those whom they didn’t belong to. More nodding, some chuckling and the occasional outburst of “same!” filled the room.

“My favorite part was listening to other people’s answers to tough questions — ones that I passed up,” said Harley Skibicki of Lawrenceville.

The night wrapped up with an activity that Jones said required bravery: reading the affirmation that each one wrote aloud.

Everyone closed their eyes, and as each person spoke in turn, they let the healing words flow through them.

“I am enough.”

“It is never too late to call yourself an artist.”

“I can do this.”

“I am capable of actualizing my desires.”

Jones has taught this workshop a handful of times before and said she loves it because it always feels different, though there

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seems to always be a form of “sameness” throughout each group. A lot of people revealed similar struggles in certain questions.

“Some of those questions are hard to answer, ones that I haven’t even thought about,” Skibicki said. “And I kind of felt bad about not thinking about them [before].”

While Jones specified that self-care isn’t just wearing a face mask and doing yoga, it can feel good for yourself to do those viral activities. REED & CO juice samples and acai power bites fueled the bodies of the voices during the workshop and Jones encouraged everyone to take advantage of them in addition to the catharsis of the workbook prompts.

“I am someone who hates to feel lonely in a problem, so for me, I wanted to find a connection with other people,” Jones said.

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Sports TAKE 5: FOOTBALL DRAMA, WHO

SHOULD STAY AND WHO SHOULD GO The Pitt News Staff

JuJu is great for the NFL

head coach to lead their organization when they announced Kliff Kingsbury as its new coach.

Fans and analysts will likely question Kingsbury’s readiness for an NFL head coaching position, given his rocky record as the head coach at Texas Tech over the past six seasons, posting a 35-40 record overall.

But the NFL is a copycat league and the quickest turnarounds in recent history have come at the hands of coaches much like Kingsbury, in terms of offensive thinking. The best example of this is the Cardinals’ NFC West rival, the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams’ head coach Sean McVay took a 4-12 team to consecutive playoff appearances in his first two seasons at the helm.

With a roster that lacks a plethora of talent and a young quarterback in Josh Rosen, who certainly has tools but needs improvement to take the next step at the pro level, the Cardinals shouldn’t expect a rapid turnaround from Kingsbury.

If Arizona wants the Kingsbury experiment to work, the young coach will need to find a strong defensive coordinator and make Rosen’s development his primary mission. If the Cardinals’ front office is not patient enough to trust the process and ride out the bumps of Kingsbury’s tenure early on, he could end up with a fate very similar to that of his predecessor, who lasted just one season.

-Andrew Kelly

Almost two years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers surprised many people by drafting a 20-year-old wide receiver named JuJu Smith-Schuster out of USC. Smith-Schuster was a tremendous college player at the University of Southern California, but he was young, and Pittsburgh was then home to the best receiver in the league — Antonio Brown.

Now, reflecting at the end of his second season, it’s clear the Steelers made the right call. JuJu has recorded 169 catches, more than 2,300 yards and 14 touchdowns since being drafted in 2017.

Brown’s future with the team, on the other hand, hangs in the balance due to numerous missed practices, constant erratic behavior and an apparent fallout with both coach Mike Tomlin and Big Ben. JuJu is more than just a talented football player, though. He’s a happy-go-lucky kid who simply loves the life he’s living. He’s immensely popular, gaining his 3 million combined Twitter and Instagram followers by being himself.

His viral Fortnite game against online gaming superstar Ninja and rappers Drake and Travis Scott helped, too.

Professional sports are often as much about the off-the-field product as they are the quality of the games themselves, particularly in this day and age. The NFL could use some marketability, especially considering the ratings have declined in recent years. Players like JuJu bring an awareFields of Dreams ness and excitement to the league through social Former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields media and can help repair the image of an inannounced last Friday he will transfer to Ohio creasingly tense league.

State for the 2019 season. Fields was the No. 1 -Nick Carlisano overall recruit in the 2018 recruiting class and Cardinals will need to show was benched in favor of the talented sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm. patience with Kingsbury Fields left Georgia after realizing the ineviOn Tuesday, the Arizona Cardinals became the next team to hire a young, offensive-minded table — Fromm would be the Bulldogs’ starting

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quarterback next season. So Fields began looking for greener pastures in Columbus.

The move to Ohio State raises vital questions for the team moving forward, such as whether Fields will return as the starting quarterback next season or be replaced by Tate Martell or Matthew Baldwin.

Baldwin doesn’t really stand a chance to start, so the battle will most likely be between Fields and Martell. Fields is easily the better player, but Martell has been in the system longer and is well-versed in the Buckeye culture.

It will be interesting to see how this battle plays out leading up to next season and to find out who new head coach Ryan Day will choose to be the main man under center. In the end, fans can expect Day to ultimately go with Fields, who very well could take the Buckeyes to the playoffs next season.

-Tyler Moran

AB drama irrelevant The Pittsburgh Steelers faced an epic collapse this season, riddled with drama. From Le’Veon Bell’s holdout to Ben Roethlisberger publicly calling out his teammates, the Steelers just could not keep their names out of the headlines.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t escape Week 17 without a little extra drama. Antonio Brown skipped practices and didn’t return calls from the team and front office. Coach Mike Tomlin benched Brown for the last game of the season and the media circled the team like vultures.

Many big-name football reporters like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport have speculated the Steelers would trade Brown for his antics in Week 17 and smaller issues throughout the year.

Quite frankly, this is an absurd idea to entertain. Brown is arguably the best wide receiver in the league and his chemistry with Roethlisberger makes them an all-time duo.

Pittsburgh is in win-now mode — Roeth-

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lisberger is 36 and the Steelers need to capitalize on his golden years before he succumbs to Father Time. Trading Big Ben’s favorite target and the best playmaker on the team away hurts the team’s chances of hanging with the best next year. Tomlin needs to figure out a way to squash the beef because the Steelers and Brown share a special relationship.

-Sami Abu-Obaid

Tua Big of a Stage?

After bursting onto the scene in last year’s National Championship game in which he led Alabama to a comeback victory over SEC rival Georgia, it became obvious that then-first-year Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was destined for greatness.

It’s common knowledge in the college football world just how good Alabama’s sophomore quarterback Tagovailoa is. In his first full season as a starter, Tagovailoa finished with 3,966 yards, 43 touchdowns and six interceptions en route to leading the Crimson Tide to a 14-1 record.

But Tagovailoa may not be as made for the big moment as we may have thought. In two of his most important games as a starter, Tagovailoa has played some sloppy football.

In the SEC Championship against Georgia, Tagovailoa had a pedestrian 164 yards to go along with one touchdown and two interceptions, while only completing 10 of 25 passes before ultimately being bailed out by the former starting quarterback, senior Jalen Hurts.

Against Clemson in the National Championship game Monday, Tagovailoa completed 22 out of 34 pass attempts to tally 295 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in what was a 44-16 loss.

With one year left before becoming eligible for the NFL Draft, Tagovailoa still has plenty left to prove.

-Michael Nitti

8

Basketball, pg. 1

us to play as the line. Christen Cunningham was 3-3 on line and led cent in the first half, respectively.

“They came out and they played a lot harder than we hard as we did, Louisville with 27 points. The Cardinals finished with as tough as we 24 fouls, but Pitt was 16-33 from the line, shooting 48.5 did,” Mack said.

After leaving the game early due to an apparent ankle did, especially mentally and sort of big-time performanc- percent.

“We have to make free throws,” Capel said. “We’ve injury, McGowens came back and broke the record for es by just about everyone … these guys are fighting.”

The Panthers went into halftime with a 48-38 lead, but been a really good free-throw-making team all year, to- the most points in a game by a first-year in Pitt history.

Louisville came out in the second half, proving it wouldn’t night was weird. And so we will do a better job there, but The previous record was 29 points, set by Clyde Vaughn go down without a fight. The Cardinals outscored the Pan- we showed a lot of growth, and more importantly, we in 1980. thers 51-41 in the second half, using momentum from multiple runs to tie the game.

With 26 seconds left in regulation, Louisville got the ball under its basket and made an inbound play, giving redshirt junior Dwayne Sutton the opportunity to tie the game and send it into overtime.

“I thought we generated some open looks,” Louisville coach Chris Mack said.

“I thought we were aggressive and we got out of transition a few times and got to the rim … when we went on a little run we finally got a few stops, nothing to write home about, but we actually got some defensive stops in a row and that’s what allows you to get back in games on the road.”

In the last four minutes and 28 seconds of the second half, the Cardinals scored 14 points while holding Pitt to just two.

Seven of Louisville’s 12 points came from redshirt junior Steven Enoch, who finished the game with 14 points.

Louisville’s momentum was evident during the second half. The Cardinals outshot Pitt in free throws and in the field.

Louisville shot 67.9 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the line, while Pitt shot 61.5 percent and 42.9 percent in the same categories, respectively.

Part of the Panthers’ second-half troubles came from defense. While they did force 18 turnovers, Pitt also committed 26 fouls, including seven during the first 10 minutes left in the second half. The foul troubles forced Pitt to switch into a zone defense.

“We were in a lot of foul trouble,” Capel said. “We don’t have a lot of depth as it is, but we were in a lot of foul trouble … we were trying to keep guys on the court.

First-year guard Trey McGowens (02) completes a dunk Sophomore forward Terrell Brown (21) completes a field I don’t know how effective [the zone] was, during Pitt’s 89-86 victory of Louisville Wednesday goal during the second half.

I mean they shot 68 percent in the second evening. Thomas Yang | assistant visual editor Thomas Yang | assistant visual editor half and they scored 51 points. In the first half we played a lot of man and they scored “I thought McGowens was incredible,” Capel said. showed a lot of toughness tonight.”

31 percent, so I think our man was a little bit better.”

After falling behind to start the game, the Panthers “Especially in the first half and the start of the second Two Pitt players — first-year Terrell Brown, who finished with 10 points, and junior Kene Chukwuka — finished strong in the first half — led by McGowens, who and then he picked his spots from there.”

The Panthers will look to win their first back-to-back fouled out. Four other Pitt players had three or more scored 20 points, including eight in less than a minute.

Pitt’s defense held the Cardinals to 9-29 from the field ACC win since Feb. 11, 2017, this Saturday at NC State. fouls.

Louisville was 17-23, shooting 73.9 percent from and 2-11 from three, shooting 31.0 percent and 18.2 per- Tip-off is scheduled for noon.

pittnews.com

January 10, 2019

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I N D E X

Rentals & Sublet • NORTH OAKLAND • SOUTH OAKLAND • SHADYSIDE • SQUIRREL HILL • SOUTHSIDE • NORTHSIDE • BLOOMFIELD • ROOMMATES • OTHER

For Rent South Oakland ****************** Large 6 bedroom house for rent. Fall occupancy.

Atwood Street.

Close to campus.

Please call Gary at 412‑807‑8058 1‑6 bedroom. All newly renovated, air‑conditioning, dish­washer, washer/ dryer, and parking.

Most units on busline and close to Pitt.

Avail­able Summer 2019. 412‑915‑0856 or email klucca@veri­ zon.net.

322 S. Bouquet. Huge 2 BR apart­ments.

Move avail­able May 1 or August 1.

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Parking available.

412‑561‑7964. Leave message.

Before signing a lease, be aware that no more than 3 unre­lated people can share a single unit. Check property’s compliance with codes. Call City’s Per­mits, Licensing & In­spections.

412‑255‑2175.

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pittnews.com

Women’s Hospital.

On Pitt shuttle and PAT bus lines. 10

minute walk to Univ.

of Pittsburgh. $2800/ 412‑983‑0400

1-15 Words

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throughout South Oakland; Fifth Ave, Meyran, Pier, Sem­ple, Blvd of Allies, Ward; Rents Starting at: $740‑$825 Contact: John C.R. Kelly Office: 412‑683‑7300 Email: info@kellyre­ altyinc.com Website: www.­ jcrkelly.com

Now renting fall 2019 various two bed­rooms units in South Oak‑ land, Bates, Coltart, Edith, Halket Place, Ward Street; rent start‑ ing from $975‑$1410 Contact: John C.R. Kelly 412‑683‑7300 www.jcrkelly.com info@kellyrealtyinc.­ com Oakland near Magee Hosptial. 1,2,3 BR available immedi­ ately. Long or short term lease, furnished or unfurnished. By the week, month or semester. Call 814‑403‑2798 or 412‑881‑1881.

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January 10, 2019

10

fur­nished, recently up­dated, A/C, hard‑ wood floors, washer/ dryer in basement.

2 cov­ered porches. $1095+utilities. 8 miles from Pitt! Call 412‑884‑5792 or 412‑608‑3039.

Employment Employment Other OFFICE INTERN Shadyside Manage­ ment Company seeks person w/ min 2 yrs. college, for upcom­ing spring semester, to interview & pro­cess rental appli­cants, do internet post‑ ings & help staff our action‑central of­fice. Part time or full time OK starting in January; full time over the summer. $13/hour. Perfect job for sophomores & ju­niors, seniors plan­ning to enter grad school, returning grad students, and first‑year law stu­dents!

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Apply here: https:­// www.fountain.com/­ papa‑technologies/ ap­ply/pittsburgh‑pa‑ pa‑pal The Pitt News is cur­rently seeking stu­dents to work as In­ side Sales Representa­ tives for the newspa­ per. They will pro­vide advertising ser­vice to all Student, Univer‑ sity, and Clas­sified Accounts, while also complet­ing assigned office duties. Submit re­sumes/applica‑ tions to advertising@ pittnews.­com, or stop by our office at 434 William Pitt Union!

pittnews.com

January 10, 2019

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