10-1-19

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 | October 1, 2019 ­| Volume 110 | Issue 33

FOSSIL FREE PITT DEMANDS DIVESTMENT

BY DEADLINE

PITT TOPS DENVER, 3-2 PG.6

Elise Lavallee and Emily Wolfe The Pitt News Staff

The University of California system voted on Sept. 17 to divest completely from fossil fuels by the end of the month. The decision prompted the students who lead the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition — which has worked for years to convince Pitt to do the same — to say Pitt is out of excuses.

About 10 students from the group drove to Johnstown for Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, where they interrupted Chancellor Patrick Gallagher’s report to demand the board vote on divesting from fossil fuels at its meeting on Feb. 28, 2020.

Eva Tansky Blum, the chairperson of the board, told the group its request needed to come through the proper channels. But Anaïs Peterson, a member of the coalition and executive vice president of Student Government Board, said Monday that the group has tried those channels without success. The group collected several thousand signatures on a petition to divest and, last year, helped pass a student referendum with the same goal in mind.

“We’ve been around since 2014 and we have been desperately trying to use the channels the University has set out for us and we have gotten nowhere,” Peterson said.

The University of California system said in a Sept. 17 Los Angeles Times op-ed that its decision was a financial one, writing that continuing to invest in fossil fuels is a “financial risk.”

The coalition said the UC system’s decision, and recent research, hurt the University’s arguments that divesting from fossil See Divestment on page 2

Junior defender Sito Sena (14) celebrates after putting up Pitt’s second goal during the team’s 3-2 victory over Denver. Thomas Yang assistant visual editor

PITT STUDENT ARRESTED FOR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT Erica Guthrie and Emily Wolfe News Editors

City police arrested a Pitt student Sunday, charging him with aggravated assault in an early morning incident that occurred outside Frenchi’s Deli on Atwood Street.

Matthew Stefurak, a 19-year-old sophomore, was charged with one count each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, according to a criminal complaint filed Sunday. Stefurak allegedly left another student on the ground, unconscious and concussed after Stefurak kicked him in the face.

According to the complaint, two officers on duty in South Oakland were

flagged down by a Pitt student outside Frenchi’s shortly after midnight. As they exited their police vehicle, they found an unconscious male Pitt student “bleeding heavily from multiple lacerations on his face as well as from his nose and mouth,” according to the criminal complaint.

The victim’s roommate, who flagged the officers down, informed them that the pair had a verbal altercation with another male after Stefurak denied them entry to a house party in South Oakland, the complaint said. They ran into Stefurak again at Frenchi’s and a physical altercation ensued.

The complaint notes that the victim was unconscious for at least 15 minutes

before he was taken to UPMC Presbyterian by medics. He spent between three and four hours in the hospital receiving treatment for a concussion, two black eyes and multiple scratches.

Police received a tip that Stefurak, who lives on Halket Street, was the assailant.

When a police officer went to confront Stefurak, he told the officer that the victim had behaved “aggressively” towards Stefurak. Stefurak admitted to kicking the victim in the face, the complaint said, telling the officer that “kicking him while he was on the ground was a mistake but [Stefurak] was defending himself.”

Stefurak’s preliminary hearing has been scheduled for next Monday.

News Divestment, pg. 1

industries creates a financial risk.

“Pitt has told us there was not a strong enough moral argument, they told us there wasn’t a strong enough economic argument, they told us it was too hard,” Peterson said. “Every single one of their arguments has been proven wrong.”

The coalition said in a letter the disruptors read to administrators that if the University doesn’t meet the group’s demand, its members will take “appropriate action.”

Peterson did not say what action the coalition plans to take if the University doesn’t hold the vote or votes not to divest, but she said the group believes its efforts will be successful.

“We are making sure the University understands we are not going away, we are not going to weaken, and we are not going to give up until Pitt divests,” Peterson said in an email. “We will not be silent or complicit as the administration runs this University like a corporation. The University of Pittsburgh should be accountable to its students over all else and we will work until that happens.”

Gallagher announced in August that Pitt would work to develop socially responsible investing strategies for its endowment.

The decision came after the July release of a University committee report, which recommended that the University consider “the importance of the social issue to the University community” while pursuing SRI strategies.

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The Fossil Free Pitt Coalition has formally called on the University to divest from fossil fuels by April 2020.

Photo courtesy of The Fossil Free Pitt Coalition Coalition members released a statement at the time which said they appreciated the steps Gallagher was taking, but were disappointed that he did not specifically name fossil fuel divestment in his announcement.

“Our chief financial officer is working toward the goal of presenting the environmental, social and governance criteria to the investment committee of the Board of Trustees for consideration by February,” Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Monday.

At the board meeting, the coalition read a letter to the board formally calling for the February vote and for the University to divest completely by April 2020. According to the letter, Fossil Free Pitt has worked to make the University aware of the negative impacts investing in fossil fuels can have on climate and local communities.

“For six years we have presented the data, the facts, the stories of people whose lives have been destroyed by this toxic industry, and for six years you have said that

October 1, 2019

is not reason enough,” the letter reads. “It isn’t enough that children in Greene County are dying of rare cancers. It isn’t enough that our air and water are poisoned? It isn’t enough that we are facing a worldwide climate catastrophe. What would be enough for you?”

Fossil Free Pitt is collecting student signatures on the letter in a Google Form online, which the group is circulating along with video of its disruption of the meeting.

2

Opinions

ONLINE Editorial: Religious universities’ gender politics need to catch up with students pittnews.com

column

Democratic reputation won’t be damaged by impeachment Devi Ruia

Staff Columnist Anyone who’s followed the impeachment discussion surrounding President Donald Trump is familiar with the back-and-forth within the Democratic party about the politics of the issue. Up until this past week, members of Democratic leadership have attempted to play political pundits, theorizing that the impeachment fight would not be worth the potential political repercussions in the 2020 elections. Even now that Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives, Democrats in Congress and average voters are still concerned about the repercussions of impeachment — but they shouldn’t be.

It makes sense that Democrats are concerned that impeachment proceedings may somehow cause a Trump 2020 victory. Trump winning in 2016 was a shock to most of them and another four years of his presidency is a terrifying thought. However, the politics of impeachment are much better for Democrats than they think.

In fact, it could help secure a Democratic victory in 2020 — not just against Trump but in Congress as well.

Trump is facing impeachment because he attempted to use the powers of the presidency to enlist foreign aid to take down a potential political rival. A whistleblower complaint revealed that Trump, after withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine, called Ukraine’s president and asked him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. This crime is far more serious than what former presidents who faced impeachment were accused of.

Andrew Johnson was impeached primarily for removing the secretary of war, which he was not allowed to do without Senate approval.

Richard Nixon faced impeachment for instructing operatives to break into Democratic National Committee headquarters to gather information

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on political rivals and for attempting to impede a Congressional investigation by covering up his role in the break-in.

Bill Clinton was impeached for perjuring himself in an attempt to cover up his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Johnson and Clinton were both impeached by the House, but the Senate did not reach enough votes to remove either of them from office. Nixon resigned to avoid facing removal from office.

None of these former presidents were innocent in these situations, but Trump’s crimes are much worse, as he enlisted a foreign power to invade in Promiti Debi staff illustrator American democracy by investigating his political rival in order to benefit Some Democrats were hesitant to launch himself in a future election. There is an impeachment inquiry sooner — such as afno question that this is an impeachable offense.

Because Trump’s crimes are so egregious and ter the release of the Mueller report — because supported by ample evidence, launching an im- public opinion was not in favor of impeachment. peachment inquiry was the right thing for the A Business Insider poll shows that now, after Democrats to do. It may also prove to be politi- Nancy Pelosi has launched the formal impeachment inquiry, a majority of the public is in favor cally useful for them.

The impeachment process begins when the of impeachment. Another poll conducted by the House launches an investigation. At the end Morning Consult shows that impeachment is of the investigation, the House votes to decide favorable among a large majority of Democrats whether or not to impeach. If they vote to im- and more independents support impeachment peach, a trial begins in the Senate, where a final than oppose it. This puts Democrats in a favorvote decides whether or not to remove the per- able position going into the 2020 elections.

The most important groups of voters to win son from office. They must achieve 67 votes in over would be people who didn’t vote in the 2016 order for the president to actually be removed.

Due to the partisan nature of the Senate, the election, people who voted third party, Obamamost likely outcome is that Trump will be im- Trump voters and independent and Republican peached but not removed from office. We can outliers who may have voted for Trump in 2016 always hope that the Senate will put aside party but are now worried about his illegal activity. and vote based on legality — some Republicans Impeachment could be the key to winning over in the House now support impeachment — but these voters.

According to a poll conducted by Change it’s unlikely this will be the case. Therefore the most important thing about impeachment is go- Research in Wisconsin, which is one of the states ing to be the damage it can do to Trump’s chance that Democrats need to win back in order to secure the White House in 2020, the messages that for reelection in 2020.

October 1, 2019

are most likely to turn voters against Trump are ones that show the ways in which Trump lied, benefited politically or profited personally from the presidency. The best way to display all of this to voters is through the impeachment hearings.

A televised process that takes over the news cycle will more clearly display Trump’s laundry list of crimes to the average voter than a news article would.

Democrats can also use the impeachment process against Senate Republicans who are up for reelection in 2020. Republicans voting to let Trump remain in office — despite his crimes — gives Democratic Senate challengers a great talking point. They can use their Republican opponents’ impeachment vote against them by questioning why any given senator would excuse crimes and set a precedent for other presidents to get away with the same. It could even end up being the key to Democrats taking back control of the Senate.

From a moral standpoint, impeachment was the right call for Democrats to make. It could also prove to be very politically useful for them going into the 2020 elections.

3

Culture RedHawk caffeinates the

masses with wholesale roastery

Charlie Taylor

For The Pitt News Nestled on Meyran Avenue in Oakland, Redhawk Coffee is an unassuming, intimate coffee shop frequented by Pitt students. At any given time, the shop’s small wooden tables are crowded with customers with laptops open and drinks in their hands, studying or making casual conversation.

But this little shop has big plans in the works. Owner and roaster Braden Walter plans to open a new roastery in Sharpsburg by Nov. 1, tentatively. This would grow Redhawk to the scale of other Pittsburgh businesses like Commonplace Coffee, which roast coffee beans to be sold by the bag and in other stores.

Walter, a 33-year-old North Hills resident, said he hopes the new roastery will help expand the wholesale end of his business. Redhawk primarily sells coffee drinks to customers at their physical locations, but Walter has been venturing into wholesale by supplying local bakeries and other coffee shops with the company’s signature coffee roasts for commercial use.

Walter started Redhawk in 2016 when he bought a coffee truck and began selling drinks, opening a brick-and-mortar shop later that year. He says that from the beginning, his goal for Redhawk has been to open a wholesale roastery.

“It’s easier to open a roastery once you have coffee shops to feed your beans to, rather than just open up and plan to pick up wholesale clients,” he said. “[The shop] is just a great way to get consistent business and get feedback from your customers.”

Currently, the shop has locations in Oakland and Downtown, where customers can buy 12-ounce bags of the cafe’s roasts. The company also does some small-scale wholesale, sourcing to bakeries and other coffee shops.

“Right now I’m roasting on somebody else’s equipment while our roastery is being built up and our roaster is being built,” Walter

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Redhawk Coffee, located on Meyran Avenue, is commonly frequented by Pitt students. Caela Go staff photographer said. “So there’s only so much capacity I can take on right now. But as soon as we open up in Sharpsburg then we’re gonna kind of go full throttle on the wholesale side of things.”

350° Bakery in South Side is one of the few businesses currently buying Redhawk’s limited wholesale roasts. Co-owner Janie Crawford, 37, of South Side knows what it’s like to be a small business owner in Pittsburgh navigating wholesale and the management of a physical store. She and Barb Reale started 350° Bakery six years ago as a wholesale business and opened a shop this year.

“We thought, ‘Oh, it will be just like six months and we’ll have the store open,’” said Crawford. “That was two and a half years ago, so it took us much longer than we expected.

It’s definitely a learning process.”

Neither Crawford nor Mitchell went to culinary school or business school, so growing their business to include a physical store had added challenges. Crawford said the past six years since they opened the business have provided plenty of learning opportunities, especially as she and Mitchell built up to their

new kitchen and storefront.

“We had always baked for fun, but doing it as a business was totally different. Once we moved into this space, and we had to start hiring people, it was really like the business side of everything kicked in, and we realized like, ‘Oh, we have to learn all this stuff now.’”

350° Bakery and Redhawk have had a working relationship since before 350° Bakery’s brick-and-mortar store. The bakery sells their pastries — such as cookies, scones, muffins and triple-layer cakes — to several coffee shops and restaurants around the Pittsburgh area, including Redhawk. When it came time to start selling coffee at the bakery, Crawford says it was easy to choose Redhawk’s.

“We definitely wanted to sell locally-roasted coffee, and we worked with Redhawk already,” said Crawford. “They sell our pastries in both their shops, so it just made sense [to serve their coffee], because they roast their own.”

Crawford thinks that, so far, the partnership has proven successful, and her patrons have responded well to Redhawk’s roasts.

October 1, 2019

“Customers are responding really well to [the coffee]. They appreciate that we have local coffee, and they like it a lot.”

Though Walter plans to have the roastery up and running by Nov. 1, it may be quite a while until we see Redhawk coffee at many other businesses across the City.

“We’re still in the early stages of transitioning into [wholesale] as well, but I’ve been roasting for the last few years and just trying to kind of hone my skills with sourcing and roasting,” said Walter. “It’s kind of always been an objective of starting Redhawk, was to eventually be a wholesale roaster, but it’s just been a lot of stepping-stones to kind of get to this point.”

For the time being, Pitt seniors Katie Mcmahon, a psychology major, and Julianna Boyd, an environmental studies major, are more than happy going to Redhawk’s Oakland location for their fix of the company’s coffee.

Mcmahon and Boyd said they like the shop’s blends, and the idea of being able to get them at other spots around the City, but they don’t think they’ll be changing their drinking habits anytime soon — part of Redhawk’s appeal for them is its locality.

“We used to travel to coffee shops a lot our freshman year, and we had to take bus rides pretty far,” said Boyd. “So now it’s nice having a coffee shop that’s like, right on campus.”

They said they also like the cozy feel of the shop itself, something that another coffee shop selling Redhawk’s blends isn’t likely to replace. Ultimately, the store’s coffee may be available at more locations, but coffee itself represents only a sample of what Redhawk has to offer. This is why Boyd and Mcmahon go to the shop frequently, but have never bought a 12-ounce bag of beans to brew at home.

“If I just want a break in my day it’s a nice environment,” said Mcmahon. “And it has good coffee.”

4

Mattress Factory museum opens nine new exhibits Hayley Lesh

For The Pitt News Walking through the doors of the Mattress Factory seems like something out of “Alice in Wonderland.” A hall of mirrors shows visitors infinite versions of themselves, while colorful figures hang from the walls.

The opening party for the new Factory Installed 2019 exhibitions at the Mattress Factory in North Side on Friday featured food, drinks and contemporary artwork. The event displayed nine new exhibitions in the Mattress Factory’s main building and in the museum’s annex located on Monterey Street. Exhibitions differed from room to room, showcasing a wide variety of artists and mediums — including mixed-media such as videos and scientific lab equipment.

Some installations contained a single work within a room — such as a glass case filled with plastic hands or a jar of teeth and a bird’s nest in Adam Miller’s “‘Taking good care of your things leads to taking good care of yourself.’’’ Others filled the space with multi-level displays, like “Laboratory for Other Worlds” by Patte Loper, made from aluminum foil and styrofoam. Laurie Barnes, the director of education for the museum, said the Mattress Factory offers a transformative experience to its attendees.

“What’s super special about [the exhibits] and the Mattress Factory in general is they are all experienced-based installations,” Barnes said. “They really invite viewers to explore and walk through and kind of experience transformed spaces and how those things make you feel, how they might make you think differently, [and] new perspectives they might expose you to.”

The Factory Installed 2019 collection will remain on display until March 2020 as part of the Mattress Factory’s artist residency program, for which candidates are selected by the museum’s administration or through open calls.

Irish artist Naomi Draper, 35, displayed her piece, “Holding Fragments,” in the annex. Inspired by Draper’s interest in botany and large-scale art, the display includes white walls that feature a

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An installation from the new “Night Blooms” exhibit at the Mattress Factory. Christy Wu staff photographer detailed floral print and a large piece of Queen Anne’s lace painted gold, meant to represent sanctuary.

“I’m really interested in the scale energy and ambition and intention of kind of collecting throughout history, particularly with botany.” Draper said.

Denver based artist and composer Nathan Hall, 37, displayed his exhibits “About Place” and “You’re Not the Boss of Me” in the annex as well. Hall said he was partially inspired by his friendship with the museum’s former director, Barbara Luderowski. His piece “About Place” features a choir singing in the museum’s parking lot, and serves as a tribute to Luderowski.

“The very last thing she told me was that I needed to write a piece about the museum’s parking lot, and then she passed away so I thought ‘well I need to honor her spirit this way, to try to incorporate music and the space of this parking lot,’” said Hall.

“You’re Not the Boss of Me” features a small harpsichord held in the air by red bondage rope that spreads across a corner of the room. He said it represents the

overlap between his love of music and love of kink.

“This piece is sort of my intersection between my classical music training, I’m a composer, and my interest in bondage and kink as a gay man and kind of where those things interlap or overlap, intersect,” Hall said.

Many of the exhibits at the Mattress Factory were centered on interactions between the audience and the work. Patrick Robideau’s installation “All is Not Forgotten,” features a deserted landscape that includes the exterior of a house, a pair of shoes and a long rope set behind a glass window.

Attendees can go inside the exhibit by crawling through a lighted tunnel underneath the display. Many attendees took the opportunity at the opening party to move on their hands and knees to fully experience the exhibit, which Barnes said is a major purpose of the new works.

“What this artist is providing for me to walk through, to touch, to smell, to hear that might transform the way that I am looking at the art, but also the way I might be thinking about the world too,”

October 1, 2019

Barnes said.

Sohrab Kashani and Jon Rubin’s exhibit allowed visitors to walk through part of Kashani’s life in “The Other Apartment,”. Rubin and Kashani created a life size replica of Kashani’s apartment in Iran. Kashani regularly sent photographs of the apartment to Rubin, who is based in Pittsburgh, because he is not permitted to travel to the United States due to the current travel ban on Iranian citizens. Kashani uses his apartment in Tehran as a space for exhibition and for an artist residency — the first ever in Iran. He worked collaboratively with Rubin for this project.

North Side native Pam Grove, 66, said she likes the fresh take the artists offer in the exhibition. Grove, who has visited the Mattress Factory many times and is familiar with the permanent installations, enjoys the way the new art is similarly interactive.

“I just like the way that you can not only look at things, but you are in them,” Grove said. “You don’t experience it without being here, so that’s what’s kind of neat about it.”

5

Sports

KIZZA’S DOUBLE OT TIEBREAKER PUTS PITT PAST DENVER, 3-2

Alex Lehmbeck Staff Writer

After an ugly first half, it looked like the Pitt men’s soccer team was en route to a sloppy, boring loss to the University of Denver Pioneers on Monday night. But an explosive second half, strong defense and a well-timed final play resulted in the Panthers pulling out a 3-2 thriller in double overtime.

Pitt (4-3-2) came into Monday’s match looking to start a new win streak after a long, gritty 1-1 double-overtime draw at ACC rival Syracuse on Friday. The Pioneers (1-6-2) entered Monday in the midst of an early-season slump after earning an NCAA tournament bid with a 15-4-2 record in 2018.

Although this was the first time the two teams met, the matchup was especially sig-

nificant for Pitt head coach Jay Vidovich, who began his coaching career as an assistant for the Pioneers in 1982.

“I think about for the last 15 years my assistants have been there,” Vidovich said. “It’s been a whole group of players there. Fortunately, it’s been a long time that I’ve had that connection, but I did get to go back, when they were in the Final Four I think two years ago. I saw some of the old alums. It’s still great to see.”

Denver’s fifth-year head coach Jamie Franks actually played for Vidovich at Wake Forest, and was a key member of Vidovich’s 2007 national championship title run.

“I’m proud of what [Franks] did, the belief that the team has and the commitment to playing is special,” Vidovich said. “I don’t think you ever really want to play a friend. If

you win, you don’t feel great. If you lose, you don’t feel very good either. It’s a tough one.”

If you’re a fan of quality offense, then the first half was a snooze-fest. Both teams struggled to put together any good chances, with the first shot on goal coming on a Denver header in the 31st minute. Pitt entered the match fifth in the country in shots on goal, but managed just one in the first half. A sloppy end to the first half allowed Denver, who ranks 187th in the country in that category, to put up four shots on goal in the first half alone.

“We’re definitely a team that is capable of playing a lot better than we did and we’ve shown that in past games against tougher teams,” sophomore Jackson Walti said. “We just didn’t come out firing and we created all the problems for ourselves.”

In the 41st minute, Pitt goalkeeper Arie

Ammann made a diving stop on a shot from junior Destan Norman, but first-year midfielder Kengo Ohira put away the rebound to give Denver a 1-0 lead at the break.

Pitt came out in the second half like a brand-new team. The Panthers quickly forced pressure on the Pioneer defense, culminating in a beautiful volley strike by first-year midfielder Valentin Noel — the first goal of his career — off a cross from junior Sito Sena. Four minutes later, Sena scored one himself to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 2-1.

“Coach was able to fire us up,” Walti said.

“We realized that we weren’t playing to our ability, and he reminded us what we’re here for.”

Find the full story online at

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The Pitt News SuDoku 10/1/19

courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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October 1, 2019

6

‘DON’T CALL ME RYAN’: MURPHY IS THE MARKSMAN PITT NEEDS

Trent Leonard Sports Editor

You can call Pitt basketball’s newest sharpshooter, junior transfer Ryan Murphy, many things. Murph. Murph Dawg. A Walking Bucket. Steph Curry Lite. Swish. Money. The SoCal Sniper. The Calabasas Cannoneer.

Okay, those last six nicknames are made up.

But they seem like acceptable titles given the excitement around the Panthers’ new deep threat, a transfer from New Mexico Junior College who chose Pitt last spring over competing interest from Gonzaga, Iowa and Texas Tech.

Sophomore teammate Trey McGowens attested to Murphy’s shooting prowess after the team’s first official practice last Thursday.

“Murph from deep doesn’t miss, pretty much,” McGowens said. “If he gets an open three it’s pretty much money.”

Just whatever you do, don’t call Murphy by his first name.

“He prefers to be called Murph,” Matt Plizga, the team’s director of media relations said while introducing Murphy. “He did not like it when I called him Ryan.”

According to Murphy, the dismissal of his family-given forename dates back to his youth.

“My family all calls me Murph. It started with my dad, who goes by ‘Big Murph,’” Murphy said. “My younger brother goes by ‘Little Murph’ … some of my friends call [my mom] ‘Momma Murph.’”

But in the end, it doesn’t matter what you call Murphy — he’s going to get buckets regardless.

When Murphy transferred to Pitt, he was a relatively unknown player to the casual college basketball fan. But coming out of southern California’s Calabasas High School in 2016, Murphy was a blue-chip recruit. ESPN.com ranked the 6-foot-2 guard as the sixth-best prospect in the state, just five spots below current NBA point guard Lonzo Ball and three spots above current NBA guard De’Anthony Melton.

Murphy committed to the Charlotte 49ers of the NCAA’s Conference USA and redshirted his first year. During his first full season in 20172018, he averaged 19.9 minutes and 6.7 points a game as a reserve. Even in a limited role, his shooting ability shone through — he made an efficient 40% of his 3-pointers, and in one game against Old Dominion scored 27 points while

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JUCO transfer guard Ryan Murphy prepares to shoot during an offseason workout. Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics going 6-6 from deep. His time at Charlotte came to an end with a foot injury shortly after.

After getting a fresh start at New Mexico Junior College, Murphy took on a more sizeable offensive role. He averaged 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists through 13 games, including a 46-point explosion against Macomb Community College. But again, his season was cut short by injury.

“Last year, for me, was big. Junior college, getting to prove that I was not just a catch-andshoot guy at Charlotte. I went through a couple coaching changes where what I feel like I can do wasn’t displayed enough, and then I got injured,”

Murphy said. “I got to do my rehab and I got a lot better during that period.”

Murphy’s path from junior college to Pitt resembles that of former Panther Jared WilsonFrame, a senior last year. Like Murphy, WilsonFrame used the junior college scene as a platform to showcase his abilities. He averaged a team-high 14.8 points at Northwest Florida State College before transferring to Pitt for his junior season. As a senior, he became Pitt’s go-to deep threat and a critical part of the program’s rebuild — his 98 3-pointers trailed only Virginia’s Kyle Guy in the ACC last season.

With Wilson-Frame gone, the Panthers lose

October 1, 2019

43.6% of their total 3-point production from last season. Head coach Jeff Capel said Thursday that replacing Wilson-Frame will be a team effort, and that he hopes his returning players have gotten better at shooting the basketball. But that’s a lot to count on from a backcourt duo in McGowens and sophomore Xavier Johnson that often struggles to make outside shots against ACC competition. Pitt desperately needs someone who can stretch the floor, and that’s where Murphy comes in.

“It’s obvious X and Trey are amazing with the ball in their hands,” Murphy said. “If I’m making shots, that just frees them up even more because guys can’t help. And just even the threat of me being on the court, guys have to cheat a little more … which will make more room for Trey and X.” Murphy will certainly benefit from playing with Johnson, who established himself as one of the ACC’s premier young playmakers in 20182019. Johnson earned himself a spot on the ACC All-Freshman Team alongside four oneand-done talents who all joined the NBA in the offseason. He finished fourth in the conference with 4.5 assists per game, and his quickness and penchant for finding open teammates should bode well for Murphy’s catch-and-shoot looks.

“You gotta be able to catch and shoot in this league,” Johnson said. “Because that’s one of the main things we struggled with last year, was shooting the ball.”

With the official start of Pitt’s season still six weeks out, it remains to be seen what exactly Murphy’s role will be — starter, sixth man or seventh man. But on a team that needs a shooter it can rely on, Murphy should carve out a regular role for the Panthers if he continues to shoot around 40% from three.

When asked if there was any NBA player he models his game after, Murphy was quick to answer.

“The way I can shoot the ball, I really like JJ Redick,” he said.

If indeed Murphy can hone his inner Redick, the Panthers may be in luck — Redick has never missed the playoffs once in 14 seasons. Perhaps Murphy’s outside stroke is just what Pitt needs to start a postseason streak of its own.

“I know the guys can’t wait,” Murphy said.

“We’ve got something to prove, as a team.”

7

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Call/Text Ron NOW at 412‑881‑1881 or email jarcon3@ya­ hoo.com. Reserve & Relax. Small deposit required.

Employment Employment Other HIRING IMMEDI­ ATELY! Middle‑East‑ ern restaurant in Shadyside looking for positive, ener­getic and experienced people to join our team! Excel‑ lent cus­tomer service, good character, and strong work ethic.

Call (412) 683‑4757 Looking for reliable, mature, friendly and

Classifieds

For sale

• AUTO • BIKES • BOOKS • MERCHANDISE • FURNITURE • REAL ESTATE • PETS

services

• EDUCATIONAL • TRAVEL • HEALTH • PARKING • INSURANCE

notices

• ADOPTION • EVENTS • LOST AND FOUND • STUDENT GROUPS • WANTED • OTHER

R A T E S

Insertions

1-15 Words

16-30 Words

1X

2X

3X

4X

$6.30

$11.90

$17.30

$22.00

$7.50

$14.20

$20.00

$25.00

5X $27.00 $29.10

6X $30.20 $32.30

Add. + $5.00 + $5.40

(Each Additional Word: $0.10)

Deadline:

Two business days prior by 3pm | Email: advertising@pittnews.com | Phone: 412.648.7978

outgoing person with good sales skills.

Blue Monkey Tea Shop 5872 Forbes Ave. www.bluemonkeytea.­ com Looking for weekend yard worker. High­ land Park area. $20/ hr. Contact Jerry 412‑760‑7813 Part Time Banquet Servers needed at The Priory Hotel. Starting rate of $11 an hour. If interested please email zach@priory.com or call 412‑224‑6306.

South Fayette Twp. School District High School Substi­ tute Spanish Teacher Complete job descrip­ tion is available at: www.southfayette.org South Fayette Twp. School District 3680 Old Oakdale Road McDonald, PA 15057 Deadline: October 4, 2019 or Until Posi­tion is Filled EOE

Services Educational The Phlebotomy Training Center www. justphlebotomy.org 2 evening classes weekly, 5 weeks + excellent Clinicals.

Call 412‑521‑7334.

October 1, 2019

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