12-3-14

Vol. 105 Issue 81

@thepittnews DON’T SNEEZE

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

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Students relocated to fraternity house after Tower A fire Cristina Holtzer News Editor The fire that prompted the recent evacuation of Litchfield Tower A occurred during maintenance work that inhibited the fire alarms on many floors from flashing or sounding.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said “coincidentally and unfortunately,” the alarms were down when a laptop caught fire in room 818 around 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

Resident assistants then went door-to-door to tell students to evacuate.

The University relocated 14 students from the building to an empty fraternity

house on upper campus.

Only three of the 14 students chose to stay in the empty fraternity house, Fedele said, and the rest are staying with friends.

Fedele said the displaced students will be allowed back into their rooms on Friday, Dec. 5.

Dan Butz was not in his dorm room when his laptop caught fire on the eighth floor of Tower A. He was in his friend’s room studying for a psychology exam when he heard that there was a fire on his floor.

“I found out later that it was in my room,” Butz, a freshman neuroscience

Fire

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STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Good Nite Mr. President

Board says goodbye, amends club sports policy Emily Ahlin Staff Writer Amidst tears and goodbyes from the outgoing Board, committee chairs and Dean Humphrey, the 2014 Student Government Board implemented changes to club sports’ funding in its final meeting.

The Board introduced Bill 025 at the public meeting on Nov. 18 and proposed and Rachel Calcara, sophomore, psychology, balances Hostess CupCakes during War of approved additional changes to the bill on the Roses, an annual charity event hosted by Pi Kappa Phi. They raised $1,000 for Tuesday after meeting with club sports team leaders, according to Board President Mike the Ability Experience. Zach Schaffer | Senior Staff Photographer

Nites.

Effective immediately, the bill seeks to stomp out sports clubs’ use of private bank accounts, which is against SORC eligibility requirements for club sports teams. University policy requires all clubs use their Student Organization Resource Center accounts to manage funds.

Bill 025, now part of the allocations manual, said “club sports have not been in compliance with the University’s policy on

SGB

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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Lauren Wilson For The Pitt News The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry were the soundtrack to hippie culture, campus unrest and the civil rights movement — and they all debuted on vinyl.

According to Nielsen Soundscan, a system that tracks data in the music industry, LP album sales in the United States reached $4.6 million in 2012, which was a 19 percent increase from the previous year. Despite climbing vinyl sales, overall album sales dropped 8.4 percent, proving that interest leads to paying for vinyl, not for music in general. According to Statista, a statistics analysis company that charted Nielsen Soundscans’ data between 2002 and 2012, U.S. vinyl LP sales increased 250 percent over this decade.

An integral part of American history, vinyl records were used to record events more so than television and radio, according to music professor Deane Root.

“The whole hippie culture and the sounds of the 1960s — a lot of that came through vinyl,” Root said.

At Jerry’s Records, a Squirrel Hill vinyl

store owned by Jerry Weber, recordings of famous speeches line the wooden shelves alongside old-school comedy acts and the store’s expansive jazz collection.

In 2010, Rolling Stone called Jerry’s one of the best record stores in the United States. Here, record collectors listen to John Mellencamp as they browse a maze of thousands of used records, from jazz, to ’80s metal, to punk and soul.

In 1975, Weber’s friend offered him a room above his bar in Oakland for $75 a month. Weber recalls that he bought and sold CDs for a short time at the location in Oakland, but one day he put up a sign that read “We Buy Records,” and the two started with only 50 records.

Within five years, Jerry was successSlipped Disc, a record store on Atwood Street, is one of the ful enough to split many Pittsburgh stores that sell vinyl. Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

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On t h e r e

December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 1

FROM PAGE 1

FIRE

SGB

major, said. “And that it was my computer.”

The fire spread to a pillow and part of a chair, according to Butz’s roommate, Jorge Garcia, but the sprinkler system put out the fire before it spread further.

There was no “substantial damage” to anything in Tower A, Fedele said, aside from the carpet, desk and chair in room 818.

Though there was no significant damage, the sprinklers caused room 818 to fill with so much water that it seeped into some of the adjacent rooms.

Garcia, a freshman neuroscience major, was in the room when the laptop caught fire.

“I heard a spark, and then it was just flames,” Garcia said.

Garcia quickly ran to get his RA, who pulled the fire alarm and evacuated the floor.

Howard Chu, another floor eight resident, was in his room sleeping when the fire alarms sounded around 5:30 p.m. last night.

Chu, a freshman, said he and the other students who live in the first nine rooms of his floor returned to their rooms around 9 p.m.

Chu said there was no damage to his room or property.

Garcia, who is staying in the empty Fraternity House Nine, said their belongings that they didn’t take with them were moved to empty rooms on different floors.

The University will repair and clean the damaged rooms over the next few days so the students can return. Butz said Towers officials and fire investigators let him and the other students know at roughly 7 p.m. that they would be relocated to the empty fraternity house. Butz is a member of Delta Tau Delta, and he said he will be sleeping at his fraternity house until he can return to his room.

Chu said the fire alarm sounded and flashed, and the sprinklers came on on his floor. But several students from other floors in Tower A said neither the fire alarm nor the sprinklers went off on their floors.

“Fortunately, the sprinkler system was still working and put out the fire before any personnel arrived to extinguish it,” Fedele said.

Butz said he still has to go through his belongings again to double-check for damage, but hadn’t noticed anything aside from his computer.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “That’s gone.”

outside bank accounts and therefore need time to fully comply with this policy.”

SGB did not police individual sports’ noncompliance with University policy, Nites said, even though it’s in the allocations manual, because “it is not an SGB rule, it’s a Student Life rule.”

“There has to be some oversight on how you’re spending your private funds,” Nites

said, including making sure undergraduate groups are not using funds to purchase alcohol.

Mike Bolock, a member of the Pitt Quidditch Team, said the change will not affect his team very much. Although some members of the team store small amounts of the fund in their private bank accounts, Bolock said, the team doesn’t store a large amount of money in a private account.

“It will be a little bit of a hassle,” said Bolock, a junior majoring in marketing and accounting. “But it won’t have a huge effect

3 on us.”

The amended Bill 025 will also change the amount of funding that SGB allocates club sports teams — positively or negatively, depending on the club — starting Jan. 1, 2016. The amended bill included an additional policy for 2015, which will serve as a transition year.

Next year’s transition policy sets the maximum cap of money a club sport can receive at $15,000 — including for national

SGB

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VINYL

from his friend and open his own store in Oakland, Garbage Records, which he owned from 1980 to 1993. Garbage Records later became Jerry’s after he moved to Squirrel Hill. Last Friday, Jerry’s Records celebrated its 20th anniversary at its location in Squirrel Hill.

Weber said customers stop in to buy catalogues from older greats, such as The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

Contemporary artists succeed in selling vinyl albums, too. Musician Jack White broke records recently with his high-tech, modern art (and more importantly, bestselling) vinyl album of the past 20 years, Lazaretto. Out of stock on both Third Man Record Store’s online website and on Amazon, the popular record combines tradition with innovation, producing a hologram as it spins on the turntable, among other hidden features.

At Jerry’s Records, customers will find exclusively used records. Weber said records from artists who are now deceased,

December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com disbanded or retired give people the chance to hear the “true sound” of the band, a phenomenon lost with modern digital recording technology. Young people buying music from his store today want something different, Weber said, and vinyl is something that not everybody has.

Music that transforms into a digital recording loses the high and low overtones of each pitch, Root said, as they are eliminated to create more room for data. To Root, records have more warmth and presence, which makes it feel like the musicians are in the room.

“On the CD or when you’re hearing a MP3 or digital, you’re hearing a portion of the sound that was actually created,” Root said. “Our ears become accustomed to this, and you can’t tell the difference usually.”

Patrons of Jerry’s Records said they’ve picked up on the change when listening to vinyl recordings.

“When I play an old Beatles record in the store, people will come up to me and say, ‘How come mine doesn’t sound like that?’” Weber said. “I’ll say ‘They took it and made it ‘better.’ This is the way they’re supposed to sound.”

In addition to the sound, records also offer more in way of album art. The sleeves of 33s have images of music legend Bing Crosby, Judy Garland’s smiling face and the signature face painted members of Kiss, each a tangible piece of decades past.

For Jerry’s employee and 45 record curator, Chris Kardasz, owning records is about the collection, not just the sound.

Kardasz has been collecting since he was two years old, when he began going to record stores with his father. He would sing the song he wanted to hear and a shop employee would direct him to the correct records. His personal collection now contains nearly 14,000 albums.

Today, record collectors from all over the world travel to Pittsburgh to browse Jerry’s shelves.

“But, people right down the street don’t know we’re here,” Kardasz said.

In the back of Jerry’s Records, next to the floor to ceiling rows of hundreds of white boxes filled with 45s, he picks up a record.

“This record, when it was made, was part of that time period. It was in a record store in 1963, and it still plays.” Kardasz said.

FROM PAGE 3

SGB

competitions — for “each organization who opts-in to allowing SGB to view deposits into SORC,” according to the bill. Any organizations that do not opt-in will only be eligible to receive $3,000 in 2015.

Originally, Bill 025 stated that if a club sport had up to $5,000 in its SORC account during the previous fiscal year, SGB’s funding would come in a 1:2 ratio. That means, for every $2 in the club sports’ SORC account, SGB could allocate $1 to the club each fiscal year.

Any club sports’ bank accounts with more than $5,000 were subject to a 1:3 ratio — for every $3 over $5000, SGB could allocate $1 to the club. Allocations for each team is based on the amount the group already has in its SORC accounts from the previous year.

The Board set funding caps at $10,000 for club sports with 50 or fewer people on their rosters, and $15,000 for club sports with rosters of 51 players or more.

Any club sport that opts out of the new

Vinyl

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

ALLOCATIONS

FROM PAGE 4

SGB

The Pitt News Crossword, 12/3/2014

policy, according to the bill, would only receive a maximum of $1,000 from SGB. The amendment to Bill 025 now says that instead of $5,000, SGB will fund at a 1:2 ratio for the first $15,000 that a club sport has in their SORC account, during the prior fiscal year. Any amount in excess of $15,000 is subject to a 1:3 ratio.

Bolock said fundraising efforts to reach $15,000 will be difficult for the Pitt Quidditch Team.

“It’s difficult for us to fundraise,” Bolock said. “Because it’s Quidditch. We’re usually not team people want to give money too.”

Bolock said the change will create more individual costs that team members will have to pay.

The Board also amended the bill to permit more funding for larger team sizes in 2016.

Club sports with 50 or fewer students have a maximum cap of $10,000. Teams with 50-59 students have the potential to receive $11,000, teams with 60-69 students have the potential to receive $12,000, teams with ACROSS 1 __ excuse for: hardly the best example of 6 Largest city in Belarus 11 Reg. 14 “__ Rae” 15 Political convention setting 16 Golfer’s peg 17 *Actor Sydney of “Casablanca” 19 Crazy way to go 20 “Dallas” matriarch Miss __ 21 Brought up 23 Boiling mad 27 Takes advantage of 28 Shower offering 31 Waiter’s carrying aid 32 Get on in years 33 Pioneering ISP 34 Break down, as a sentence 35 “It’s the __ I can do” 38 Hidden loot 40 Superman’s symbol 41 Bug in a program, say 42 Tomato concentrate 43 Kitchen appliance 45 Activist Guevara 46 Hem and __ 47 Ripped 48 Word with horse or track 49 Tender-hearted 51 Slander 53 Throbbed 55 Things that shouldn’t be done 58 DDE’s WWII command 59 Understand (and a hint to both parts of this puzzle’s answers to starred clues) 64 Bustle 65 Like a fifth tire 66 Youngest Jetson 67 Curtain holder 68 Furry swimmer 69 Trickles (through)

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Active Minds: $6250.00

The Board passed a club sports allocations policy before giving their final goodbyes as their term comes to a close . Theo Schwarz | Visual Editor

70-79 students have the potential to receive $13,000, teams with 80-89 students have the potential to receive $14,000 and teams in excess of 90 students have the potential to receive $15,000.

Additionally, any club sport that opts out

12/16/14

By Jerry Edelstein

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8 Maiden name indicator 9 Dummy Mortimer 10 “Kiss Me, __” 11 *Talent show hosted by Ed McMahon 12 Conical dwelling 13 Homeowners’ documents 18 Sealy rival 22 Hole-boring tool 24 Takes to jail 25 *Break for fuel 26 Dilapidated building, e.g.

28 Quick intake of breath 29 Greek “i” 30 *Danger after a heavy rainfall 32 Protected, at sea 34 “That was close!”

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 Arty NYC locale 37 Shade provider 39 Sports page numbers 44 Jules who created Captain Nemo 48 Forgetful, maybe 49 Asparagus serving 50 Perform better than 51 Handy

12/16/14

52 Boot bottoms 54 Exxon, previously 56 Folklore monster 57 Go for groceries 60 Consume 61 Three, in Bologna 62 Ship’s pronoun 63 TV host Pennington and Hall of Famer Cobb

of this process can now receive a maximum of $2,000 and cannot opt back in until the next year.

Nites said some club sports teams might opt out of the policy if they have less than $2,000 in their SORC bank accounts.

“It lets them opt out of the hassle of having SGB look at their accounts,” Nite said.

The new amendments also made allowances for club sports who are in their first year of operation, because they did not have an SORC account balance from the previous year.

Allocations can award those teams with a maximum of $3,000.

In other action: The Board appointed Nick Reslink as Allocations Chair for the 2015-2016 term. The Board also appointed the new Allocations Committee, which includes four returning members on the 12-member team.

New Allocations Committee members Michele Buono and Gianna Callisto will serve for eight-month terms, as opposed to the year-and-a-half term, in order to allow incoming freshmen to have a chance to serve on a Student Government Board committee.

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

OPINIONS

The AIDS epidemic: Just as real in 2014 How do you spell H-I-V? Are you positive?

They say a problem shared is a problem halved, but not if it’s AIDS. Today, a handful of jokes surround the HIV virus and AIDS. In retrospect, this wouldn’t have worked in the 1980s, when fear surrounding the new disease gripped the U.S. population.

Although fear of the virus and disease has dissipated in recent years, the AIDS epidemic is still prevalent — more than we realize. In Allegheny County alone, there are about 150 new cases of AIDS each year, with no decline in sight.

Especially crippling is that roughly 26 percent of all new HIV cases in the United States are attributed to youth between the ages of 13 and 24 — including college students.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 60 percent of youth with HIV don’t even know they have the virus and are unknowingly and recklessly spreading it to their partners.

But the issue at hand is the negative stigma surrounding STD testing. An adult who goes to a clinic for an STD test essentially admits to having engaged in unprotected sex with at least one person — if not more.

In addition, HIV and AIDS are often associated with death, homosexuality, sex work and infidelity. The com-

mon mantra is that contracting HIV is a result of some moral fault, as if getting AIDS is comparable to murdering someone.

This stigma is not only affecting individuals who are discriminated against for having the disease, but also the overall battle against AIDS. When people aren’t willing to own up to the possibility of having HIV or even AIDS, they aren’t willing to tell others, so they infect others.

In fact, only about 30 percent of those with AIDS are undergoing long-term treatment.

Screening for HIV is simple.

It can be done at home with a toothbush-like device that is placed in the mouth for two to five minutes and then sent to a lab.

So, the stigma is keeping us from the simplest route of awareness: testing.

In Eastern Europe, about 24,000 HIV infections were reported in 2011. This is much less than the 50,000 new cases reported in the U.S. This is likely due to the lessened stigma surrounding sex in Europe.

The United States, and Pittsburgh especially, need to take a leaf out of Europe’s book.

In lieu of World AIDS day on Monday, we should recognize that AIDS is still an epidemic that we need to actively fight.

To help dissolve the frequency of cases, quit contributing to the AIDS stigma — get tested.

TNS

COLUMN

Follow the yellow brick...buildings?

Pitt endowments yield lackluster structures Elias Economou For The Pitt News What do Lothrop Hall, Allen Hall, Alumni Hall, Amos Hall, Bellefield Hall, Brackenridge Hall and Bruce Hall have in common? All were built before 1925.

Is it worth it for students to pay $3,250 a semester to live on campus in buildings that were built almost 100 years ago?

Of course, some student housing options — such as Lothrop, Amos, Bruce and Brackenridge — have seen renovations. Rooms in Lothrop Hall, for example, are newly carpeted, have built-in sinks and contain decently large closets.

Still, the exteriors of these dormitories are far from modern.

Buildings on Pitt’s campus generally sport the same bland building material — yellow brick.

Pitt had an opportunity to “wow” people in Pittsburgh recently with incredible architecture, but instead, built Nordenberg Hall, an average-looking building — disregarding the interior, which is quite favorable, reminiscent of a nice hotel.. Completed in 2013, Nordenberg has a laundry room on every floor, air-conditioning in every room, two study lounges per floor, two music practice rooms, flat-screen televisions in each unit, a fitness center and wireless internet throughout the building.

But the exterior makes the building look as plain as the Schenley Quad — again, all yellow brick.

The New School in Manhattan had an opportunity for a new building on its campus recently, too. The 16-story building, which opened in January, offers brand new classrooms, a library, a cafeteria and

cafes, room for 600 student residences and spaces that promote working together.

The exterior is extremely futuristic and gives people walking by something to look at. The library looks out on a green roof, while smart lighting and climate control save water, energy and waste, earning the building a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Students want to live and learn in modern buildings, like the one at The New School. Millennials crave new, frontier technology. For the high cost of housing and tuition, students expect to have the best amenities.

Speaking of costs, The New School has an endowment of $200 million.

Economou

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 6

ECONOMOU The University of Pittsburgh has an endowment of $2.98 billion. Yes, billion with a B. A school’s endowment represents the school’s purchasing power. All donations and other financial assets are included in this calculation, and the sole purpose is to invest it.

When looking at endowment alone, Pitt ranks close to NYU, Brown, Penn State, Uni-

THE PITT NEWS Natalie Daher Editor-in-Chief editor@pittnews.com

Cristina Holtzer, News Editor news@pittnews.com

Nick Voutsinos, Opinions Editor letters@pittnews.com

Shawn Cooke, A&E Editor

aande@pittnews.com Chris Puzia, Sports Editor sports@pittnews.com

Theo Schwarz, Visual Editor photos@pittnews.com

Ellie Petrosky, Copy Chief tpncopydesk@gmail.com

Stephen Caruso, Layout Editor tpnlayout@gmail.com

versity of Richmond, Johns Hopkins and Ohio State. However, these schools have been significantly more attentive to renovation and expansion.

NYU has a brand new student center and a nicely renovated library spread over one of the most expensive real estate areas of the largest metropolis in the United States. Penn State has a 21,000 square foot building for Smeal College of Business, and when walking around Johns Hopkins, the 105,000 square foot facility, built in 2015, which houses all of the science departments, is incredible.

That isn’t to say that Pitt hasn’t done a

E S T A B L I S HE D 1 9 1 0

Mahita Gajanan, Managing Editor manager@pittnews.com

Danielle Fox, Assistant News Editor Harrison Kaminsky, Assistant News Editor Matt Barnes, Assistant Opinions Editor Dan Sostek, Assistant Sports Editor Jeff Ahearn, Assistant Visual Editor Zheru Liu, Multimedia Editor Joelle Smith, Social Media Editor Becca Nagy, Assistant Copy Chief Emily Hower, Assistant Layout Editor

Copy Staff

Sarah Choflet Anjuli Das Kinley Gillette Johanna Helba Emily Maccia Sam McGinley

Bridget Montgomery Sarah Mejia Shivani Pandit Michelle Reagle Michael Wilson Megan Zagorski

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good job in renovations in some respects.

Pennsylvania Hall, Panther Hall and the Peterson Event Center are all newly renovated and in impressive condition, favored by students that get picked first in the upperclassmen lottery process for housing. PA and Panther Hall offer new air conditioned rooms, study lounges and very modern architecture to upper campus. The Pete gives students a happy place to either work out or grab a bite to eat, while radiating light shines through the all-glass facade.

Nevertheless, Pitt should work to provide more modern learning and living spaces

Editorial Policies Single copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each.

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns,- car toons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter - in tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University affiliation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to letters@pittnews.com. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left.

The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is-pub lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer.

Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations -Com mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University staff, - fac ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito rial offices of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

for its students. To attract more hopefuls, through showing the value of endowments, Pitt should invest in new, aesthetically pleasing buildings. In this way, Pitt can have glossier images associated with the school, prime subjects for parents and prospective students, alike, to fawn over while on tours.

The Cathedral brought, and will continue to bring, incredible coverage for the school, but who is to say that we cannot build another great academic building?

The demand is there, the school just needs to supply.

Write to Elias at EPE1@pitt.edu advertising@pittnews.com

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Account Executives Maxwell Hine Allison Soenksen Robert Capone Alex Kanner Antonio Blundo Joe Leone Joe Kloecker A.J. Campli Sean Leone Franny Tish Kaitlin Kramer

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Inside Sales Jordan Bullock Victoria Hetrick Julia McKay

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Senior University Account Executive

Marketing Assistant

Ad Designer Mark Janavel

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

SPORTS

VOLLEYBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Despite tourney Panthers’ offense flat in road loss to Hoosiers Jasper Wilson snub, Pitt Senior Staff Writer pleased with BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — In its first true road game of the season, the Pitt men’s basketteam got off to a good start, scoring the 25-6 season ball game’s first points before then going up 4-2.

Caitlin Hinsey Staff Writer

With one year of the ACC under their belt, the Panthers entered the fall with hopes not only of excelling in conference play but also of making the NCAA Tournament. The team’s goal was dashed Sunday evening when the NCAA failed to give Pitt a bid. Despite the snub, head coach Dan Fisher and the Panthers created a strong foundation that the team will continue to build on.

Pitt had one of its best seasons with an overall record of 25-6. The Panthers went 13-5 in the ACC to garner sole possession of fifth place — last season, the team was one of four 11-9 teams to secure that spot.

“The ACC is outright a better conference than the Big East,” senior Kate Yeazel said. “Playing for two years in the Big East, then two years in the ACC, you just see such a higher level in the ACC. This year we were more capable of beating these higher ranked teams versus last year when we were just trying to get through and figure out what we were doing.”

Pitt’s defense was strong this year, holding opponents to .186 hitting percentage, with senior libero Delaney Clesen ranking third in the ACC in digs.

Clesen’s 4.48 digs per set gave the Panthers opportunities to continue play in otherwise difficult situations.

“Throughout the entire season, our defense was really good,” junior Amanda Orchard said. “We’re really going to miss [Delaney] next year.”

Offensively, the team was well-rounded, with various players leading the team

Volleyball

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Pitt wouldn’t lead again.

Playing Indiana University as part of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge Tuesday night, the Panthers struggled mightily on defense en route to a 81-69 loss, the most points they’ve given up all season.

Redshirt sophomore guard Chris Jones didn’t think the sold-out crowd of 17,472, vociferous at times, had any effect on his team’s subpar play, noting the number of returning players from last season who have experience playing in such environments.

“For whatever reason, we just didn’t get it together like we wanted to tonight,” Jones said. “That was on both ends of the ball.”

Indiana (6-1) entered the contest with a strong offense, averaging 89 points and 10 3-pointers a game. Its players penetrated the Pitt defense with ease, getting to the basket without much impediment for all 40 minutes. Afterwards, head coach Jamie Dixon seemed baffled by what was a constant occurrence.

“There were some [scores] which were hard to believe. We’re in position, we were there, but they were still able to turn the corner,” Dixon said. “It makes you wonder where our deficiencies lie.”

By the final whistle, Indiana had outscored Pitt 48-28 in the paint.

The situation outside of the arc wasn’t much different, with open looks abound for the Hoosiers there, too. They converted five of seven 3-pointers in the opening period.

It was the fourth straight time that Pitt’s opposition has made more than half of its shots.

“We didn’t play defense,” sophomore forward Michael Young said. “We didn’t execute anything we wanted to do on defense: story of the game.”

The Panthers (4-3) compounded their defensive woes with poor offense, convert-

Josh Newkirk was a bright spot for Pitt Tuesday, tallying 16 points and eight assists Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer

ing on just 36 percent of their opportunities and shooting 7-26, (27 percent) from 3-point territory.

The tone for the game was set when, holding a two-point lead with eight and a half minutes remaining in the opening period, the hosts went on a 14-3 run. The explosion occurred with Pitt’s leading scorer so far this season, Michael Young, on the bench.

He already had two personal fouls.

But his teammates would respond. Trailing by 11 with just over two and a half minutes to play before half, Jones got hot, connecting on three straight 3-pointers before freshman Cameron Johnson added another.

“I think we did a good job at getting the ball out. Josh Newkirk was pushing it and getting in the lane, creating for me and other

M Hoops

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com COLUMN

For college hoops, Lexingtonʼs passion for sport unrivaled Imaz Athar Staff Writer I bleed blue. Before I moved to Lexington, Ky. in the fifth grade, I had no idea what it was like to be a sports fan. I had never been in an environment where it seemed like everyone’s life depended on the outcome of a basketball game. That changed in Lexington. At first, everyone seemed crazy to root so hard for a basketball team. But when you cry after the Wildcats lose to the Florida Gators, you realize you share everyone else’s craziness. Kentucky Wildcat fandom is infectious — a disease you can never shake.

Pittsburgh has its own college basketball culture. Although Pitt is now a member of the ACC, the team is known historically for its bruising Big East style of play.

And though the city loves the Panthers, the basketball atmosphere here is completely different from the one in Lexington.

Each basketball game isn’t a life-or-death proposition.

That’s how it is in Lexington. Basketball is everywhere. UK yards signs are in every front lawn, Kentucky Wildcat stickers are plastered to every car window, and almost every student wears blue Wildcat t-shirts and sweatshirts. But, it isn’t simply fashionable to root for the Wildcats. As my fifth grade class watched the Kentucky Wildcats’ first round game of the 2005 NCAA tournament, my teacher explained that Wildcat basketball is deeply entrenched in Lexington’s culture.

Wildcat basketball isn’t just a way of life.

It is life — period.

Lexington doesn’t have professional sports teams. Many root for the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds, but do so with reluctance because the teams don’t truly belong

to Lexington. The Kentucky Wildcats are the only team the wild sports city has and has ever had. We celebrate every win as if we’ve won the title, we sink after every loss as if one of our family members had passed away, and the team is all we talk about in the long week between games.

Any criticism of the Wildcats is an affront to Lexington. If someone criticizes the team for losing a game they should have won, hordes of Kentucky Wildcat fans will call Kentucky Sports Radio explaining why the team’s poor play was the referees’ fault.

In some cases, the fans even blame the President. In 2010, before a game against South Carolina, President Obama called the Wildcats to praise their program. But, after the team lost the game, fans blamed the President for hyping up the team too much. It seems ridiculous, but Wildcats fans need their team to win because, without the team, the city loses its identity and its relevance.

The Oakland Zoo is one of the best student sections in the country, but fans can leave a Panthers game and carry on with their lives because they don’t equate the team’s loss to personal loss. A perfect example of this is when Syracuse’s Tyler Ennis hit a 35-footer to beat us at the buzzer last February. Everyone was shocked and upset, but those feelings eventually faded. If Ennis had hit that shot against the Wildcats, the people of Lexington wouldn’t have left their homes the next day. Panther fans are able to get over tragic losses better than Wildcats fans because the city has other sports teams they care about, like the Penguins, the Steelers and the Pirates. The people of

“Wildcat basketball isn’t just a way of life. It is life– period.”

Athar

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 9

ATHAR Lexington, on the other hand, only have the Kentucky Wildcats.

Immersing myself within the Panthers basketball culture has led me to a dilemma. I’ve attended a number of basketball games, and cheered on the Panthers with other students in the Oakland Zoo, which evokes a feeling I never felt while watching the Wildcats on TV as a kid. It’s almost refreshing to get away from the suffocating Big Blue Nation.

Wildcats fans can be overwhelming, and it’s even more overwhelming when you’ve become just as crazy as every other Wildcat fan. But no matter how much I enjoy rooting for the Panthers and being a part of the Oakland Zoo, I’ll always be checking the Kentucky Wildcats box score — I’ll always feel a rush of adrenaline when I see we’re winning and I’ll always be irrationally upset when I see we’ve lost.

I’ll always be a Kentucky Wildcats fan, whether I want to or not. Bleeding blue is a disease that you can never get rid of.

In Lexington, Kentucky, basketball matters more than just about anything. | TNS

December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

Junior Amanda Orchard ranked sixth nationally in hitting percentage in 2014.

Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

FROM PAGE 8

VOLLEYBALL one match to the next. Orchard remained one of the most consistent players for the team in a breakout year. The middle hitter finished the season with a .431 hitting percentage, placing her sixth in the country. Orchard also hit more than .400 in 21 games and .500 in 16.

Yeazel credited the team’s middles — Orchard and Jenna Potts — for helping the team win but said the team’s success wasn’t from a single player each match.

“We had a very complete team this year,” Yeazel said. “We didn’t have just one person that was our team. We had good people at all positions, and that

helped our team chemistry and success.”

Orchard agreed with her teammate.

“Our team was well spread out,” she said. “We could really count on each player on the court.”

Orchard is one of a handful of starters who will return to play for the Panthers next season. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Potts will join Orchard at the net.

Junior setter Jenna Jacobson, who split setting with senior Lindsey Zitzke, will anchor Pitt’s offense next season. Outside hitters Maria Genitsaridi and Mariah Bell will also look to improve on this season.

Bell, a freshman, saw increased playing time when senior outside hitter Jessica Wynn injured her foot in the final

Volleyball

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 8

M HOOPS guys,” Jones said of what worked during that brief period of attacking success.

Jones led all scorers at the half with 16, but he would score just two more the rest of the game.

After the break, Indiana picked up where it left off, cruising behind a balanced scoring attack. Three players finished in double digits.

Pitt couldn’t shrink the deficit to single

digits, trailing by as many as 23.

“Our offense just became more stagnant,” Jones said. “We were just swinging the ball around the horn, instead of really getting into the lane.”

It was a 10-point game with just about a minute left in regulation, but that window proved too late for any sort of comeback.

“We’re kinda unpredictable right now,” Young said.

“One day we’re good.

One day we’re not.”

Pitt returns to action Friday night at 7 p.m. against Duquesne in The City Game at Consol Energy Center.

“We didn’t execute anything we wanted to do on defense.”

Michael Young

FROM PAGE 11

VOLLEYBALL month of play. Genitsaridi overtook Wynn as the team’s kill leader as well as finishing fifth in the ACC in service aces per set.

“The reason we were good is because we were a balanced team with a lot of good players,” Fisher said. “We were also a really good team off the court. The girls really enjoyed being around us [the staff] and around each other.”

On top of losing Wynn and Zitzke, the Panthers lose the defensive prowess of Clesen, as well as opposites Yeazel and Mechael Guess. Zitzke, the all-time ace record holder at Pitt, had 43 on the season and led the ACC. Yeazel led all active Pitt players in kills per set averaging 2.66. As of late, Guess provided the Panthers depth on the bench, especially in the team’s 3-2 win over Louisville on Nov. 26.

“There definitely have been highs and lows and everything in between, but I wouldn’t trade my four years here for anything,” Yeazel said about her time at Pitt.

One of Yeazel and Orchard’s top memories of the season is beating the program’s first ranked opponent since 2005. Pitt faced No. 25 Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium and defeated the Blue Devils 3-2 in thrilling fashion.

The Panthers stole the first and third sets before winning the decisive fifth set with a narrow four-point lead. After taking an early 3-0 lead, Duke would come back and knot it up at nine. Bell would hand Pitt a two-point lead thanks to backto-back kills before the Blue Devils tied it again at 11. The final four points belonged to the Panthers thanks to kills from Potts and Genitsaridi, an ace from Bell and a Duke hitting error.

“It was the first time we beat a top 25 team in my four years here,” Yeazel said.

“It was an incredible feeling.”

Beating Duke was special to Orchard because it helped show that the team’s preparation paid off.

“All the hard work that we have put into the season and the last couple of years was a great feeling to know that we can play with these top 25 teams.”

By barely missing the NCAA Tournament, the returning players have more motivation to obtain a berth next year, according to Orchard.

“We know now that this conference is really strong. We prepared this year knowing that each team was going to be a battle and to fight really hard.” Orchard added, “[The returning players] now know what it takes to make the tournament, and probably right after break we’ll start to shoot up the ball and work out because we know what it takes to make the tournament, and I know everyone is going to be motivated.”

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December 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com