Drumgoole enters transfer portal, Horton stays at Pitt

One Panthers' guard is headed to the transfer portal, while another is staying put. That's the news of the day for a basketball program very much in flux.

Just two weeks after Xavier Johnson and Au'Diese Toney announced their intent to intent to leave the program, sophomore Gerald Drumgoole also entered the transfer portal. Drumgoole was a four-star recruit who came to Pitt with Justin Champagnie in 2019.

Drumgoole never got into a rhythm in his two seasons with the Panthers, playing in only nine games with zero starts and just 48 minutes this season after playing in 21 games with two starts as a freshman. 

“Gerald has been an outstanding teammate and an important member of our program over the past two seasons,” said Jeff Capel in a statement. “We are grateful for his commitment to the Pitt Basketball program and supportive of his desire to seek other opportunities to continue to grow as a player. Gerald has a bright future and we wish him nothing but the best on and off the court.”

Losing the guard isn't the biggest story for Pitt, but the defection of Drumgoole, joining Toney and Johnson, does add to a growing concern for Capel's program. And there was fear Drumgoole might not be the only one out the door after the season-ending loss to the University of Miami in the ACC Tournament.

Ithiel Horton deleted all of his Instagram posts that were associated with Pitt on Thursday morning, only to later deactivate his social media profiles Thursday afternoon. No official announcement has been made, but it led to questions about Horton's future at Pitt that swirled around social media.

Horton put those rumors to rest with a statement release on Pitt basketball's Twitter account:

That's a strong statement from a player who experienced a rollercoaster season both with in the wins and losses and with his own individual performance.

The sophomore guard became the team's top sharpshooter with 43 of 116 3-pointers made on the season (37.1 percent). He had the 10th-most 3-pointers of any player in the ACC. But he also struggled late in the season, hitting only 2 of 11 behind the arc in a four-game stretch between February and March. 

Horton, who averaged 8.9 points in 22 games, eventually lost his starting spot at shooting guard to transfer Nike Sibande. Horton transferred from Delaware in 2019 and had to sit out his first season per NCAA rules, while Sibande had transferred from Miami University in 2020 and was allowed to play once Pitt started its ACC schedule.

Losing Horton wouldn't have been a huge blow for the Panthers' future, but it would have darkened the cloud over the program with the growing number of transfers. 

Thanks to the eligibility waiver due to the pandemic, Horton could retain his status as a sophomore to come back for three seasons. That would give him plenty of time to develop a more consistent shot and work on rounding out his game. 

It also ensures Capel keeps a full backcourt with Femi Odukale, Sibande and Horton. If Justin Champagnie stays, it keeps Capel from having to completely reconstruct the roster further after the team adjusted to missing Johnson and Toney at the end of the season.

So long as nobody else leaves before the start of next season, the next step for Capel will be making moves of his own in the transfer portal.

• Champagnie was announced as part of Dick Vitale's Second Team All-America on ESPN Thursday, after averaging 18.1 points and 11 rebounds on the season. He's the first Panther to average a double-double for a season since DeJuan Blair did it in the 2008-2009 season.