Pitt guard Ithiel Horton entered the Transfer Portal Wednesday morning, per Verbal Commits. His departure from the program makes for the fifth Panther to do so this offseason, matching the amount of players Pitt lost to the Transfer Portal last season. He joins Noah Collier, Dan Oladapo, Chris Payton and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo as players leaving the program this offseason.
While the previous four players weren't major losses as they primarily came off the bench and weren't scoring assets, Horton is very different. Despite missing 18 games this season due to a suspension, Horton was the team's fifth-leading scorer 127 points on the season, an average 9.8 per game. He was also the team's best three-point shooter with a .379 percentage from beyond the arc. His 1.1 steals per game was also a team high, and his return as a starter to the roster sparked a three-game win streak in February that represented half of Pitt's ACC wins on the season.
Horton's suspension stemmed from an incident with Pittsburgh Police on Nov. 6, that led to felony charges filed against him just days before Pitt's season opener against The Citadel. Those charges that included assaulting a police officer led to a long, drawn out trial process that didn't allow Horton to have a preliminary hearing due to the prosecution not being ready until the charges were dismissed in December. However, the Allegheny County District Attorney's office refiled the charges in January, and eventually dropped them when the preliminary hearing was held with both parties present on Jan. 26 and Horton accepted a plea deal for lesser charges.
During that time, Horton served his suspension from the team, but maintained personal workouts to be ready for his return. He would initially return to play one game against Louisville in December when his chargers were initially dismissed, but then had to wait another month on suspension once the charges were re-filed. Jeff Capel made his stance in clear support of Horton during the process, calling the situation "B.S." in talks with media on Jan. 8.
For Capel, the loss of Horton along with Mouhammadou Gueye's eligibility running out mean his team's top two three-point shooters from 2021-2022 won't be on the roster next season. Despite the loss of Horton and four other bench players in the Transfer Portal, Pitt did get a commitment to return Tuesday from its most important player in the form of its leading scorer and rebounder, John Hugley IV. His presence, alongside the potential of Jamarius Burton, Femi Odukale and Nike Sibande would be the foundation for Capel to build his 2022-2023 roster.
Burton and Odukale were the team's leading scorers behind Hugley this season. Sibande was set to be one of the team's top scorers this for 2021-2022, but tore his ACL a week before the season opener and missed the entire season. He's already made it known he intends to return to Pitt for his final year of eligibility next season. But Wednesday morning after the announcement of Horton, he also tweeted this:
Stay calm 🥱
— Nike (@sibande_nike) March 23, 2022
Capel had already signaled that his 2022 recruiting class could be primarily made up of players from the Transfer Portal, if not entirely comprised of transfer players. Tuesday, Athletic Director Heather Lyke further explained her support of Capel being the continued coach for Pitt basketball, and detailed how the athletic department now has two staff members solely dedicated to researching and amassing information on players in the Transfer Portal.
Horton's departure now leaves Pitt with six open scholarship slots for the 2022 class that still doesn't have a single commitment from either the Transfer Portal, high school or AAU recruits. Before Horton's departure, Pitt's primary needs appeared to be an explosive point guard who could create off the dribble, another shooter, and two forwards to either pair with Hugley in the starting lineup or back him up from the bench. But with Horton gone, finding an outside shooter becomes just as important a need as the others.
If Pitt's process recruiting through the Transfer Portal is different now, as Lyke indicated Tuesday, it could yield better results to find players who could become pillars to the team next season. Miami and Iowa State are two basketball programs who went from being among the worst in their conferences in 2020-2021 to striking it big in the Transfer Portal and now being in the sweet sixteen for the 2022 NCAA Tournament. For Capel, who's contract lasts until 2027, his path forward could depend heavily on how strong of a class he can put together this offseason, whether through the portal or high school recruits.
