PITTSBURGH — For almost 16 minutes, Youngstown State looked like the better team on the Petersen Events Center floor against an ACC foe.

But fouls began to tally up for the Penguins and Pitt started to settle in with its size and ball pressure. YSU fought till the final whistle, but fell to the Panthers 74-59 in the 2025-2026 season opener on Monday night in Pittsburgh.

“They’ve got legitimate high-major size and length,” YSU head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “The pressure disrupted us. We knew coming into the game it was going to be about keeping them off the offensive glass and handling the pressure they were going to apply to us. I thought for the most part, they won those battles and that was kind of the game within the game.

“I like our team. I think we’ve got a chance to be a pretty

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