PITTSBURGH -- The annual "City Game" between Pitt's and Duquesne's basketball teams will remain on hiatus for a second straight year.
Duquesne announced Thursday that Pitt had backed out of a verbal agreement to renew the long-running series during the 2020-21 season. The game between the programs separated by just 3 miles in downtown Pittsburgh dates to 1932. The Panthers lead the series 55-32.
The rivalry took a break last season, with Pitt citing a scheduling issue with the Atlantic Coast Conference moving from 18 to 20 conference games. Both schools said they were planning to play each other in the 2020-21 season at PPG Paints Arena, a neutral site located a couple of blocks from the Duquesne campus.
Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper said the Panthers declined to resume the series this year even though the Dukes offered to play on Pitt's home floor.
"We offered to play at Petersen Events Center this year, for no guarantee fee, no ticket allotment or any special considerations, but that offer was declined," Harper said. "We have an offer to play at Pitt in 2021-22 that we are considering."
Despite playing in a smaller conference, Duquesne arguably had the better team last season. Duquesne finished 21-9, 11-7 in the Atlantic 10, and ranked 94th in the NCAA's NET ranking, which the NCAA tournament committee uses in deciding at-large berths. In coach Jeff Capel's second year in charge of Pitt, the Panthers finished 16-17 overall and 6-14 in the ACC with a NET ranking of 109.
"This is an event that is annually anticipated by the City of Pittsburgh and was well on its way to growing back to being a great college basketball rivalry," Harper said. "We have worked hard to build our program into a postseason contender. We finished 94th in the 2020 NET rankings and anticipate having an even better ranking in 2020-21, which makes us a quality nonconference opponent for any program with postseason aspirations."
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Capel declined to say why the game had been canceled for the upcoming season but said his team is still looking for one more opponent to complete its nonconference schedule.
"Coach Capel and I regularly discuss non-conference scheduling and how to balance it against 20 ACC games, the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, as well as special opportunities like this year's Myrtle Beach Invitational," Pitt AD Heather Lyke said in a statement. "A game with Duquesne this season did not fit with our non-ACC scheduling model. However, we have provided Duquesne with a game contract to play at the Petersen Events Center during the 2021-22 season and we are awaiting their response to our offer to play."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.