“Send it in, Jerome!”
Pitt will honor the 35th anniversary of Jerome Lane’s memorable dunk during Wednesday night’s matchup against Wake Forest. Lane’s dunk against Providence on Jan. 25, 1988, shattered the backboard and prompted college basketball analyst Bill Raftery to deliver one of the most iconic lines in Pitt history.
Lane received a pass from guard Sean Miller early in the first half and ripped the rim off of the Fitzgerald Field House hoop, resulting in glass raining down onto the wooden floor.
Pitt and the Oakland Zoo will commemorate the historic dunk by providing a Jerome Lane jersey shirt to the first 1,000 members of the Zoo. Current Panthers including Federiko Federiko, Blake Hinson, Nate Santos, and Nike Sibande were shown the iconic play and described their emotions toward the glass-shattering slam.
“I believe everyone has seen this play,” forward Federiko said. “This is crazy.”
“I don’t think that will ever happen again,” Hinson said. “Definitely nasty.”
“That’s a dunk that, as a little kid, you go and dunk on the mini hoop, that’s what you’re trying to do,” Santos said. “Break the rim.”
“If I did something like that, I’d probably run out of the gym,” Nike Sibande said. “I’d probably be too turnt up.”
The Panthers finished the 1987-88 season 24-7, winning the Big East regular-season title. Pitt (13-7, 6-3 ACC) currently sits in a five-way tie for third in ACC play, knotted against the Deamon Deacons (14-6, 6-3 ACC) along with Miami (15-4, 6-3 ACC), North Carolina (14-6, 6-3 ACC), and Syracuse (13-7, 6-3 ACC).
