Ithiel Horton went into Saturday thinking he would play his second game for Pitt since his criminal charges were dismissed on Dec. 30 and he had rejoined the Panthers since his 13-game suspension.
That changed when those charges were announced to have been re-filed Saturday, forcing Pitt Athletics to renew its suspension of Horton, per university policy, just hours before Pitt would beat Boston College 69-67 at the Petersen Events Center. Horton would turn himself in to the Pittsburgh Police and be jailed Saturday to await bail.
Jeff Capel expressed his frustration with the process after seeing Horton working with the team as recent as Saturday morning.
"When our guys got here for shootaround this morning he was the first one here like always," Capel said of Horton. "He's doing his routine, working and excited. So it's been an emotional day for all of us. He's someone we care about and we love. We know the kind of young man that he is. He has all of my support. I'm with him 1000 percent. We'll see what happens."
Capel had said in a released statement after Horton's charges were dismissed to express how "proud" he was of how Horton had handled the situation, who made the Dean's List for the fall 2021 semester. For him, thinking about his junior guard sitting in a jail cell was an emotional challenge to overcome on the day of a game.
"To be honest with you, today has been a very emotional day for me," Capel said. "Before the game I went down the hall to do radio. Down in our little area where we walk there's a video board. When I walked out, the video board had Ithiel's stuff on a loop. It was Ithiel doing his ball handling routine before Louisville and he had a big smile on his face. And I got really, really emotional. I asked them to turn it off. There's something that doesn't feel right about us getting ready for a game and him sitting in a jail cell. I feel for him. I love him. He's a great, great kid. It's really messed up what's happened and what he has to go through."
In Horton's only game appearance this season he scored 13 points, leading the Panthers in three-point shooting as he hit 3 of 5 from beyond the arc against Louisville. Pitt didn't win the game, but it was clear that Horton had kept working while his suspension required he remain separate from the team's players and coaches for its duration.
"It was joy," Capel said of how Horton took his game against Louisville. "This is what he loves to do. He loves to play basketball and loves to be part of a team. That had been taken from him. The joy of practice, being in a game and being in that atmosphere, that was what was taken from him. Sometimes when something is taken away from you, that's what you saw. It's B.S."
Per the policy of Pitt Athletics, Horton's suspension must be in place so long as criminal charges are filed against him and there's no resolution. As of Saturday, no preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Horton's re-filed charges. After Horton was charged from the initial Nov. 6 incident where he was alleged to have assaulted a police officer, the arresting officer didn't appear for the initially scheduled preliminary hearing on Nov. 18 or the rescheduled hearing on Dec. 30.
A preliminary hearing for Horton's refiled charges has been set for Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 10 a.m.
