The Pitt men’s basketball team received a transfer portal commitment from former South Alabama small forward Barry Dunning Jr.
Dunning joins former Iowa State shooting guard Nojus Indrusaitis and center Dishon Jackson as commitments from the portal.
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The 6-foot-6, 195-pound Alabama native averaged 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest during the 2024-25 season. He was named to the Sun Belt first team. He scored in double figures 25 times, including on 16 occasions in conference play. Dunning recorded six double-doubles this season. He tied a South Alabama program record with nine made 3-pointers in a game. Dunning averaged 22.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest in the final 10 games of the season. He put up 34 points and 11 rebounds at home versus Texas State Feb.15.. Dunning scored 20 points or more five times. He grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and added 18 points at Louisiana Feb. 1.
Dunning averaged 1.2 points and 1.1 rebounds per contest in 2023-24 at Alabama-Birmingham. He appeared in 17 games as a freshman at Arkansas in 2022-23.
He was a two-time Gatorade Alabama player of the year at McGill-Toolen High School. He was the 2022 MaxPreps Alabama player of the year and 2022 Alabama Mr. Basketball. Dunning was the state’s top-ranked player by ESPN, 247 Composite and 247Sports. He was a four-star prospect and ranked No. 74 overall by ESPN. Dunning was named to the all-state first team three times in Class 6A. As a senior, he averaged 25.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.3 steals, 2.6 assists and 1.7 blocks per game. He was named the Alabama MVP in the 2022 Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic, finishing with 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in Alabama’s 96-89 victory. Dunning averaged 21.5 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game as a junior for the Yellow Jackets.
Pitt is a top-three finalist for Oregon State transfer guard Damarco Minor. The 6-foot Illinois native averaged 9.8 points and 5.1 assists per game for the Beavers in 2024-25. He chipped in 15.5 (2023-24) and 14.3 (2022-23) points per game at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. He was named to the 2023-24 Ohio Valley Conference first team.
Minor led South Suburban College to a perfect 33-0 season in 2021-22, and the school’s first NJCAA Division II national championship. He was named NJCAA Division II national player of the year and a first-team NJCAA Division II All-American. Minor was the National Association of Basketball Coaches two-year college player of the year. He was the NJCAA Region 4 player of the year who averaged 20.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game at South Suburban. He compiled 112 steals (second in NJCAA), shot 44.8% from the field and averaged 5.7 assists per game. Minor scored at least 27 points eight times during the season, including two 30-plus point outbursts.
