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Thursday, January 27, 2000 By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Coach Ben Howland sent another strong message to his University of Pittsburgh basketball team last night when he dismissed junior forward Derrick Worrell, one of his recruited players, for having a poor attitude.
Worrell, a 6-foot-7 junior-college transfer from Allegany College in Maryland, was kicked off the team despite the fact Pitt has very little depth and he was the only inside player off the bench with any substantial size.
"We need to have an understanding that the most important thing is the team and team goals as opposed to individual goals," Howland said. "I want a positive attitude. I want an attitude that 'I will do whatever I can to help the team win.' "
Worrell's dismissal is unrelated to the incident involving freshman forward Donatas Zavackas, who has missed the past three games because he is among an unspecified number of Pitt students involved in an university investigation into unauthorized use of an access code to make long-distance phone calls.
Zavackas is scheduled to return to the starting lineup for tonight's rescheduled Big East Conference game against Villanova at Fitzgerald Field House. The game was postponed from last night because of a snowstorm in Philadelphia that prevented Villanova from flying here.
Worrell appeared in 10 games and was averaging 11.1 minutes, 3.7 points and 2.2 rebounds for the Panthers, who have lost five in a row and six of the past seven. But his playing time has slowly dwindled since the Big East season began.
The lone exception was the game against Syracuse eight days ago when he played 17 minutes because Pitt was at such a big height disadvantage against the Orangemen.
With Worrell gone, Howland said walk-on Griffin Abel, a 6-foot-4 junior who has played just five minutes since the conference season began, will get more playing time.
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