On Tuesday, the 15th-seeded Pitt scored an upset win over Stanford in the opening game of the ACC tournament. It was a closely contested game, and Pitt won it by a single point, 64-63. The true hero of the game was senior guard Damarco Minor, who caught his own rebound and scored with less than a second on the clock. But in a game that close, anything can make a difference. So maybe the deciding factor was one loud a Pitt fan who spent the game's second half bellowing '90s alt-rock ballads at Stanford players.
Early in the second half, Stanford's Ebuka Okorie took a couple of free throws while this one guy absolutely hollered the Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" at him. As the band pointed out on Instagram, Okorie still made both shots.
As SB Nation reports, it didn't stop there. Later on, a Stanford player missed a free throw while this guy screamed the Cranberries' "Linger" at him. If he'd made that shot, the game would've gone to overtime.
I want an interview with the guy who is singing Cranberries songs during the ACC Tournament
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog.xyz) 2026-03-10T19:34:30.283Z
As the game tightened, the same guy serenaded Standford with Creed's "Higher."
We've moved on to the late 90s with Creed's "Higher" now
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) 2026-03-10T19:55:07.808Z
According to The Athletic, the singing was led by a member of Pitt’s band, drummer Soren Henkle. “He started the unofficial tradition of singing hit songs to distract opposing servers during volleyball games,” sports reporter David Ubben writes. “The singing made sporadic appearances during basketball season.”
Here’s what the University Of Pittsburgh senior told the paper after his “Iris” cover went viral:
“It’s a really powerful song. It’s kind of in my vocal range as well, I’d say, but I don’t know if people would agree. I messed up the words a little, I think. But it’s a classic. Most of the people in the stadium will know it. Most of the people in the band will know it.”
Look, I would love to shame this guy, but you can't argue with results. If the Washington Wizards had someone screeching "Under The Bridge" at Bam Adebayo last night, maybe he wouldn't have scored 83 points. Go with what works.
The “Iris” love comes on the heels of a new Steve Aoki remix, live covers by mgk and Sombr, and a Gen X TikTok trend…
