On Tuesday night, Pitt returns to the hardwood just days after shocking No. 7 Duke on the road at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
The Panthers will be taking on Georgia Tech — who sits at 9-9 on the year with wins over Duke and Clemson.
GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (9-9, 2-5 ACC)
HEAD COACH
Damon Stoudamire (1st season)
LEADING SCORERS
MILES KELLY – GUARD
Kelly is averaging a team-high 15.1 points per game this season for the Jackets. He is shooting 35% from the field and less than 30% from three.
BAYE NDONGO – FORWARD
Ndongo grabs a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game and is a solid scorer too, averaging more than 12 points per game.
KOWACIE REEVES – GUARD
A bigger guard at 6’6, Reeves is averaging 11.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season.
CAPEL ON GT
“For us, it is important to move on to the next play,” Jeff Capel said on Monday. “It is important to flush that and to understand, we have another game against a team that beat Duke when Duke was whole, down here in Atlanta. [A team] that was up ten on them in the second half a few games ago.”
Kelly and Reeves are the Jackets’ biggest three-point threats.
“They’re a really good team,” Capel continued. “They’re tough, they’re athletic, They really really shoot the ball well. They’re confident, and if we’re not ready to play, then we’re going to get our butts kicked. So it’s important for not just our veterans, but for all of our guys to understand, this is where we are, hopefully, it’s the middle of January now — towards the end of January. We understand now what college basketball is about. You have to move on. You can’t stay in the past. You have to take the rearview mirrors off and you have to be forward thinking and forward moving.”
JALAND LOWE SHINING
Freshman guard Jaland Lowe has been a force for the Panthers offensively over the last month, averaging double-digit scoring numbers.
He posted 17 points against Duke, playing a massive role in the victory. He hit the shot of his life in the win, stepping into a three pointer over Duke’s Kyle Filipowski with less than a minute to play to extend Pitt’s lead to four points.
HINSON EXPLODES
On Saturday, we witnessed a Blake Hinson legacy game.
The Panthers’ senior leader delivered on the biggest stage, snapping out of his recent cold shooting streak to go 7 for 7 from three-point range and bury the Blue Devils with 24 points in the win. To cap off the victory, Hinson jumped up on a table in front of Duke’s famous Cameron Crazies (student section), letting them hear it after the win and going viral in the process.
METRICS
Pitt is ranked No. 70 (up 13 from last matchup against Duke) in KenPom. Com’s ratings, and No. 69 in the NET rankings (up 13 spots). Georgia Tech is ranked No. 122 in Kenpom.com’s rankings, and No. 124 in the NCAA NET Rankings.
GAME TIME
Pitt Vs. Georgia Tech will start at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
SPREAD
Pitt is favored by 2.5 points (as of Tuesday at 1 p.m. EST) per DraftKings. The over/under is set at 143.5 total points. You can also take the Panthers at -135 on the moneyline. Pitt has a record of 9-8-1 against the spread this season, per TeamRankings.com.
The Panthers covered +13 last game, winning outright over the Blue Devils.
TV/RADIO
You can find Tuesday’s game on ESPNU and 93.7 The Fan.
I’m still laughing at the “NIT bubble”. I guess $3.6 million doesn’t go as far as it used to lol.
Depending on seeding, that might indicate that they are the nation’s 70th best team. It may be a moot point. They still need to finish with a winning record.
I’m still laughing at what a joke RaDICK IS …………lol
Thought the team was better than its ACC record. Now with Lowe healthy, it’s beginning to show that. One game at a time for the rest of the season. Since the mugging of Hinson by RJ Davis, the team has responded. GT tried the smaller guard on Hinson and Hinson took him to the basket. That will be the ticket when we meet UNC again.
Moron