Pitt set for huge ACC showdown at Wake Forest

The Pitt basketball team has been on a roll having won five straight and seven of the past eight games. The Panthers have soared into a tie for fourth place in the ACC after starting conference play with a 1-5 record. This current run has saved Pitt’s season and has given the team a chance to make a run to the NCAA Tournament.

The job is not done, however, and the Panthers still have six games to either bolster or diminish their tournament resume. It will be a stressful three weeks ahead and the first test in Pitt’s final six-game stretch run starts with a rematch against Wake Forest tonight at 9:00 on the ACC Network.

Pitt defeated Wake Forest 77-72 back on January 31st. The two teams sit with identical 8-6 ACC records and are both fighting to get on the right side of the bubble. The Panthers will enter the game as road underdogs, but that is a place where the team has thrived and looked comfortable this season. Pitt is 6-2 in road games this year and has stacked some of their most impressive wins away from the Petersen Events Center, including last week’s 74-63 upset over No. 21 Virginia.

“Defense and rebounding are normally two things that travel and so if you can be consistently good there, I think you give yourself a chance,” Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said of two aspects that have been helpful for his team's succes on the road. “We’ve been fortunate and pretty good there and hopefully that is something that we can continue to do.”

The Panthers will need another strong defensive effort in this one. Wake Forest held a 37-27 lead against Pitt in the first meeting at halftime and showed off its ability to score the basketball. The Demon Deacons are third in the ACC at 79 points per game and are fourth in the league making 36.8% of their shots from deep.

Wake Forest features four players who average double figures, led by Hunter Sallis, a 6’5” junior guard posting 18.4 points per contest. Sallis scored 22 against Pitt in the first meeting and has been the team’s leading scorer in seven of the past eight games.

While Sallis scored the most points against Pitt in that January 31st meeting, it was big man Efton Reid who caused a good deal of damage. Reid, a one-time major Pitt recruiting target, has come on strong for Wake Forest. He scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Pitt earlier this year, but a late game adjustment by Capel held him in check. Pitt put the smaller William Jeffress on Reid, which neutralized him towards the end of the game. Capel recognizes it will be a tall task to slow him down for another 40 minutes tonight.

“If you try to double, they have such great shooting around and playmaking,” Capel said of trying to stop Reid. “If you leave him by himself one on one, he’s shown that he can score the basketball at a really, really high percentage and is doing it very efficiently.”

The Demon Deacons have some proficient outside shooters, but they were cold against Pitt. Wake Forest only made 6-of-22 from deep against the Panthers in January, but returning home might bring on a different challenge.

“Last time, I thought we did some good things and we got a little bit lucky, too,” Capel said of Wake’s ineffectiveness from three-point range. “They missed some that they normally make and probably we expect them to make at home.”

The Pitt coach cited defending in transition and not allowing the crowd getting into the game as two ways to slow down Wake’s potential momentum from long range. Pitt’s defense and rebounding are two things that need to be working tonight, but of course the offense has to be good as well.

The Panthers have been riding the hot hand of Blake Hinson, the ACC’s reigning Player of the Week, but also the play of their two young guards. Bub Carrington and Jaland Lowe have been able to remain poised in road games this season and their ability to handle a hostile environment again tonight will be one of the biggest factors for Pitt.

“I mean those guys have gotten better as the season has gone on,” Capel said of the two freshmen guards. "The experience helps and being in different situations helps. Film study, practice, all of those things. Those guys having a pretty high IQ and being able to pick things up, I think all of those things help.”

The game tonight means a lot on two different fronts for each team. The Panthers and Demon Deacons are locked in a battle for positioning in the ACC standings and a win here could mean a lot in terms of getting the fourth double bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

The game also features some major bubble implications. Currently in the ACC, it seems that Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia are all expected to make the NCAA Tournament. After those big three, Pitt and Wake Forest have been two of the teams mentioned the most of late, and a win here could be big for either team as they try make their case before Selection Sunday.