Staff Picks: Pitt looks to bounce back against Sacred Heart
The Pitt Panthers are coming off a heartbreaking 75-74 loss to Vanderbilt earlier this week, which snapped a five-game winning streak. After trailing for most of the second half, Pitt forged a late run to take the lead with under a minute remaining, but could not steal the win.
Jeff Capel's squad will look to bounce back today, and after running a three-game road gauntlet against power-five teams, Pitt is back in the friendly confines of the Petersen Events Center today to take on Sacred Heart.
The Pioneers are led by eighth-year head coach Anthony Latina. They come into the game with a 5-5 record and have lost two straight games. Sacred Heart has four players averaging double figures, but the player to watch is Nico Galette, a 6'6" forward averaging 16.4 points per game.
Pitt is 6-4 on the season, and have played much better basketball since a 1-3 start. Despite the loss on Wednesday, the Panthers have built some good chemistry. Pitt has two more non-conference games before the bulk of ACC play begins later this month.
The Panther-Lair.com staff all picked Pitt on Wednesday and came up empty. Let's see how they feel this game will go.
Stephen Gertz (6-4): I think the Pittsburgh Panthers will take this game at home without too much trouble. At some point, John Hugley has to bounce back, and this also seems like a good one for the Diaz-Graham twins to log some minutes and make the most of them after not playing on Wednesday. Pitt is rounding into a better than average offensive team outside of their turnover rate, and a reasonably good defensive squad. The Sacred Heart Pioneers play at a plodding pace and Anthony Latina will have his team playing hard. However, they just do not shoot the ball well enough for anywhere to keep up. The Panthers will be the second best team they have played this season - Rutgers being the best. They lost to the Scarlet Knights by 38 earlier this year and I expect a similar outcome today.
Prediction: Pitt 83, Sacred Heart 61
Houston Wilson (6-4): Pitt has two more chances to get non conference wins beginning with Sacred Heart today and North Florida a week from today. Pitt can’t afford to slip up and lose these games and with the way they have been playing I don’t think they will. They should be fine today against Sacred Heart as the Pitt roster is much more talented. Pitt adds another W to the win column today.
Prediction: Pitt 83, Sacred Heart 67
Jim Hammett (6-4): I was encouraged by Pitt's outing against Vanderbilt. The Panthers did not have their best stuff in that game, but clawed to take a one-point lead late in the game and almost stole one. Nelly Cummings and Jamarius Burton have been playing at a high level, and Greg Elliott had a big shooting day on Wednesday. When the three guards are all playing well, this team is difficult to defend because their passing and ball movement is much improved from a year ago. I don't see Sacred Heart posing muhc of a threat today.
Prediction: Pitt 78, Sacred Heart 60
Matt Steinbrink (5-5): Pitt has to feel like they let one slip away after a legitimate effort on the road at an SEC school. That has to frustrate this group, who had been playing so well together. This week, they can get back on track and start another streak until they get back into ACC competition. Sacred Heart will give the Panthers a much different look given their lack of size. Some of these games can be tricky for those reasons, but Pitt can also go small and match that personnel. This team will likely be focused and set on getting back in the winner's circle.
Prediction: Pitt 81, Sacred Heart 68
Chris Peak (6-4): Like everyone else, I see a bounce-back game for Pitt here. There were valuable lessons to be learned from the loss at Vanderbilt - primarily that the team is not good enough to win while committing 15 turnovers, missing seven free throws and generally playing sloppy basketball for most of the evening. But even though the team didn't play well, they still had a chance to win at the end, and that's encouraging to me: they played nothing close to their best game and still could have beaten a high-major conference team on the road. I think they'll correct those issues while continuing to shoot and score at a high level. And if John Hugley should happen to show some progress today, Pitt should be able to pull away.
Prediction: Pitt 85, Sacred Heart 66