Mens Basketball: Pittsburgh (13-7, 3-4) at Virginia Tech (8-11, 0-6) 7PM ESPNU

Virginia Tech finally gets a break from ranked opponents, and also opponents that dominate them in the lane size wise. Pitt in a very unlikely scenario for their program, comes in sitting in the middle of the ACC, having lost to the top teams and beaten the cellar dwellers. This is about the worst this team has been in over a decade. They have wins against Boston College, Florida State, and Georgia Tech. They have lost to NC State, Duke, Louisville and Clemson. Their losses have tended to be double digit while their wins extremely close.

Pitt is a rather well balanced team when it comes to scoring from their top five. What you really need to know can be summed up 0,1,2....as in uniform numbers of our opponents that score the most.

Michael Young(#2) leads them in scoring at 13.6 ppg as well as rebounds at 7.7 rpg. Young is there sole dominant lane player at 6'9, 235 lbs and will give Pierce and Henry a solid challenge to contain down low.

Jamel Artis(#1) is averaging 10.9 ppg and 5.2 rpg as the starting small forward for this group. He is 6'7 and 220 lbs. so plays larger than our guards but will likely fall to Muller or Bibbs (if playing) to guard.

The last Panther in double figures this season is James Robinson(#0), the point guard that makes things go for the Panthers. He is averaging 10.1 ppg along with 4.8 apg this season. Pretty stout for a PG at 6'3 and 198 lbs so expect that whichever of Muller and Bibbs (if playing) are not guarding Artis to have the assignment of Robinson.

There are three other Panthers to note, contributing between 7.4 and 9 ppg, are Chris Jones(#12), Cameron Wright(#3), and Josh Newkirk(#13). For lack of size in the big man department, their wing players are pretty hefty, with Newkirk the only one at a lowly 6'1. Jones and Wright come in at 6'6 and 6'5 both over 200 lbs, so as much as "size shouldnt be an issue" is what we have heard going into this game, there are still going to be some big bodies on the court for Pitt tonight. It worries me that having come off such a demanding effort against UVA that the wear and tear might come to a crux late in this game.

As for our achilles heel of allowing amazing three point shooting, there are four Panthers with over 40 attempts from behind the arc this season. All four shoot about 35% from this area, which against us could easily ramp up to 40%, although fortunately Pitt only attempts about 14 threes a game so far. The primary two to watch in this area with be Artis and Newkirk, even though Jones has attempted the most by far with 70 attempts.

Expect Pitt to play alot of man to man defense, sprinkling in zone when playing both Artis and Young on the floor together. They will play some extended defense to try to create turnovers, but not nearly like WVU did so this shouldnt create too much heartache.

Another thing to note is that Pitt is extremely good at getting to the foul line, averaging almost 20 attempts per game so far this season and they shoot about 72% from the line. Our bigs especially will need to avoid fouls, but all Hokies need to be aware that Pitt is looking to create free chances at any time.

If Tech can come out and play even a semblance of the game they gave UVA, then the Hokies win this game by ten or more, but if they come out flat for a half as they have tended to do, this game likely comes down to the last few baskets and unfortunately that hasnt gone Tech's way much this season.

Virginia Tech 72 - Pitt 59

Yes I think they can get their first ACC win tonight, but it will take a 40 minute effort like they gave on Sunday.