Wake -1.5

[Sean Miller Fan]

Closer than I thought. I said 3 or 4. Listen, Wake has better players than we do. They have the 3rd best roster in the league. I dont know how they lose the games they do because they are really really talented. Even the 8th grader they bring off the bench as their 10th man can play. When that youngster hits puberty, look out. The fact that that team (and us) is fighting for their tourney lives is ridiculous when half the MWC is going.

We can certainly beat Wake but we didnt look like we belonged on the same court as them for 3 out of 4 halves. So its not going to be easy. As always, it will come down to who shoots the 3 better. Going back to last season, these were those those stats:

2023
Pitt 48%
Wake 37%

2024
Pitt 42%
Wake 27%

Wake 50%
Pitt 27%

Its easy to say we need to defend the 3 point line but sometimes it just comes down to if a team is hot or not. You can get good looks and miss. You can also be well defended and hit shots. Its largely a make or miss game now.

We also have to figure out a way to get Hinson loose on. Hildreth plays lockdown D but it messes their matchups up. It means 6'11 Carr has to guard Austin/Leggett so maybe we can take advantage of that.

 

[Chairman Moe]

Make someone other than Sallis beat us; and have Wake fail at that

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Make someone other than Sallis beat us; and have Wake fail at that

Miller is a little dynamo at the undersized 2 guard. Tough guard. They have so many weapons on offense. We need them to be off. If they're on, there's little we can do like a few weeks ago.

 

[Pittisit4me]

They are a tough matchup for us. This game will show us a little incite into what kind of coach Capel really is. Can he find a matchup we can isolate and cause trouble for wake? Can he scheme Hinson some open 3s? Can we get them in some pic and roll? We have to change something. I expect a close game, so I hope we have some way of finding good shots.

 

[Pittisit4me]

Miller is a little dynamo at the undersized 2 guard. Tough guard. They have so many weapons on offense. We need them to be off. If they're on, there's little we can do like a few weeks ago.

We lost that game on offense not defense. You have to score to beat Wake, probably will take at least 75 to win. We need to run some good stuff, move the ball, and move without the ball. We can't be stagnant and shoot jumpers we aren't making like last time. You know they are going to try and take Hinson away. I can't wait to see what HCJC has planned to get him involved. I don't think we can win without Blake scoring 20+.

 

[Sam Young 23]

Zach Austin has a big game. Pitt by 7. 77 to 70

 

[Vader_Storm]

They are a tough matchup for us. This game will show us a little incite into what kind of coach Capel really is. Can he find a matchup we can isolate and cause trouble for wake? Can he scheme Hinson some open 3s? Can we get them in some pic and roll? We have to change something. I expect a close game, so I hope we have some way of finding good shots.

Leggett has played really well against them both games.

Lowe has really struggled against them in both games.


I think the difference maker in this game is Lowe if we are going to win. We need Lowe to show up tomorrow. And like I said a lot of times this season, I would attack with dribble penetration to open up the 3 point shooters.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

They are a tough matchup for us. This game will show us a little incite into what kind of coach Capel really is. Can he find a matchup we can isolate and cause trouble for wake? Can he scheme Hinson some open 3s? Can we get them in some pic and roll? We have to change something. I expect a close game, so I hope we have some way of finding good shots.

I might try to go Leggett early and try to exploit Carr guarding him. Leggett has a little Burton/Mike Cook in him in that he gets to the hole. Maybe run some pick and roll through him. Make Carr chase him out to the perimeter?

 

[PantherRama724]

Not much of a gambler, but this feels like two teams headed in opposite directions so I would feel confident picking us. Win this one and see what happens

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Closer than I thought. I said 3 or 4. Listen, Wake has better players than we do. They have the 3rd best roster in the league. I dont know how they lose the games they do because they are really really talented. Even the 8th grader they bring off the bench as their 10th man can play. When that youngster hits puberty, look out. The fact that that team (and us) is fighting for their tourney lives is ridiculous when half the MWC is going.

We can certainly beat Wake but we didnt look like we belonged on the same court as them for 3 out of 4 halves. So its not going to be easy. As always, it will come down to who shoots the 3 better. Going back to last season, these were those those stats:

2023
Pitt 48%
Wake 37%

2024
Pitt 42%
Wake 27%

Wake 50%
Pitt 27%

Its easy to say we need to defend the 3 point line but sometimes it just comes down to if a team is hot or not. You can get good looks and miss. You can also be well defended and hit shots. Its largely a make or miss game now.

We also have to figure out a way to get Hinson loose on. Hildreth plays lockdown D but it messes their matchups up. It means 6'11 Carr has to guard Austin/Leggett so maybe we can take advantage of that.

Their roster isn’t much better than ours.
Hinson will be a solid euro league player if he doesn’t want to grind 60k in the G league
Carrington has an outside shot at late 1st round. Lowe is better than their PG.

The difference is they have low post scoring and we don’t. Reid is their X factor to us

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Their roster isn’t much better than ours.
Hinson will be a solid euro league player if he doesn’t want to grind 60k in the G league
Carrington has an outside shot at late 1st round. Lowe is better than their PG.

The difference is they have low post scoring and we don’t. Reid is their X factor to us

I dont think they are much better than us but I think Wake has the 3rd best roster, Clemson 4th. Pitt 5th.

Hinson will get a 2 way.

Sallis and Miller are similar to Bub and Lowe but they are older. So I go Sallis/Miller

Hinson is better than Hildreth.

Carr vs Austin/Leggett is similar

Reid is much better than Fede/Guillermo

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

I dont think they are much better than us but I think Wake has the 3rd best roster, Clemson 4th. Pitt 5th.

Hinson will get a 2 way.

Sallis and Miller are similar to Bub and Lowe but they are older. So I go Sallis/Miller

Hinson is better than Hildreth.

Carr vs Austin/Leggett is similar

Reid is much better than Fede/Guillermo

Hinson will be a G league player that occasionally gets a call-up. He’d be smart to try and get big money in Europe

 

[bayardstreet]

Wake coach is just begging to be embarrassed

And he will. Pitt by 5

 

[Usuallyunusual-partdeux]

Wake coach is just begging to be embarrassed

And he will. Pitt by 5

Everyone keeps forgetting these dudes just played this afternoon and it's closer to a home game for Pitt than Wake. I like our chances. Remember Bub is close to home too. I expect him to show out!

 

[nycpanther98]

Expected the line to be within 2-3 points. Should be a great game. If at the beginning of the year if you were told that all that Pitt needs to do is to win one ACC tournament game against an evenly matched opponent to punch its ticket, would you have been excited? I would have been ecstatic.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Everyone keeps forgetting these dudes just played this afternoon and it's closer to a home game for Pitt than Wake. I like our chances. Remember Bub is close to home too. I expect him to show out!

The fatigue factor isnt real. Its just something announcers talk about. These guys play 4 games a day in AAU and are in elite shape. Its probably a benefit to have already played the day before. Also, Pitt having 2000 fans in attendance compared to 500 for Wake isnt going to make a difference.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

The fatigue factor isnt real. Its just something announcers talk about. These guys play 4 games a day in AAU and are in elite shape. Its probably a benefit to have already played the day before. Also, Pitt having 2000 fans in attendance compared to 500 for Wake isnt going to make a difference.

4 games in 4 days is nothing. How many minutes did Sam Young play during the 2008 Big East Tourney run? played an OT game night 2... and that was while adjusting to a new pair of shoes every night. Fatigue factor is non existent.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

4 games in 4 days is nothing. How many minutes did Sam Young play during the 2008 Big East Tourney run? played an OT game night 2... and that was while adjusting to a new pair of shoes every night. Fatigue factor is non existent.

Right. I hate when announcers talk about that, the "revenge factor," and being hard to beat a team 3 times even though stats show the team that won the first 2 overwhelmingly wins the 3rd. Wake is at an advantage to have already played. Is it a huge advantage? No. But its better to have played a day earlier? In fact, in the old Big East days, there was talk about eliminating the double bye because there was that several year stretch when the double bye teams would continually lose their first game to really good 4-5-6-7 seed NCAAT type teams. The thought was the double bye put those teams at a disadvantage having to play high level teams after they already got a warm-up game in.

 

[Protes]

Closer than I thought. I said 3 or 4. Listen, Wake has better players than we do. They have the 3rd best roster in the league. I dont know how they lose the games they do because they are really really talented. Even the 8th grader they bring off the bench as their 10th man can play. When that youngster hits puberty, look out. The fact that that team (and us) is fighting for their tourney lives is ridiculous when half the MWC is going.

We can certainly beat Wake but we didnt look like we belonged on the same court as them for 3 out of 4 halves. So its not going to be easy. As always, it will come down to who shoots the 3 better. Going back to last season, these were those those stats:

2023
Pitt 48%
Wake 37%

2024
Pitt 42%
Wake 27%

Wake 50%
Pitt 27%

Its easy to say we need to defend the 3 point line but sometimes it just comes down to if a team is hot or not. You can get good looks and miss. You can also be well defended and hit shots. Its largely a make or miss game now.

We also have to figure out a way to get Hinson loose on. Hildreth plays lockdown D but it messes their matchups up. It means 6'11 Carr has to guard Austin/Leggett so maybe we can take advantage of that.

They are a completely different team at home. And they shot beyond lights out in every facet of the game when we played them there. I do not expect that to happen again. We just need to play our game and avoid the offense stagnating/becoming too much one-on-one. Fede needs to man up and hold Reid in check.

 

[AllegeneeGenacGenac]

I say we roll Jeffries out there early to antagonize Reid and hopefully neutralize him one way or another. If he's not a factor, I think we win comfortably.

 

[Usuallyunusual-partdeux]

The fatigue factor isnt real. Its just something announcers talk about. These guys play 4 games a day in AAU and are in elite shape. Its probably a benefit to have already played the day before. Also, Pitt having 2000 fans in attendance compared to 500 for Wake isnt going to make a difference.

Dude it is absolutely real. You shall see today.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I say we roll Jeffries out there early to antagonize Reid and hopefully neutralize him one way or another. If he's not a factor, I think we win comfortably.

See, I'd be way more worried about their guards lighting it up.

 

[pittbb80]

They are a completely different team at home. And they shot beyond lights out in every facet of the game when we played them there. I do not expect that to happen again. We just need to play our game and avoid the offense stagnating/becoming too much one-on-one. Fede needs to man up and hold Reid in check.

This..........Wake is not the same team away from home. In the blow out loss Pitt had one of their worst games shooting and Wake was unconscious. Fede and GDG have improved a ton as well since then.

No doubt Wake is a good team but if the Panthers play anywhere close to their potential I think they take this game.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

See, I'd be way more worried about their guards lighting it up.

Yea, I think what hurt us the 2nd game is that the guards got hot early and they never established Reid. I am actually hoping they try to establish him. If he can 2 us to death, so be it. I dont want them to shoot 8-11 on 3s in the 1st Half

 

[WillyDavis33]

Not much of a gambler, but this feels like two teams headed in opposite directions so I would feel confident picking us. Win this one and see what happens

In the last 11 games:

Pitt 9-2
Wake 7-4


I too feel we are trending up and Wake is treading water

 

[upj87]

Miller is a little dynamo at the undersized 2 guard. Tough guard. They have so many weapons on offense. We need them to be off. If they're on, there's little we can do like a few weeks ago.

Any chance he has any mental anxiety issues? Seems like a good go-to to exploit from important post season Pitt/Wake matchups in the past

 

[AllegeneeGenacGenac]

See, I'd be way more worried about their guards lighting it up.

They aren't playing at home. They'll shoot their season average at best, which is fine for us.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

They aren't playing at home. They'll shoot their season average at best, which is fine for us.

If they shoot their season averages we might be toast. They just have more talent than us. I'm protecting the 3 point line if I'm Pitt. Let them try to run the offense through Efton Reid and his 9 points per game if they wish. Fede just needs to show up today and do what he can to neutralize him.