Syracuse students agree: Beating Pitt in the Dome is niiiiiiice.
Here we are again. This time Pittsburgh makes the six hour (they probably didn't drive) trip to the Dome to take on the Orange, fresh off their biggest win of the season against #12 Louisville. Gbinije has been outstanding and will probably continue to be. Two factors will play into whether Syracuse prevails or not. If Syracuse can stop Sheldon Jeter, who tore Syracuse up in the Pete, and if Cooney can contribute. Syracuse had enough going on that even though Cooney was laying duds all night on Wednesday against Louisville they could still prevail. Not the case tonight strangely enough. Pitt has two many weapons and shoots the three better than Louisville for that to happen. So Syracuse needs a strong performance from Cooney and/or anyone else. Because even though Christmas and Gbinije each had a game high 23 against Pitt, it wasn't enough. Cooney only added 12 and Syracuse lost by six. Not to mention the fact that Jamel Artis is a stud when he gets close to the basket. Defense is the key to this game. If Syracuse plays good defense and they do just what they have been doing on offense, like how the defense played against Louisville, they have a shot. Again, the difference being Pitt is a much better perimeter shooter. So we'll see how that plays out. Either way, I like Syracuse's chances all things considered, only because this game is in the Dome. The real difference the last game was it was in the Pete. Not the case tonight. I think Pitt misses some of those makes they had down the stretch in the last game, as well as the fact that Syracuse is playing much better defense now, even though the Pitt game wasn't that long ago. Something has changed and the young kids are understanding the 2-3 better and rotating more. So if the hands are up on shooters and they aren't fooled by collapsing too much to the paint when a Pitt player has it inside, Syracuse has a good chance in this game. I'm picking the Orange at home by five. This game is available regionally on the ACC Network at 12:00pm. The list if affiliates is here. If you can't see it on TV, WatchESPN is available. Check the blackout map here. John will be in the Dome. I'm in the home office. Let's do this. Shit on Pitt!
Labels: ACC, Basketball, Preview
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