Syracuse students agree: It's still very satisfying to beat Pittsburgh.
It's that time again. Syracuse takes on long time foe Pittsburgh. Syracuse travels to the Pete to start their ACC slate. Fun times. But really, the gameplan for this is simple. It starts with stopping Michael Young. He's Pitt's best offensive player right now. Young averaged 13.5 against SU last year, but more importantly he's hitting 17.4p on average this year. And he's consistent, hitting around 60% on field goals. Stopping him, is the key to slowing down Pitt's offense. The problem with Pittsburgh, as always, is that they are a tough physical rebounding team. They will probably own the boards and prevent many 2nd chance opportunities for SU, while earning a bunch of their own. I'm not convinced Coleman is tough enough to bang with the big boys of Pitt, and Lydon, while admirably filling in at the 5 spot, is more of a 4. Syracuse needs to keep the rebounding numbers close if they want to stay in this game. Dixon and Pitt know how to beat the 2-3, so part of winning is sheer luck unfortunately. If Pitt is scoring at will, not much SU can do as we know they are unable to come from behind really. So here is hoping the shooters show up. And Malachi Richardson only takes good shots. Same goes for Cooney. When Richardson isn't scoring much, it might as well be a turnover. Speaking of turnovers, SU needs to force some. A tough task against Pitt. However, if Syracuse can, and either get extra possessions, or some transition baskets, they will keep this close. However, being in the Pitt, and SU isn't an elite team this year, I'll say Pitt wins at home by 11. This game is available nationally on ESPN 2 / WatchESPN at 9:00pm. And hey, even when they lose you can just watch this for a while and feel alright. SORRY PITT!
Labels: ACC, Basketball, Pittsburgh, Preview
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