Pitt has not been as dominant as they were at the beginning of the year, but they are still a winning team. With the regular season coming to a finish, Pitt has shaken off consecutive losses with consecutive overtime thrillers to ACC opponents Miami and Virginia Tech.
Yes, the two opponents Pitt barely escaped against are not the upper echelon of college basketball or the ACC for that matter, but they still count as conference victories.
Bringing their total ACC record this season to 8-3, Pitt has faired well in their inaugural season. With motivational victories like this going into a game against the top team in the country, Syracuse, Pitt should have some added spark.
Considering Pitt had trouble winning closely contested matches earlier this year, the Pitt faithful should not be concerned about these closely contested struggles.
Even better, Pitt beat Virginia Tech with top player Lamar Patterson going 1-9 from the field, and 0-6 from three point range. It took every player to win in double overtime against the Hokies.
Cameron Wright’s 18 points and 6 rebounds, James Robinson’s 16 points and 4 steals, and Josh Newkirk’s 11 points off the bench seems to many like a well-rounded effort by the entire team.
Considering the game prior against Miami, Pitt went into overtime and won with Patterson scoring 25 of the team’s 59 points.
Not saying that it is a bad thing when the star is producing and winning games for your team; it is when the entire team gets involved that they start winning consistently and by a significant margin.
With Pitt going up against Syracuse at the Peterson’s Events Center on February 12th, they should have a ton of adrenaline going in, and with a good record in years past against their former Big East foe, an upset should be in order.