Pittsburgh comes in off an excellent second half performance down in Raleigh on Saturday. They looked invincible on the defensive end and, should they continue to remain hot here over these next couple of games, they should begin to generate additional talk of a possible ranking come next week.
For Maryland, this will be a tough spot for that reason alone. The Terps are number 74 in offensive efficiency and are still flirting with various strategies to create scoring. They do not have a proven point guard on the roster, and so the playmaking often falls into the hands of 6’5 junior Dez Wells.
What Maryland does have is a few shooters who can stretch the defense. They are 57 in 3P% nationally and have length with shooters like 6’8 Evan Smotrycz and 6’8 Jake Layman.
Maryland is also quite good on the glass as they have tremendous size at virtually every position. They rank inside the top 45 in both offensive and defensive rebounding, and thats a critical factor here as Pittsburgh gets a ton of its offense through second chance opportunities.
This marks the first of three very winnable ACC games which involve new opponents for the Panthers. On January 18 they will head to Syracuse for a date with a former Big East friend. Prior to that, they get Maryland, Wake and Georgia Tech in a stretch that should enable them to begin conference play 4-0.
We have seen Pittsburgh shine early on only to falter later in the year. Time will tell how good this Pittsburgh team is, but this game Monday is right in their wheelhouse as far as a match-up they like.
They are simply too disciplined and strong defensively to allow a team that is still struggling mightily with its offensive character to come into the Peterson Events Center and win. Te spread opened at 9.5 with the Panthers being favored and it has hung in that range for the last twelve hours.
Maryland could make for a decent play as the Panthers have been lackluster as a large home favorite in recent seasons. However, this looks to be a physical game in which the spread could well be decided by late free throws.
Maryland is one of the worst free throw shooting teams to date in the ACC this year while Pitt is one of the better teams in that regard. I had this number at 11.5, but don’t have enough faith in the Panther offense to bite on this.
Keep an eye on Roddy Peters in this game. He has been earning more minutes as of late at the point guard spot for Maryland, and he is a very talented, 6’3 freshman. Peters lacks ideal quickness to come in and excel early in the ACC, but Pitt’s guards are not exactly explosive either. Peters could play a big role in how Maryland handles pressure out front in this one, and how they move forward in a revamped ACC.
