Originally Posted by
Louisvillekid1
Wake is a tough situation, as both squads had extra prep time for this one. Last home game for wake you'd think they throw that UVA tape out and just spend the time for dixon's group. It's the first time Pitt has ever played @ wake, and dixon stressed to his guys the importance of getting accumulated early in shoot around and just with the facilities in general.
This game is very important to pitt as if they drop it they pretty much need to win out and make deep run with big wins in ACC tourney. However don't let that be a strong angle for your capping as their is a reason they are in this spot. They have won 6/8 much due to the fact they have been passing the ball extremely well, leading to much better shot selection. The odd thing about this pitt team is their struggle on the glass, it sounds strange to type that when speaking on a dixon pitt squad but this is an edge that will really favor wake. Pitt does take care of the rock very well as they actually lead the nation is A/t ratio. This of course is very important when playing on the road. They shot under 40% in 2/3 road games but last out against cuse they were in the 50 range. Another big reason of their late push is simply the return of Cameron Wright, they are getting healthy at the right time.
Matchup to look for is going to be Michael Young ability or lack their of to box out Devin Thomas. Thomas has been up and down as of late and the deacons gonna need a big performance from him to get the W in their last home of the season. Pitt has many guys that can break out in Artis, Jeter, jones, & Nwanko. And Wake is going to also need a big performance for Codi -MM.
Wake seems to be at their best playing up tempo on the offensive end however the downside of that is they have to defend more. Pitt makes you work on offensive end and that could be a problem.
Ideally I want to like the home dog here catching 3 but Im not sure I do.
Every wake home conference game this year (besides UVA of course) has went over this number. I think w/ the improved passing of pitt leading to better shots against this weak defense, combined with Wake's ability to get second chance points & extra motivation of coming of bad loss while playing last home game, should push this game over the number of 139.
Leaning towards a play on the over at this point.
This is first game I looked at (got late start) but saw it was basically topic of thread so I'm gonna look elsewhere now.