Pitt-DePaul game prediction

Saturday, 26 January 2013 14:39

Written by Ray Fittipaldo

Pitt-DePaul game prediction

(Season record: 3-4)

It’s been upset Saturday in the Big East in the early games. Villanova beat Syracuse and Georgetown beat Louisville.

Pitt is hoping to avoid a second consecutive upset against DePaul, which beat the Panthers last season for the first time since joining the Big East.

It won’t happen again. Pitt has too much on the line after battling back from a 1-3 start. A win today would give the Panthers a 5-3 record and sole possession of third place in the conference standings.

Brandon Young and Cleveland Melvin are good players and they’ll score some points because of the press and the up-tempo style the Blue Demons play. But the Panthers should be able to hurt DePaul in transition.

The Panthers are a good transition team and this is exactly the type of game Talib Zanna needs to break out of his mini-slump. He can run the floor with the best big men in the Big East, and he’ll have plenty of opportunities for some easy baskets today.

DePaul is last in the Big East in scoring defense, allowing 78.2 points per game. Pitt has not scored more than 73 points in a conference game this season. Look for it to happen today.

Zanna should score 20 points or more and look for Trey Zeigler to have a big game off the bench for the Panthers, who will win for the eighth time in nine meetings since DePaul joined the Big East.

Pitt 80, DePaul 68

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed