Syracuse Basketball: Predictions for ACC tilt vs Pittsburgh Panthers

Josh Peelman (9-8)
Prediction: Syracuse wins 75-72

I have a feeling this affair will be a really close game. We have two really talented teams with similar records looking to keep momentum after beating a ranked team. The Panthers are coming off a huge home win over a ranked Florida State squad. Meanwhile the Orange are flying off a historic road victory over top ranked Duke.

The good news? The Orange are playing at home in front of home fans while it’s snowing cats and dogs outside. I think the Orange will struggle in this game offensively after a tremendous offensive performance against Duke. It’s not because I’m expecting a letdown in shooting percentage or anything, I just expect Pittsburgh to slow the ball way down and make us play their game much like Georgia Tech did in our loss last week.

Duke kept the pace up last game by having faster possessions and by taking a lot of threes which allowed the Orange to rebound and get out and run which they thrive on. Pittsburgh likely won’t allow us to do that though and will slow down the game in order to force the Orange to play more half court offense which we are struggling to do so far this season.

As a result I expect a turnover or a big shot down the stretch to be the difference in a really close game. If Frank Howard plays as good as he did last game and Elijah Hughes and Battle cause turnovers and make their shots early, maybe the Orange can get an early lead and hold on to win by double digits.

However, this one on paper looks very evenly matched, so I expect quite a close, physical game from the these two with the Orange prevailing some way, somehow. This should be a Syracuse win as the Orange are more talented and more experienced coming into this one than the Panthers. However, in ACC play, as we have seen, anything can happen. So expect crazy things to happen Saturday afternoon.