Good news. Seth Davis is going with the home team in his pick.
Still, Fields will be far from top shape, and Pitt is playing a road game against a Marquette team that is badly in need of a marquee win. As Dominic James has stumbled through illness and injury (only two double-digit scoring outings in his last eight games), 6-6 sophomore Lazar Hayward has emerged as the Golden Eagles’ go-to scorer.
Big East blog also goes with Marquette, but does a much better job of breaking this down.
Marquette will be challenged by Pittsburgh’s strength inside. DeJuan Blair will look to be physical inside against Ousmane Barro to score around the basket and control the defensive glass. Sam Young and Lazar Hayward might be the key match-up of the night. If Hayward can be similarly production as Young, Marquette’s chances are great. If Young gets to the foul line and Hayward is in foul trouble, it could mean big trouble for MU as they do not likely have another forward on their roster to guard Young.
Keys for Pitt include Blair staying out of foul trouble and getting some perimeter scoring from senior gaurds Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. Both players have played well in the 12 games since Fields have been injured, as they have persevered through their own ailments. Ramon has a bad shoulder and Benjamin cut his shooting hand a few weeks ago and his perimeter shot has not been the same. If he can regain that touch, and with the return of Fields, the Pitt backcourt suddenly becomes one to fear as well.
I don’t expect Fields to play more than 15 minutes or so.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s beat writer for Marquette focuses on Pitt and DeJuan Blair.
Marquette needs this game badly, because they haven’t done much against upper-tier teams in conference. They are also running out of opportunities in the conference season.
Ranked 20th in the Ratings Percentage Index on Thursday, MU is just 2-6 this season against top-50 RPI teams, a major determining factor for seeding in the post-season, and 1-5 vs. top-50 Big East teams.
MU has just three more games left against such teams, starting tonight with No. 16 Pittsburgh.
Kind of amusing that they view beating a depleted, banged up Seton Hall team by 25 as a statement game. We liked what Pitt did to Providence, but I don’t read about any Pitt player claiming it was a statement of anything other than beating an inferior team.
Of course, beating Marquette at the Bradley Center would be a huge win for Pitt.
“This is a big road game, two ranked teams on a Friday night, at their place, where we haven’t won since they came to the Big East,” Fields said.
…Marquette, like Pitt, has a distinct home-court advantage. The Golden Eagles are 12-1 at the Bradley Center this season. However, Marquette has just one signature Big East victory, a Jan. 12 win against Notre Dame. The only other victory since then against a team with a winning conference record came at Cincinnati.
“They have a lot of returning guys, so we’re very familiar with them,” Dixon said. “They return all five starters. We have none returning. We’re the different team.”
This game is part of Pitt’s roughest stretch of the schedule as games at Notre Dame and then Louisville and I would add the return game with Cinci because Pitt will play those 3 games in a week’s time.
Starkey gives love to Coach Dixon and Dixon’s deeper goal to have Pitt win it all.
The question was, “For all the success you’ve had, do you have to make that tournament run for people to believe Pitt is truly an elite program?”
“We haven’t won a national championship,” Dixon said. “There’s no question that’s a difference-maker. That’s a whole different thing. We want to win a national championship, and I understand the importance of winning one.”
