Game at 4pm today. Remember, Pitt’s website will stream the video live and for free at 7pm. Once more, props to Pitt’s athletic department for doing this.
Vermont has been a good team so far, despite their 4-2 record.
But Vermont could easily be undefeated. The Catamounts’ losses came in overtime — to Maryland and George Mason.
Vermont fell to George Mason, 80-79, in the opener. Six days later, the Catamounts took Maryland to the brink in an eventual 89-74 loss on Nov. 21 in College Park, Md. Maryland needed a 3-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to force overtime in coach Gary Williams’ 400th career victory.
“We’re two points away from being 6-0,” Lonergan said.
The Catamounts own a 31-point victory over Yale — the same Ivy League team that won at Oregon State two weeks ago — and handed host Delaware its most lopsided loss of the season (78-63), more than Big East teams Rutgers and Seton Hall.
Vermont has won three in a row since losing to Maryland.
“We matched up well with Maryland — they aren’t proven inside,” Lonergan said. “Pittsburgh may not have the height, but they are big inside. That is really concerning to us.”
A pair of All-America East players — junior forward Marqus Blakely and senior guard Mike Trimboli — lead Vermont. Blakely averages 18.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and ranks in the top 20 in the nation in blocked shots (2.8) and steals (2.8).
And of course, they are saying that their goal is to win the game.
There are questions about the guard rotation for Pitt after Fields and Jermaine Dixon. Coach Jamie Dixon says it is still unclear and unset.
“They haven’t separated themselves,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “Travon, Ashton and Brad, no one has really separated themselves from one another. … We don’t have all the answers today.”
In the power polls. Luke Winn at SI.com keeps Pitt at #6.
It’s weird how these Panthers are almost statistically reminiscent of last season’s Memphis squad, which shot 34.9 percent from long-distace (ranking 170th) and 61.4 percent from the free-throw line (ranking 329th) but was still very offensively efficient (ranking fourth overall). Pitt is slightly better in both cases, shooting 35.2 percent on threes (ranking 121st) and 66.7 from the stripe (ranking 207th), while sitting at No. 1 in the offensive efficiency rankings.
As Winn noted, little has changed with Pitt’s 3-point shooting. That trend is national despite an extra foot.
ESPN.com returns with theirs and Pitt is at #4. Mark Schlabach put Pitt at #2 in his ballot — the highest spot for Pitt. Three of the ten voters had Pitt at #5 — the lowest.
