If you had your Pitt basketball schedule at the beginning of the year, this was one game that should have been circled. Pitt is facing its first major road test Wednesday night against Georgetown.
As if Georgetown didn't have enough on their hands playing its first game against a ranked team in their building, West Virginia traveled to D.C. and beat the Hoyas a few days ago. So you can bet Georgetown will come out as a desperate team hoping to avoid its second straight home defeat.
The Hoyas are a respectable 12-4, but have dropped three of their past four games, against Notre Dame, West Virginia, and St. John's. With the Big East schedule in full swing, Georgetown can ill afford to continue losing conference games ... especially with so many tough teams still on its schedule. The Hoyas travel to UConn, Villanova, and have two games against maybe the league's best team in the Syracuse Orange. So needless to say, the game on Wednesday night is a big one for Georgetown.
Georgetown, typically a very good rebounding team, is ranked 222nd in the nation in that category. One thing that's helped it stay afloat so far is the team has shot more than 51% from the field on the season.
It sounds broad, but this game could come down to Pitt's defense against Georgetown's offense. Pitt's trademark defense was rather poor against Marquette on Saturday, giving up 81 points. If Pitt can force Georgetown into taking bad shots, the Panthers should have the edge on the glass.
Another thing to watch for is the Panthers' offense, which has been red-hot, especially from three-point range. Pitt has made 25 three-pointers in its past three games and has shot 52% from that distance.
In their only true road test this season, Pitt struggled against Providence, even trailing in the final minute before winning a close game. It could be more of the same Wednesday.