Gameday: Pitt vs Howard Bison

Pitt 2-0 (0-0) vs Howard 2-2 (0-0)

5:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Howard is awful.  They went 7-24 (4-12) in the MEAC conference last season and finished dead last nationally in effective field goal percentage, which adjusts for the fact that 3 pointers are worth more.  They beat two teams this year, but they were Division III Washington College and Gwynedd-Mercy.  Harvard beat them by 32 and Old Dominion by 20.

Last meeting:  Pitt 70 Howard 46, November 27, 2012

What I said in the recap:

"Pitt had a height advantage at just about every position, which makes the rebounding margin (or lack thereof) another cause for concern.  The score was 36-28 at halftime.  In the second half Pitt remembered that they were playing Howard and smacked them around."

Howard outscored Pitt in the paint in this game and the rebounds were even at 35.

Player to watch:  James Daniel is a 5'11 true freshman guard who is by far their leading scorer at 21 per game.  Those are impressive numbers sure, but this kid still plays for Howard so he can't be that good.  He's only shooting 39% from the field.  Expect this kid to shoot a lot of threes tomorrow.

This is the preliminary round of the Legends Classic, which means absolutely nothing.  The Legends Classic is one of those tournaments where the final four is already set.  Pitt will play Texas Tech next week at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with the winner of that game getting either Houston or Stanford.  This week those teams will host two games against Howard, Lehigh, South Dakota State or Texas Southern.  Pitt gets Howard tomorrow and Lehigh on Wednesday.  Oh boy.

Pitt is favored by eleventy billion.  If they keep their starters in the whole game, they might have a chance to cover.

Prediction:  Pitt 85 Howard 42

Last game's prediction:  I had Pitt beating Fresno State by 20 (88-68) and they won by 21 (75-54) so go me.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.