Men’s Basketball: Pitt set to face Villanova on College Gameday

The Big East has an astounding seven top-15-ranked men’s basketball teams right now. Seven. No… The No. 4-ranked Pitt men’s basketball team will face a rowdy on-campus crowd at No. 10 Villanova (19-5, 7-4 Big East) as the Panthers (22-2, 10-1 Big East) chase their 11th Big East win.

Villanova frequently plays its home games, especially big ones, at the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Philadelphia, but tomorrow’s game will be held at the historic Pavilion, located on Villanova’s campus. Despite only housing 6,500 seats, it could be one of the toughest arenas Jamie Dixon’s Panthers will enter all season.

Pitt is 4-9 all-time at the Pavilion and has lost six straight games in the building.

The presence of the ESPN College GameDay crew will only add to what should be an electric atmosphere.

“I think this is going to be the best game all year for the GameDay crew,” analyst Hubert Davis predicted on ESPN.

Villanova is currently caught in a 10-team logjam in the Big East — 10 squads are separated in the rankings by three games at the most.

The Panthers have risen above those teams for now. They sit at 10-1 in the conference with a two-and-a-half-game lead on Notre Dame. A win against Villanova would continue to set Pitt apart as the dominant team in the Big East.

The Wildcats didn’t help their chances of separating from the crowd on Wednesday, as they suffered an upset loss at Rutgers, who is 12th in the Big East.

Villanova was up 12 points with only 3:34 left in the game. Rutgers put together a late run, slimming the lead to three points following a one-for-two trip to the line for Villanova guard Corey Fisher.

With the seconds winding down, Rutgers forward Jonathan Mitchell made a three and was fouled on the shot. He converted the free throw and Rutgers students stormed the court.

The loss could have Villanova playing with a chip on its shoulder, with Pitt as the next target.

“I expect them to be even hungrier. Who wants to go play Villanova coming off a loss?” Pitt guard Brad Wanamaker said. “We just have to get focused and go down there and play our game.”

The Panthers will look to pull off their second win with leading scorer Ashton Gibbs out of the lineup. Gibbs is out for two weeks with an MCL sprain in his left knee.

With Gibbs on the bench, Pitt used a balanced scoring attack to beat West Virginia on Monday as four different players reached double figures. Nasir Robinson led the way with 15 points.

Travon Woodall will likely get his second consecutive start at the point-guard position. Woodall dished out three assists and turned the ball over once against the Mountaineers. With Gibbs injured, Woodall will find himself the main ball-handler. He’s also a quality defender who can make an impact against Villanova’s guards.

“I thought defensively [Woodall] was solid [against West Virginia], and he did some good things and got better as the game went on,” Dixon said.

The Panthers will need to focus on defending Villanova’s guards Fisher, Corey Stokes and Maalik Wayns, together often touted as one of the best backcourts in the country. The three guards lead the Wildcats in scoring with 16, 14.6 and 13.7, respectively.

Fisher led the team with 23 points and 10 assists against Rutgers, and Stokes added 10. The Scarlet Knights held Wayns in check — the guard managed just four points, all coming from the free-throw line.

“I think Wayns is as good of a point guard as there is in the country and Fisher is experienced as well,” Dixon said.

Wanamaker, the most experienced defender on Pitt’s team, should be key to slowing Villanova’s attack.

The contest will be Wanamaker’s final game in his home city. He grew up in Philadelphia and went to school at Roman Catholic High School, located downtown.

Pitt hasn’t won in Philadelphia in three years, so a Pitt win would give Wanamaker his first collegiate victory in his hometown.

The game also marks a homecoming for Robinson of Chester, Pa.

“It’s going to be fun for me and Nasir to go home and play in front of our families,” Wanamaker said.