Pitt men’s basketball (16-10, ACC 7-8) travels to South Bend, Indiana, this weekend to take on Notre Dame in a conference matchup for the Panthers as they inch closer to the end of the regular season.
The Panthers look to continue to improve their conference standings with a win against Notre Dame after they earned an important ACC win against Syracuse on Tuesday night.
As March approaches and the regular season wraps up, teams scramble to cement their seeds in the ACC tournament. Saturday’s game and all those moving forward are high stakes for Pitt.
Pitt last met Notre Dame on the court a little over a year ago with the Panthers coming away with the win by 10 points. Notre Dame ranks lower than Pitt in the ACC standings, with a 5-10 overall record in conference play. Although their women’s team sits No. 1 in the nation, Notre Dame’s men’s team hasn’t found the same success this season.
Fighting Irish sophomore guard Markus Burton leads the team in scoring, averaging 20.3 points per game. He’s shown out in some exciting performances this season, including his 32-point performance in the Irish’s overtime win against Boston College just last week. Burton is seemingly the glue to the Notre Dame offense, so keeping him in check should give the Panthers a good advantage over the Fighting Irish.
Burton’s joined by sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry. Son of the Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry, Shrewsberry is known for producing points from beyond the arc. Last season, he made 55 three-pointers in ACC play, setting a new Notre Dame ACC record. Shrewsberry has averaged 2.1 made three-pointers in his last 10 games, so keeping him guarded outside the paint is in the best interest of the Panthers this weekend.
For Pitt, its scorers have remained fairly consistent over the season, and there’s no doubt Pitt will look to sophomore guard Jaland Lowe to keep the offensive push going. Averaging 16.6 points per game, most opposing teams put their best defensive player on Lowe for the entirety of the game, but he still tends to find a way to put points on the board.
Both senior guard Ishmael Leggett and senior forward Zack Austin are crucial pieces for Pitt. In the Panthers matchup against Syracuse on Tuesday evening, the pair walked away with 19 points each.
The Panthers are an overall balanced team, often relying on the success of players across the board to deliver a win. In addition to top scorers like Lowe, Leggett, Austin and other players like junior forward Cameron Corhen and junior forward Guillermo Diaz-Graham prove to help generate points.
When everyone pulls their weight, Pitt looks like a well-oiled machine. This should give Pitt the advantage over Notre Dame who more often than not relies on a smaller amount of scorers to generate their points.
A win for Pitt would give it a three-game winning streak and significant momentum leading up to the final games of the regular season.
Pitt will tip-off against Notre Dame at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday at the Purcell Pavilion. The game is watchable on the CW.