Golden opportunity for Panthers at Marquette

Big East pride is on the line for the No. 12 Pitt men’s basketball team, as it is tied with… Big East pride is on the line for the No. 12 Pitt men’s basketball team, as it is tied with Georgetown going into Saturday’s game against the No. 21 Marquette Golden Eagles (22-8, 9-6 Big East).

With a Panther win and a Hoya loss to Cincinnati, Pitt (25-5, 12-3) clinches the Big East regular season title, marking its first since 2003-04.

Pitt enters its game this weekend coming off an inspirational senior night win over backyard rival West Virginia, but it’s going to need to clean up its passing game and limit turnovers against a Marquette team that beat the Panthers, 77-74, in overtime during their last meeting on Jan. 21.

In that game, five Panthers – Ronald Ramon, Antonio Graves, Aaron Gray, Mike Cook and Levon Kendall – scored in double figures, while four Golden Eagle players did so.

Leading Marquette in that game was Dominic James, who scored 23 points, and Wesley Matthews and Dan Fitzgerald, who each chipped in 14. Junior forward Ousmane Barro also put in 12 points for the Golden Eagles.

Pitt only shot 27.8 percent from 3-point range in that game two months ago, so bettering that number is a priority for a Pitt team that is shooting nearly 38 percent from 3-point range this season.

The Panthers match up well in the paint against Marquette as the twin behemoths, Kendall and Gray, dominate underneath the basket. Kendall (6-foot-10, 225 pounds) and Gray (7-foot, 270) outsize all of the Golden Eagles’ top six players.

Marquette’s largest presence is the 6-foot-10, 235-pound Barro, who had seven rebounds and three blocks in the last meeting. He averages eight points per game and seven rebounds this season.

Marquette’s Lazar Hayward, a 6-foot-6 forward out of Buffalo, N.Y., matches up with Kendall.

There will be a tough battle at the point guard position as James, a Wooden Award Midseason All-American, goes up against Levance Fields and Ramon. Both have proven that they can control the offense and make the 3-ball when need be. James enters the game averaging 15.2 points per game, while Fields and Ramon combine to average nearly 19 points per game.

Cook, Pitt’s season leader in free throws made, seemed to gain composure against WVU when he turned turnover-prone passes into clutch baseline jumpers for points.

Jerel McNeal of the Golden Eagles matches up against Cook. The 6-foot-3 sophomore out of Chicago averages 14.7 points per game to along with 4.8 rebounds.

The 6-foot-5 Matthews goes up against the 6-foot-3 Graves in a battle of consistency. Matthews has scored in double figures in 15 of his past 18 games, while Graves has not scored more then seven points in his past five games. Graves, however, does have 14 games in double digits this season.

Both teams have a solid bench presence as Pitt boasts one of the deepest teams in the conference with its self-proclaimed “nine man rotation” led by bench players Sam Young and Ramon.

Young and Ramon average 6.2 and 8.9 points per game, respectively, and junior guard Keith Benjamin can give good minutes defensively for the Panthers.

Fitzgerald comes off the bench for the Golden Eagles giving them solid production from the forward position, averaging nearly seven points per game.

The Panthers enter tomorrow night’s game having won eight of their past 11 games, the losses coming against Marquette, Louisville and Georgetown.

Pitt comes into the game averaging 71.7 points-for per game and only 61.5 points-against, while the Golden Eagles are averaging similar numbers with 72.1 points-for and 63.9 points-against.

Having lost four of their past five games, Marquette looks to right the ship against the Panthers so it can have some momentum entering the Big East Tournament.

Seeding for the Big East Tournament, which will be held in New York City March 7-10, will be decided once the final standings are in order for the conference. No matter where they finish, the Panthers will have a bye in the first round, and its first game will be on Thursday, March 8.