A closer look…

The Teams: Coming off the worst loss in Petersen Events Center history, Pitt (22-4,… The Teams: Coming off the worst loss in Petersen Events Center history, Pitt (22-4, 10-2 Big East) will try to rebound with another home contest, its last non-conference matchup of the season. Pac-10-foe Washington (16-9, 6-8 Pac-10) will make its first ever trip to Pittsburgh for a nationally televised game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

The Coaches: Jamie Dixon needs two wins to become the fastest coach to reach 100 wins in Pitt history. He currently holds a 98-26 record in his fourth season guiding the Panthers. His opposing coach, Lorenzo Romar, heads the Huskies’ sideline for the fifth season, toting a 100-51 record at Washington.

Coverage: This non-conference showdown will be seen by a national audience on ESPN. FM Newstalk 104.7 FM, Fox Sports Radio 970 AM and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Channel 107) will all pick up the action on the radio waves.

Road Woes: The numbers seem to suggest that Pitt (78-8 in the history of the Petersen Events Center) will get back to its home-winning ways. Washington is only 1-7 in true road games this season, losing by an average of 16 points. The Huskies most recent road loss was a blowout, falling 84-55 to Arizona. Washington’s lone conference road win came last week at Arizona State, a team winless in conference play.

Good Times, Bad Times: Monday’s loss to Louisville marked the Panthers’ widest margin of defeat in the Petersen Events Center. The Cardinals’ 66-53 win eclipsed Connecticut’s 73-64 win over Pitt in 2005.

Turnover Prone: Pitt committed 15 of its season-high 19 turnovers in the first half, paving the way for a 36-19 Louisville halftime lead. The Panthers have had 18 games this season in which they registered 15 or fewer turnovers. It was, however, only the seventh game this season where Pitt ended up with more turnovers than assists, keeping the Panthers’ assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.49.

Mush!: Washington’s struggles may have led to a dismissal from the national rankings, but the Huskies are still a high-scoring team. Washington eclipsed the 100-point mark twice, the 90-point barrier three times and scored over 80 seven times. Overall, the Huskies average 79.1 points per game, more than every team in the Big East except for Notre Dame’s 81.8 points-per-game average.

Not So Fast: Pitt’s abysmal 3-point shooting on Monday looked like the team’s worst outing of the season from behind the line, but it ended up only taking second-to-last place. A few late 3s pushed the Panthers’ final shooting to 3-for-21 (14.3 percent) on the night, a step up from the 0-for-13 start to the game. Pitt’s worst 3-point performance of the season came in a November win over Robert Morris, when the Panthers hit only two of their 17 attempts (11.8 percent).

Scheduling Conflicts: This will be the Huskies’ ninth game against a ranked team and more are on the way. After this contest, Washington will travel to Oregon before hosting USC and UCLA to close out the regular season. The Pac-10 boasts five ranked teams, more than any other conference.

– Geoff Dutelle