Pitt looks for season sweep of Golden Eagles

Things seem to be looking bright for the men’s basketball team.

The Panthers have won five… Things seem to be looking bright for the men’s basketball team.

The Panthers have won five of their last seven conference games, improving to 20-3 overall and 9-2 in the Big East with Wednesday night’s 85-77 win over Providence. That’s good enough for sole possession of fourth place in the new-look super conference (which means a first-round bye in the conference tournament), and a move back into the top 10 in the national polls (ninth in both the AP poll and ESPN/USA Today versions).

Still, lost in the positive buzz this team has created might be the fact that all three of Pitt’s losses this year have come in their navy blue uniforms away from the friendly confines of the Petersen Events Center. Half of Pitt’s four remaining conference games are on the road, the first coming tomorrow, when the Panthers will travel to Milwaukee, Wis., to take on the Golden Eagles of Marquette.

A little less than a month ago, when Pitt was ranked 12th, the Panthers played host to Marquette for a Saturday afternoon game and barely escaped with a victory.

The Golden Eagles came out on fire and shot 53.1 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from 3-point range in the first half. That hot shooting resulted in a 40-33 Marquette lead and left the Panthers searching for an answer.

Antonio Graves was that answer for Pitt as he sparked a second-half comeback with 12 points in the last 20 minutes to lead a 10-0 Pitt run to finish the game. That run was just enough as the Panthers squeaked out a 77-71 victory.

Not only was Graves the key to Pitt’s offense against Marquette, he was also up to the challenge of defending the Golden Eagles’ top player, mismatch nightmare, 6-foot-10 Steve Novak. The senior forward came into the game averaging 16.9 points a game and Pitt held him to just eight.

Since then, Novak has averaged 21.6 a game, moving him up to eighth in the conference at 16.6 points per game. Novak is so tough to defend because of his height and his ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter.

He averages 3.63 3-pointers a game, which leads the conference, while he is second in 3-point field-goal percentage at 45.1 percent.

While Novak leads the Golden Eagles’ frontcourt, two freshmen have stepped up for the backcourt. Guards Dominic James (15.4) and Jerel McNeal (11.4) both average double figures in scoring and have started every game for Marquette while steadily improving for head coach Tom Crean.

Although McNeal and James do most of the ball handling for Marquette, the rest of their starting lineup can handle the ball as well. Because no one other than Novak that sees a lot of playing time is over 6-foot-5, the Eagles will look to clear things out and normally go with a four-guard set and let Novak try to get open.

While all of these guards tend to create a mismatch problem for most teams, it leaves the Golden Eagles with a severe rebounding disadvantage.

In their loss to Pitt, they were out rebounded 45-30. As a team, the Golden Eagles are 10th in the conference in rebounding margin and rebounding defense. They also average 3.08 blocked shots a game, leaving them 14th in the Big East.

Although they may not win too many rebounding battles, the Golden Eagles make up for it with their offense. They shoot a conference best 40.3 percent from 3 while averaging 75.5 points a game. They will be looking to avenge letting one get away from them when they came to the Pete while looking to slow the momentum the Panthers have created as they make a late-season push.

Marquette needs to win to secure a high seed for the Big East tournament and solidify themselves as a legitimate tournament team, while Pitt needs a win to establish some confidence on the road.

That means that something’s got to give when the ball is tipped tomorrow night at 9 p.m. eastern.