Entering this past weekend, Pittsburgh Basketball was technically in last place of the ACC, 0-3 in the standings. The good news is that they faced Louisivlle, viewed as the worst power conference team of the past two years. Despite not having starting guard Ishmael Leggett (shoulder) for the game, the Panthers were able to pull off the 83-70 win to move to 10-5 (1-3 ACC).
The good news for Pittsburgh is that they've yet to lose a true "bad" game to hurt its resume for the NCAA Tournament. The bad news is that to date, their best win is against Oregon State, which isn't a good thing at all. Yet the ACC still provides some big opportunities going forward, starting with Tuesday's opponent at home.
The Duke Blue Devils were a preseason top-3 team for this season after returning most of its production from a year ago. One of those players (Tyrese Proctor) has been out for a while but other young stars remain, including Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell.
Duke (11-3 (2-1 ACC) has won six straight games, though the last one was a close call on the road at Notre Dame. They were trailing in the second half but was able to hold on for a 67-59 win, led by 23 points and 14 rebounds from Mitchell and 18 points from Jeremy Roach.
Pittsburgh Basketball is looking for its signature moment of the 2023-24 season and beating Duke on national TV is a perfect way to do so. Here are the keys for the Panthers to getting the win.