Syracuse Orange at Pittsburgh Panthers, Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Monday, January 17, 2011, 7:30 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: Pitt -5
Current Line: Pitt -5
Opening Total: 140
Current Total: 138
Money Line: Pitt -215 / Syracuse +185
The fourth-ranked Syracuse Orange (18-0, 5-0 Big East) saw their 13-game winning streak to start last season end on the road against the fifth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers (17-1, 5-0) and will face a tough task here on Monday as they look to equal the best start in school history. The Panthers (-5) will also have the advantage of playing the Orange without leading scorer Kris Joseph, who suffered a head injury in a 67-52 win over Cincinnati on Saturday and will not make the trip.
Pittsburgh has won the last four meetings with Syracuse both straight-up and against the spread since losing 65-61 in the title game of the 2006 Big East Tournament. The Panthers are also riding a seven-game winning streak overall since falling to Tennessee 83-76 on December 11, which remains their only loss of the season. They are coming off a 74-53 rout of Seton Hall on Saturday, holding Jeremy Hazell to just nine points on 3 of 13 shooting from the field.
The Orange handed Cincinnati its second loss in three games and seemed to rally around the loss of Joseph. They scored the first 16 points of the second half after learning he would not return and got 15 points and 11 rebounds from senior forward Rick Jackson. Sophomore James Southerland added eight points and eight rebounds and figures to get the start in place of Joseph, who is averaging 14.6 points per game and scored 10 in last year’s 82-72 loss to Pitt.
Ashton Gibbs led the Panthers in the last meeting with a game-high 24 points, but he scored a season-low eight points against the Pirates in their latest game. Like Hazell, Gibbs also made only 3 of 13 shots from the field, including 2 of 9 from 3-point range.
Pitt has won eight straight games at home against teams ranked in the Top 5 and is 50-1 at the Petersen Events Center since February of 2008. The Panthers have won five of six against Syracuse there and 19 in a row at home overall by an average of nearly 20 points.
This will be just the third true road game of the season for the Orange and first outside the states of New York and New Jersey. They covered consecutive games for the first time with the win over the Bearcats and have seen the UNDER go 4-1 in their last five games overall. The UNDER has also cashed in the past two for Pittsburgh following OVERs in five straight lined games. The winner of this game will assume sole possession of first place in the Big East at 6-0.
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