I want Kevin Stallings back
Teams: Syracuse Orange (16-12, 9-8) vs. Pittsburgh Panthers (20-8, 13-3)
Day & Time: Saturday, February 25, 5:00 pm ET
Location: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Line: The Draftkings Line has Syracuse as 6 point underdogs to Pitt on the road.
TV/Streaming: ACC Network, WatchESPN
Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3
Pitt Blog: Cardiac Hill
Rivalry: 74-49, Syracuse
Current Streak: 2, Pitt
First Meeting: The two teams met for the first time on January 29, 1914. Syracuse won 36-29, with Lew Castle leading all scorers with 20 points.
Last Meeting: Syracuse nearly turned around a 20-point deficit but fell short to Pitt at the Dome earlier this season. The Panthers nailed 13 pointers to win 84-82.
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Head Coaches: Syracuse – Jim Boeheim (47th season, 1,115-438) | Pittsburgh – Jeff Capel (fifth season – 71-77)
Coach Bio: Capel was a prolific starting guard for four seasons at Duke during his collegiate playing career. He finished with 1,601 points in his Blue Devils career. Capel started his coaching career as an assistant for his dad, Jeff Capel II, at Old Dominion for one year before moving to an assistant role with VCU the following season. After one year with the Rams, he was promoted to the program’s head coaching role. Capel led VCU to the NCAA tournament during his second season in 2004 and the Rams won 18 or more games in his four-year tenure. Capel then took the Oklahoma head coaching role and led the Sooners to two NCAA tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight run in 2009 with Blake Griffin. Capel left Oklahoma in 2011 and rejoined with Mike Krzyzewski at his alma mater in Duke, where he served as assistant on his staff until 2018. During his time at Duke, Capel stepped in for two games while Krzyzewski was unable to coach. Capel was named Pittsburgh’s head coach in 2018 after the Panthers went winless in conference play.
Last Year: Pitt continued to struggle in the post Jaime Dixon era as the Panthers failed once again to eclipse the six wins in ACC play mark under Capel. Pitt finished 12th in the ACC and dropped in the first round of the ACC tournament to Boston College to finish with an 11-21 record.
Last Game: Pitt overcame a slow start by its standards against Georgia Tech to win 76-68. The Panthers outscored the Yellow Jackets by nine in the second frame of 54.1% field goal shooting.
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Nelly Cummings has been on and off for Pitt this season, but he loves playing Syracuse. In three games, two of them with Colgate, Cummings has averaged 16.7 points against the Orange.
If Syracuse Wins: A return to where Syracuse belongs – the NIT bubble.
If Syracuse Loses: Remind a Pitt fan about Tyler Ennis today.
Fun Fact: This is Syracuse’s last road game of the season. The Orange are 5-5 on the road this year.
Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.