The Seminoles are looking to get back on track against a mediocre Pittsburgh team.
Florida State is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, during a stretch many of us would have thought would be 4-0. Injuries have completely destroyed this team, and now they are also struggling to be competitive. In these four losses, they are losing by an average of 10.2 ppg, and those four losses were to Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. The chances of this team making it to the tournament are getting thinner and thinner after every game. Luckily, there's a chance for FSU to gain some momentum and confidence with a game against a really bad Pittsburgh team.
Pitt's three conference wins this season have all come at home, and all of his losses on the road in conference play averaged 14.7 ppg, and only the first two were by single digits. In non-convention drama, he suffered losses from UMBC, Citadel and Monmouth, just to name a few. There is arguably no team that has been affected more than last season's exit in the ACC. Every good player is gone, and he has replaced them with people who are above average to the best. It's difficult. They weren't really a good team last year either. Thankfully, it's not in the Game Pit, a place where FSU's fortunes have been bad.
Florida State is 6–14 behind in the all-time series, although they have won 3 of the last 4 at home and 2 straight wins overall in the series.
The game will air live from the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, FL, at 9 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Pittsburgh Panthers (8-16, 3-10) breakdown
So listen, Pittsburgh is no good. There is a higher-than-average chance that this is Jeff Capel's last season in western Pennsylvania. This is also their third match in three different cities in the last five days. It's not easy for the college team. They played at home against Virginia Tech on Saturday, then on Monday in a COVID make-up game at VT, and now have to fly to play Florida State. They will probably be tired, even if the hokeys got them off the floor on Monday night 74-47.
Pitt already plays at a slow pace, one of the slowest in the country, with around 64 assets per game. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to keep the game in the 58 possession limit because of how comfortable they are. There is a very good chance that this will turn out to be a very disappointing game to watch.
Offensively, the only thing Pitt does well is to reach the free throw line with a free throw rate of 42.4%, which is a really impressive number. He is currently making only about 69.5% of his free throws. Nevertheless, about 24% of his total points this season came from the free throw line. They don't shoot 3 particularly well, 32.3% a year, although they have some decent games from the deep, including 50% in each of their last two games against Virginia Tech. They are just as bad inside the arc at 46.1% (national average is 49.7%), and really struggle against teams of length. If only the state of Florida was perfectly healthy. They can hit the aggressive glass very hard, which is worth a look.
Defensively, they're just there. Teams shoot 35.8% out of 3 against them (and a lot of 3 shoots against them in general), they are about average in defending 2, and this is for Mouhamdou Goue and his 8.9% block rate. Many thanks, which we will reach a little later. They don't force a ton of turnover, and really catch the ball while watching a lot. The Panthers are one of the worst teams in the country to have given up on assisted field goals. They are sometimes too quick to react to the main ball-handler, which is why they tend to give up a lot of effort and effort to 3-pointers, with so many of them looking open.
John Huggle is the team's biggest threat, but it's mainly inside the arc and foul. He's shooting only 15% out of 3, but he takes 7 free throws per game. He's someone against whom you have to be disciplined and keep arms up on the floor. Huggle takes on the role of Justin Champagne in a way, he's not that good as a shooter.
Jamarius Burton is someone I really liked when he was at Wichita State, and when I entered the transfer portal as a solid combo guard I wanted FSU to chase. Instead he went to Texas Tech where he... was no good; Only 4.3 PPG and 1.1 APG. After a season there, she is now in the pit, where she has been given more opportunities and is more towards the player I thought she was in Wichita: 12.9 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.5 APG. He is not the most efficient scorer, but he has good shape for a guard.