Pitt-Kent State: Open Gamethread

Pitt continues its basketball season with a home contest against Kent State this afternoon. The Panthers are a perfect 3-0 to start the year after a win over Cornell a few days ago.

Kent State checks into the game at 3-1 with their only loss a narrow three-point defeat to Southern Illinois (who is 5-0). Forward Jimmy Hall leads the Golden Flashes with 16 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

I'm not certain that Kent State will be able to hang with Pitt for most of the game, but I definitely don't expect another complete laugher like we had against Cornell or St. Joe's. This was a team that won 23 games last year, reaching the quarter finals of the CIT. In the end, Pitt's depth should be too much, but I want to see if the Panthers get tested a little here.

Also of note is that this is the team's last tuneup before facing Purdue in the B1G-ACC Challenge game. The Panthers have been pretty loose with their rotation so far this year, so I'm wondering if we might see Jamie Dixon play his team leaders and main rotation guys a little more.

Game time will be at 4:00 p.m. and you can see it on ESPN3.

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