Against the Odds: Maryland opens as a slight favorite

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge gives Pitt a stern test tonight, as the Panthers travel to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins. The Terps are 7-0 with some nice wins over Georgetown and Kansas State. Pitt enters the contest at 5-1 and Vegas has taken notice that the game will take place at the XFinity Center on the campus of Maryland. The Terps have opened as a four point favorite over Pitt tonight.

Everyone can view the game, starting at 7PM, on ESPN2. Pitt has a lot of questions to answer and a beating a power 5 conference foe would go a long way of settling an anxious fan base in Oakland. It will not be an impossible task, despite playing the underdog role. In addition to the Georgetown and Kansas State wins, Maryland has had some pretty close calls against teams that you wouldn’t expect them to have trouble early this season. They had to go to overtime against Richmond and also had small advantages over Towson and American in victories.

Therefore, the Terps have a few questions to answer to head coach Mark Turgeon, at tipoff this evening, as well. Pitt will have their hands full with a raucous College Park, MD crowd and Terps’ guard Melo Trimble. Trimble is averaging over 20 points per contest so far, so Pitt will have to keep his damage to a minimum. If they can do that, the Panthers could gain a little momentum as this young season begins to take form.

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