Against the Odds: Pitt opens as slight favorites over Penn State.

Well it doesn’t have the same bite as the football game in September, but I’m sure the juices will still flow a little harder this afternoon when Pitt takes on Penn State in basketball. The Panthers come off of a victory over Buffalo, where they hung on, after blowing a huge lead. The Nittany Lions are coming off a loss to George Mason, but are young and improving. Despite several early season nail biters, Vegas still believes Pitt to be the better team and have installed them as five point favorites.

The game will be a neutral site contest at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. This is part of the Never Forget Tribute Classic and will tip off at 2:30PM. You can view the game on the CBS Sports Network. PSU head coach Pat Chambers brings his Lions into today with a 6-4 record, but they are battle tested. Cincinnati and Duke are two of their losses so far this season. You may also be interested to know that they have beaten a team from Pittsburgh already this season...you might remember the team...Duquesne.

Chambers has injected new blood into the usually struggling program in State College. He used his Philadelphia connection to bring in highly regarded freshmen Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens. Kevin Stallings’ team will have their hands full trying to gain a victory over a power five opponent in this early season. With Penn State’s freshmen, you have to wonder if Vegas would have this confidence in Pitt later on in the year.

If you have been on Twitter during Pitt games, you know Pitt’s fan base doesn’t have that much confidence in Pitt. It’s not football, but Panther fans still don’t want to lose this game to Penn State. We only have to wait a few more hours to find out if they can prove Vegas right with the point spread.

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