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Pitt vs. Penn State: Open Gamethread

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Pitt's football team defeated Penn State this fall while the Nittany Lions ousted the Pitt women in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament last weekend. We've got two more Pitt-Penn State matchups this year on Saturday in men's and women's basketball. Both teams will be playing at the same time with the women tipping off at 2:00 p.m. while the men will play at 2:30 p.m.

As announced earlier this year, the game is part of the Never Forget Classic and will be played in Newark.

This isn't just a rivalry game in terms of beating Penn State because, you know, you want to beat Penn State. With the Panthers' stunning Duquesne loss last week, Pitt can ill afford another bad loss. Penn State is a P5 program and wouldn't be the worst team the Panthers could lose to in their non-conference schedule. But the Nittany Lions also don't look real good at this point.

Penn State is 6-4 on the year with losses to Albany and, most recently, George Mason (by 19 points). To be fair, they have looked better at times with a win against Georgia Tech and a respectable 10-point loss to No. 1 Duke. But at year's end, this could look like a bad loss if the Panthers fail to win on Saturday.

The men's game will be on at 2:30 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network. I'll be out today during the game, but am going to try to resist the temptation of checking the score before I can watch on DVR.

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