Pitt-Virginia Tech Open Game Thread

Opponent: No. 22 Virginia Tech

Conference: ACC

Current Record: 19-5

Last Game: 76-68 win over Georgia Tech

2017 Season: 21-12 (10-8) 7th

Key Losses: G Justin Bibb (13.3 ppg)

Key Returners: G Justin Robinson, F Kerry Blackshear Jr., G Nickeil Alexander-Walker

Justin Robinson makes the VT offense go, but a potential candidate for ACC Most Improved Player has to be Alexander-Walker who’s averaging nearly 7 more points per game in his second season while shooting 9% better from the field.

Last Meeting: Jan 6, 2018 Pitt 67 VT 81

What we said in the recap: “I think we all understood that Pitt wasn’t going to hang with the conference elite or even those that will probably be in the middle of the pack. Where you hope Pitt can be competitive is against the lesser ACC teams where Virginia Tech and some others project. Was Pitt competitive today? Yes. But when you’re as inexperienced as they are, you see the impact of not having a guy like Ryan Luther out there. As we saw in some non-conference games, Pitt can defeat bad teams without him. But it’s going to be really difficult to defeat an ACC team without him. Any ACC team. They basically need everything to go their way or run into a really cold team.”

Note: VT doesn’t crash offensive glass

Hail to Pitt.