Pitt basketball opens ACC season vs. Miami (Open Gamethread)

The Pitt men’s basketball team returns to action tonight in a game against Miami. It’s the first ACC game of the year for both teams. The Panthers are on the road and enter as a very slight favorite (-3, according to ESPN.com).

Both teams are off to relatively good starts but do have some upsets to account for. The Panthers (4-1), of course, were beaten by St. Francis in the opener. Miami (3-1) was topped by Florida Gulf Coast (though the Hurricanes did have some injury issues in that game).

Pitt has faced some excellent three-point shooting teams this year but Miami doesn’t appear to be one of those. The Hurricanes enter the game making under 23% of their attempts from long distance.

Injuries for the Hurricanes are, um, a problem. Miami has a guard heavy lineup with four of their top five scorers in the backcourt. But second-leading scorer Chris Lykes (15.5 ppg) and third-leading scorer Kameron McGusty (10.5 ppg) are missing in action. In fact, Miami is basically down to a skeleton lineup with many injuries announced before the game.

Game time is a little early at 6:00 p.m. and you can see it on the ACC Network. Join us here to comment live during the game.

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