North Carolina State vs Pittsburgh College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/28/21

The Pitt Panthers and the NC State Wolfpack meet in college basketball action from the PNC Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Pitt Panthers will look to rebound from some major losses following a 79-72 defeat at the hands of Florida State last time out. Justin Champagnie leads the Panthers in scoring and rebounding with 18.8 PPG and 11.4 RPG to average a double-double per game, but the bigger losses for Pitt were the losses of Audiese Toney and Xavier Johnson who went into the transfer portal, leaving Pitt with just Champagnie as the lone double-digit scorer with Toney and Johnson logging 29 PPG for the Panthers this season. As a team, Pitt is averaging 72.2 PPG on 43.2% shooting from the field and 32.4% from the 3-point line while allowing 70.3 PPG on 43.4% shooting from the field so you have to imagine that those losses will be felt throughout the lineup

The NC State Wolfpack will be out to build on a 68-61 win over Virginia last time out. Jericole Hellems is NC State’s leading active scorer with 13 PPG and 5 RPG while DJ Funderburk has 12.3 PPG and a team-high 5.7 RPG. Manny Bates also has 5.7 RPG and Cam Hayes has a team-high 3.3 APG for the Wolfpack this season. As a team, NC State is averaging 73.6 PPG on 47.3% shooting from the field, 36.4% from three and 70.1% from the foul line while allowing 69.8 PPG on 45.8% shooting from the field and 34.8%  from three this season.

Pitt is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games and 2-5-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 Sunday games. NC State is 5-2-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 0-5-1 ATS in their last 6 home games while the under is 15-5 in their last 20 games as a favorite. The road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.

I get that this feels like a lot of points to give up with a team like NC State, but Pitt just lost two of their best players in Audiese Tony and Xavier Johnson to the transfer portal and while Justin Champagnie is a game-changer averaging a double-double per game I just don’t think he can do it all on his own. I think NC State just has greater talent throughout the lineup, so I’ll lay the points with NC state in what should be a comfortable win here.