The Pittsburgh Panthers and the Miami Hurricanes meet Tuesday in college basketball action from BankUnited Center in Coral Gables. Here’s a Miami vs Pittsburgh prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Miami vs Pittsburgh pick.
Pittsburgh Panthers Betting Preview
Pitt won their first three games this year in a nice start, then hit the skids on a 2-6 run featuring wins over only Bucknell and Ohio State. Otherwise it was losses to West Virginia, UCF, Quinnipiac, Texas A&M, Hofstra and Villanova. Since then it’s been wins over Binghamton and Penn State, giving the Panthers a 7-6 overall record across their first 13 games this year.
In the Penn State game on December 21, the Panthers were up 40-20 by the end of the half. Pitt closed with 40 more points in an 80-46 blowout win. Roman Siulepa was the team’s leading scorer on 28 points with three rebounds, and Omari Witherspoon had 15 points with five rebounds. Damarco Minor added 11 points and seven assists as well.
Miami Hurricanes Betting Preview
Over on the Miami side, they went 5-2 over their first seven games with wins over Jacksonville, Bethune-Cookman, Stetson, Elon and Delaware State amid losses to Florida and BYU. It’s been six straight wins since then over Georgetown, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, LA-Monroe, Florida International and North Florida for a nice 11-2 overall record in 13 games this year.
Matched up against North Florida in their latest outing, Miami took a 51-35 edge into the locker room. The Hurricanes scored another 54 points from there and took the blowout win 105-67 in the end. Tre Donaldson was tops on 21 points with nine assists and five rebounds while Shelton Henderson had 20 points with five rebounds. Malik Reneau added 19 points with five rebounds in the winning effort.
Why the Miami Hurricanes will win
- Miami (FL) has won each of its last 12 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Pittsburgh has lost six of its last seven games at Watsco Center.
- Pittsburgh has lost the first half in nine of its last 10 night games against Conference opponents.
Why the Pittsburgh Panthers will win
- Miami (FL) has lost 27 of its last 30 games against Conference opponents.
- Miami (FL) has lost the first half in each of its last four games against Conference opponents.
Miami vs Pittsburgh Prediction
I’ll stick with Miami. The Hurricanes rolled right past a struggling North Florida team in their last outing, shooting 56.7 percent from the field with a 43-21 rebounding edge, 20 team assists and a 54-18 advantage on points in the paint. Miami is looking good in this current six-game win streak. They’ve scored 75 or more points in all six of those games, and 98 or more points in each of the last three.
As for Pitt, they didn’t have any issues with Penn State themselves, hitting 50 percent from both the field and 3-point range (12-of-24) alongside 41 rebounds and just seven turnovers in the blowout. The Panthers have benefitted from a couple of easy matchups in their last two games, but they’ve struggled against some of the better teams this year. Miami should be able to handle the Panthers pretty well in this one.