NCAAB Odds- Pittsburgh at Syracuse

A tale of two new ACC teams take the stage this Saturday afternoon as the16-1 Pittsburgh Panthers take on the 17-0 Syracuse Orange in another great weekend of College Basketball, at the Carrier Dome.

The NCAAB odds have the Orange as 5 point favorites in the spread. Syracuse is 10-3 against the spread in the season while Pittsburgh is 6-6-2 ATS.

Syracuse defense is the most complicate feature of their team; however Boston College was able to shot 50% from the field, and managed to hit 9 of 21 from 3 point.   If the Panthers can diminish their perimeter defense they might have a shot.

“I thought overall our defense was good except for (their perimeter shooting),” coach Jim Boeheim said. “We played as bad offensively as we have all year.”

Syracuse is 168th in point per game in the nation and 187th on rebounds; they base their game on their famous zone defense.

The Panthers, on the other hand, scores 77.3 point per game, 68th best in the country and register 17.5 assist every game, 8th best in the NCAAB; however, they are concerned about the seconds chances in the game.

“Rebounding is something we have to do to win on the road,” coach Jamie Dixon said after his club outrebounded Georgia Tech 38-18.

The Orange have won two of the last three meetings, but before that Pittsburgh had won 13 of 16 from 2001-11.

Keep in mind, Syracuse is 1-7 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Pittsburgh, and 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home in the series.