Teams: Syracuse Orange (17-0, 4-0) vs. Pittsburgh Panthers (16-1, 4-0)
Rankings: Syracuse (2/2), Pitt (22/21)
Day & Time: Saturday, January 18, 4:00 p.m. EST
Arena: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Line: TBD
TV: ESPN
Announcers: Dave O'Brien, Doris Burke
Radio: Syracuse IMG Network
Pitt News: Cardiac Hill
Rivalry: 63-39, Syracuse
Streak: 1, Syracuse
First Meeting: Pittsburgh pulled a Chris Webber and called timeout late when they didn't have any, allowed the Orangemen to pull even, take it to overtime and eventually win 36-29 in a 1914 match-up.
Last Meeting: Syracuse got some revenge on Pitt for beating them earlier in the year with a 62-59 victory in the Big East Tournament. James Southerland led SU with 20 points.
School Connections: The two teams have played 103 times. That's a lot.
Head Coaches: SU: Jim Boeheim (38th Year, 937-314); Pitt: Jamie Dixon (11th Year, 277-87)
Last Year: Pitt finished the regular season with a 12-6 record in the Big East, good enough for 4th. They lost to Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament and lost in the second round of 2013 NCAA Tournament to eventual Final Four squad Wichita State, ending the year with a record of 24-9.
Last Game: Talib Zanna scored 22 and James Robinson scored 16 as Pitt pulled away in the second half to beat Georgia Tech 81-74 in a physical game.
Head Coach Bio: A long-time coach, the former TCU player landed at Pitt where he spent four years as Ben Howland's assistant before taking over the program when he left for UCLA. Since then Dixon has maintained Pitt's status, taking them to the NCAA Tournament in nine of his ten seasons there. The only thing he can't seem to do is get them to the promised land. Since Jamie Dixon became head coach, Pitt is 10-4 vs. Syracuse and 5-1 vs. in Syracuse.
"Fear Me, I've Killed Hundreds Of Timelords": Other than Dixon, who seems to know how to beat the Orange better than anyone, how about Talib Zanna, who has registered five double-doubles, reached 20-point scoring in two games and reached double figure scoring in 13 contests. Of course there's also Lamar Patterson, who leads the Panthers with 17.6 PPG.
If Syracuse Wins…: They will be the undisputed best team in the ACC and the road to the conference championship will go through them.
If Syracuse Loses…: Dixon will add another notch in his belt against Boeheim and Syracuse will be the subject of some kind of editorial piece about how the program isn't nearly as good as everyone thought they were.
Fun Fact: Since 2001, Pitt owns a 14-5 record vs. Syracuse. Guh.