Pittsburgh vs UNC Asheville | Prediction & Pick

Panthers try to avoid Pitt-fall of playing Bulldogs

On Sunday, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs were in North Carolina and discovered they would participate in one of the ‘First Four’ games in the NCAA Tournament. On Tuesday, they were in Dayton, rallying from a double-digit deficit to win in overtime. Now on Thursday, they’ll be in Washington DC to face the top-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers in a Southeast Region second round game.

vs.

#16 UNC Asheville (20-13, 11-7 Big South) vs. #1 Pittsburgh (27-5, 15-3 Big East)

Date/Time: Thursday, March 17, 3:10 PM ET
Venue: Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
Broadcast: TruTV

Money Line: OFF
Spread: Pittsburgh –18
Over/Under: 135

The Panthers enter this game having had a week off since being knocked out of the Big East Conference tournament one week ago. Pittsburgh won the regular season championship in the league, and went 10-5 in games against teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Click Here for more FREE EXPERT March Madness Basketball Picks

Pittsburgh is making their tenth consecutive tournament appearance, and they’ve won at least one game in the tournament every year since 2005. They are trying to reach their first Final Four since 1957.

The Bulldogs defeated Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday 81-77 to advance to this contest. It was the second-ever victory in the NCAA Tournament in school history – the other came in 2003 against Texas Southern in the NCAA Play-In game.

Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm led the Bulldogs in scoring all season. On Tuesday night, they each scored 22 points as UNC Asheville rallied from trailing by ten points with just over 14 ½ minutes to play in regulation to win in the extra period. Dickey hit a step-back three-pointer from the corner with 13 seconds left to tie the score.

The Panthers will need to account for Dickey on the floor, and contain a Bulldogs offense coming off a 50 percent shooting night from the field. Pittsburgh will attempt to utilize their size and defensive intensity to hopefully frustrate the Bulldogs. For the season, the Panthers held opponents to just 61 points per game, 22nd in the nation.

Ashton Gibbs is the Panthers leading scorer at 16.7 points per contest. Brad Wanamaker is next at 12 points per game to along with 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists per contest. Look for Gary McGhee, who was fourth in the Big East in rebounds, to have a big game on the glass.

The odds makers have the Pittsburgh Panthers as a -18 point favorite with an over/under of 135.

Check out the latest March Madness Odds here.

The Bulldogs had a big come-from-behind win on Tuesday. You just wonder if they’ll have anything left for the top-seeded Panthers. We don’t seem to think so.

Need more help making your picks winners? Check out our top  handicappers.

Bet the Pittsburgh/UNC Asheville basketball game at an online sportsbook that gives you a 50% sign up bonus up to $500 from the website “Where the Line Originates” – Bookmaker.

Pittsburgh Panthers Betting Trends:

• Pittsburgh is 17-4 SU in its last 21 games
• The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Pittsburgh’s last 8 games

vs.