Louisville Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Panthers Pick & Prediction JANUARY 6th 2024

The start of Atlantic Coast Conference play hasn’t gone according to plan for Pittsburgh or Louisville.

The Panthers (9-5, 0-3 ACC) and Cardinals (5-8, 0-2) will attempt to crack the league win column when they meet on Saturday in Louisville. Pitt has swept the last three meetings by an average of 22.3 points.

The Panthers are coming off a 70-57 loss to No. 8 North Carolina on Tuesday. Pittsburgh shot just 30.9 percent from the field and 17.2 percent (5 of 29) from 3-point range against the Tar Heels.

Pitt forward Guillermo Diaz Graham isn’t deterred by the lack of success so far against ACC opponents, including earlier losses to Syracuse and Clemson.

“I feel like these are lessons we’re going to start taking and each of these losses are making us better,” he said after the loss to North Carolina. “We felt like we played a good game, it’s just at the end we weren’t able to hit the shots. … I don’t think the feeling we have now is bad.”

Freshman Carlton Carrington scored a season-high 20 points against the Tar Heels, who were held to their lowest scoring output of the season. Blake Hinson added 11 points and Diaz Graham had 10.

Louisville also enters with a two-game losing streak, falling by 19 points to Kentucky and by 24 to Virginia. The Cardinals missed 19 of their 25 3-point attempts in Wednesday’s 77-53 loss against the Cavaliers.

“As the game went on, we lost our discipline, we lost our focus, and we lost our fight, to be honest with you,” Cardinals coach Kenny Payne said. “Some of that’s on us. It’s culture. Some of that’s on me and some of that’s just on the players. We all are to blame, because we know how good teams are in this conference.”

Skyy Clark leads Louisville with 15.2 points per game and Hinson paces Pitt with 18.9 points per game.

The Cardinals are 5-3 at home and the Panthers are 1-1 on the road.

–Field Level Media