Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons Pick & Prediction JANUARY 31st 2024

Pitt came close to overcoming a hefty deficit Saturday. The Panthers will try to wipe their four-point loss at Miami from their memory as they return home to take on Wake Forest on Wednesday night.

Pitt (12-8, 3-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) is looking for its first league home win of the year and will want to avoid falling behind by 19 points in the second half like it did against the Hurricanes. Blake Hinson (21 points) and Jaland Lowe (17) brought the Panthers as close as two in the final minute.

“We have to do a better job of not getting down 19 points and then having to — we made a heck of a comeback, put ourselves in a position where we had an opportunity to send the game to overtime or perhaps win it, but we can’t dig holes like that,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said.

The Panthers went 2-1 on a three-game road trip, including an 80-76 win against No. 7 Duke.

Hinson is putting up 18.1 points per game for Pitt, while Carlton Carrington has added 13.1. The Panthers lead the ACC in three-pointers with 9.4 per game.

Wake Forest (13-6, 5-3) enters after a nine-day layoff. The Demon Deacons most recently bowed to No. 3 North Carolina 85-64 on the road on Jan. 22.

To Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes, the lesson his players learned was not to let their offense dictate their defense.

“That is on us, a lot of that is, no matter what happens on the offensive end you have to get back,” Forbes said. “We have to guard the ball and get matched up. We didn’t get matched up.”

Hunter Sallis (17.7 points per game) paces the Demon Deacons’ offense. Kevin Miller (16.8), Cameron Hildreth (15.0) and Andrew Carr (14.3) also average double figures for an offense that’s tied for fourth in the conference with 80.2 points per game.

–Field Level Media