Pitt Hoops Game Preview: Pitt vs. Binghamton

The Pitt men’s basketball team (8-3) takes on the Binghamton Bearcats tonight in their penultimate non-conference game before hitting the full ACC schedule in January. Binghamton (5-6) enters play coming off of a 73-56 loss to Youngstown State on Wednesday, while Pitt enters play coming off of a 59-50 victory over Northern Illinois on Monday night.

Fast Facts

• This will be Pitt’s second matchup with Binghamton going back to at least 1949-50, as the Panthers beat the Bearcats by a score of 71-46 in Nov. 2009.
• Binghamton is in just its 19th season as a Division-I basketball program, and they have just one NCAA tournament appearance–as a no. 15 seed in 2008-09.
• Their most notable former head coach is Al Walker, who is currently a pro scout for the Detroit Pistons, though their most successful coach was Kevin Broadus, who led the Bearcats to their only D-I 20-win finish and is currently the head coach of Morgan State.
• Their current head coach, Tommy Dempsey, is in his eighth season with Binghamton. They’ve lost at least 20 games in each of his first seven season, but they have won 10 or more games in each of the past three years, which is a modest improvement for the program.
• Binghamton is currently ranked no. 303 in the KenPom rankings, while Pitt sits at no. 72.

Binghamton Preview

Binghamton’s losses thus far have come against Cornell (no. 284) by 20; Michigan St. (no. 5) by 53; Columbia (no. 205) by 12; Loyola MD (no. 191) by 12; Colgate (no. 133) by 8; and Youngstown State (no. 234) by 18.

Conversely, the Bearcats’ Division I wins include Sacred Heart (no. 195), NJIT (no. 256), Army (no. 264), Boston University (no. 232) by a combined 26 points for an average win of just 6.5 points per game. And Binghamton hasn’t exactly been beating great teams.

Their only foray inside of the top 100 was a 53 point loss to Michigan State. Tonight against Pitt will be their second opportunity to take on a top-100 KenPom ranked team. Of course, this is a game that Pitt should win handily.

Binghamton’s woes start with the fact that they are not a team that shoots well from inside, shooting just 0.488 from two. They have attempted to compensate for that weak inside shooting by jacking up a ton of three pointers. In fact, they average 29 three-point shots per game, compared with just 33.7 two-pointers per game.

Fortunately for opponents, Binghamton is only average at making threes, ranking no. 167 in the nation with a 0.335 three-point shooting percentage. Nevertheless, they do have some weapons. Sophomore Sam Sessoms has been having a great season early on, posting 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. The Bearcats have three other players scoring double digit points per game as well, highlighting their ability to move the rock and gain contributions from different players.

Perhaps most impressive of the bunch is freshman forward George Tinsley, who is posting 12.0 points and 8.7 rebounds per game thus far. Senior forward Pierre Sarr has also been effective on the boards, collected 8.1 per game while averaging 10.9 points. Freshman guard Brenton Mills has also been a strong contributor, posting 11.6 points per game on a team-leading 0.397 shooting percentage from three-point land.

Amazingly, the freshman Tinsley has played 39.4 minutes per game thus far, leading the nation. He’s played six complete games, and it’s a fair bet that he won’t leave the floor tonight against the Panthers. One other player to note for Binghamton is Dan Petcash, a freshman who played his high school basketball at Pine Richland. He’ll be returning to Pittsburgh as a role player in the Binghamton rotation, where he’s earned 9.3 minutes per game so far.

Pitt’s Keys to the Game

So what does Pitt need to do to beat Northern Illinois tonight? Here are the Keys to the game.

Can’t give Binghamton open looks from the perimeter.

Binghamton’s calling card is the three-pointer. They take 29 per game, while taking just 32 two-pointers per game. This is a team that is looking to take outside shots as often as possible. It is imperative that Pitt find a way to contest those three point opportunities.

Mills is Binghamton’s biggest deep threat, making nearly 40 percent of his attempts and taking 5.7 shots per game from deep. Tinsley takes 6.5 attempts per game (0.338 shot percentage), while Sessoms takes 7.1 attempts per game (0.295). Of those big three, clearly Mills is the player to spend the most effort on.

I would have to think that Pitt might try to play a zone at some point tonight to stifle Binghamton’s three point opportunities, since that seems to be the perceived strength among their offensive unit. As I stated earlier, Binghamton is one of the weakest two-point shooting teams in the country, and if you can force them into contested threes or mid-range shots, they should have a rough night.

Protect the basketball.

Binghamton is particularly weak at forcing turnovers, as their opponents have turned the ball over just 97 times this year, good for about 8.8 turnovers per game. That ranks nearly dead last in the country at 350th. Because Binghamton doesn’t play defense that yields a ton of turnovers, it is incumbent upon Pitt to protect the basketball and avoid giving it away to give their offense a chance to shine.

Trey McGowens was a big part of the win on Monday against Northern Illinois, and part of that involved his ability to protect and distribute the basketball in the second half. He finished the game with three assists and just one turnover, which is a great effort to see from him given his propensity to force bad turnovers throughout the non-conference schedule this season.

In fact, Pitt has been taking some modest steps in the right direction involving turnovers of late, as they turned the ball over just 12 times against Louisville and just seven times against Northern Illinois. If this team is going to have a chance to win a lot of games in ACC play, they’re going to have to continue to be the team that protects the basketball and doesn’t beat themselves. That effort starts tonight, as Pitt will try to continue to create good habits heading into ACC play.

Pitt desperately needs to find its groove from deep.

Against Northern Illinois, the Panthers hit just four of 17 three-point attempts. McGowens hit every single one of them. Ryan Murphy’s deep slump has continued, while Justin Champagnie, Au’Diese Toney, and Xavier Johnson all put up goose eggs. Pitt is now shooting just 0.257 from three this year, good for an absolutely dismal 345th in the country.

Murphy in particular, who is Pitt’s best deep shooter, is just 10 of his last 46 from three, encompassing Pitt’s past nine games. He hasn’t made more than two three-pointers in any of those games. Over that span, Pitt has been virtually useless from deep, which is putting a lot of pressure on them to find other ways to score.

Teams have been relatively willing to give them looks from deep in exchange for protecting the interior, and it’s hard to blame them with how inefficient Pitt has been from long-range. Pitt needs to score the basketball form deep to keep opposing defenses honest and to give themselves better looks from across the floor. That will hold especially true tonight against Binghamton, who is holding opposing teams to a 0.309 three-point percentage this year.

The game tips off tonight at 7 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center and will be broadcast on the ACC Network with a radio feed on 93.7 The Fan. Check back in with Dream Backfield later for more content!