Women's Basketball Opens Pitt Retro Weekend On Thursday Night

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women's basketball team (9-12, 0-7 ACC) will officially open up the Pitt Athletics "Retro Weekend" festivities on Thursday night as they welcome the Virginia Tech Hokies to the Petersen Events Center for a 7:00 pm tip. The Panthers will be wearing retro jerseys for the contest as will other Pitt teams this weekend both at home and on the road.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Thursday night's game against Virginia Tech will broadcast live on AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh or on WatchESPN/WatchESPN app. Jenn Hildreth (play-by-play) and LaChina Robinson (color) will be on the call on Thursday night.
Fans can tune into 1320 AM WJAS for the Pitt IMG Sports Network broadcast of the game, with Josh Rowntree on the call. Fans can also listen online at PittsburghPanthers.com.
Live stats of the game can be found on PittsburghPanthers.com.
Follow the team on Twitter for updates throughout the game and a behind-the-scenes look.

STORYLINES

The Pitt women's basketball team will officially be kicking off the Pitt Athletics "Retro Weekend" on Thursday night as the team will be wearing retro color jerseys against Virginia Tech.
For the first time in school history, the Panthers have faced four top-12 programs through their first seven conference games.
One of the keys during Panther victories this season has been winning the battle in the paint as they own a 9-3 record this year when out-scoring opponents inside and a 0-9 mark when not doing so.

LAST TIME OUT

The Panthers (9-12, 0-7 ACC) weren't able to overcome a slow start on Sunday afternoon inside a hostile KFC YUM! Center as the #4 Louisville Cardinals secured the 70-42 victory over the Panthers.
The Panthers outscored the Cardinals 30-29 in the second half while also forcing Louisville to turn the ball over 12 times across the final 20 minutes.
Sophomore sharpshooter Kyla Nelson came off the bench and led the Panthers in scoring on Sunday as she netted a season-high 12 points and three rebouns across 22 minutes of work.
Senior Kauai Bradley finished off her strong game with 11 points and six rebounds across a team-high 33 minutes as she scored in double figures for the third straight game, marking the first time she has done so in her Pitt career.
As a team, the Panthers were out-rebounded 48-31 for the game while the Cardinals also shot 40.4% from the floor and made 11 three-pointers in the win.

SCOUTING THE HOKIES

The Virginia Tech Hokies enter Thursday night's game in Pittsburgh riding a seven-game losing streak as they own a 13-7 overall record and a 0-7 ACC mark. After going perfect (13-0) in the non-conference season, the Hokies have been unable to claim a conference win despite being close in almost every game.
The Hokies are being led offensively by Taylor Emery who ranks third in the ACC in scoring as she is averaging 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists while connecting on 42 three-pointers across an average of 33.9 minutes/game.
Senior Regan Magarity is enjoying another strong season down low for the Hokies as she is averaging a double-double with 13.0 points and an ACC-leading 12.2 rebounds while also leading the team in blocks (37) and shooting 47.0% from the floor.
As a team, Virginia Tech ranks second in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (36.0%) and third in the ACC in scoring defense (59.3 ppg) while also averaging 71.2 points/game offensively. The Hokies also lead the ACC in free throw shooting as a team (79.5%) and rank second in three point field goal percentage (37.2%).
Virginia Tech is coach by Kenny Brooks who has accumulated a career head coaching record of 393-157 across 17 seasons.

LOOKING AHEAD

Pitt will return to the road on Sunday afternoon as they head to Durham, NC to take on the Duke Blue Devils at 2:00 pm inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
After Duke, the Panthers will stay on the road on Thursday, Feb. 7 as they head to Georgia to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at 7:00 pm.