Pitt To Battle #8 NC State At The Pete On Thursday Night

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women's basketball team returns home on Thursday night looking for a big conference win over a nationally-ranked opponent. The Panthers welcome #8 NC State to the Petersen Events Center for an ACC showdown at 7:00 pm.

THURSDAY'S PROMOTIONS

The Pittsburgh Pirates CARE-a-van will be making a stop at the Pitt game on Thursday night with select players and coaches making an appearance at the game. The players and coaches will be signing autographs before the game, starting at around 6:15 pm at Concourse A of the Pete. They will then be participating in in-game promotions throughout the game while interacting with fans.
It will also be Thankful Thursday at the Pete with fans being selected at random to win Pitt athletics prize packages.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Thursday's game in Pittsburgh will air live on ACC Network Extra and can be streamed online by clicking HERE.
Fans can also listen to the game on the radio by tuning into 1320 AM WJAS. The voice of the Pitt women's basketball team, Josh Rowntree, will get you started with the pregame show at 6:45 pm followed by the call of the game at 7:00 pm. Listen to the call HERE.
Live stats for the game can be found by clicking HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

THE SERIES

This meeting marks the ninth game between the two teams in series history with the Wolfpack owning a 6-2 lead.
NC State has collected four straight wins in the series over the Panthers with Pitt's last win coming on Feb. 5, 2015 in Raleigh, NC.
The two teams met last season and the Wolfpack downed the Panthers 63-34 at Reynolds Coliseum in North Carolina.

SCOUTING THE WOLFPACK

The NC State Wolfpack enter Thursday night's game at Pitt with a 17-1 overall record and a 6-1 ACC mark. The Wolfpack are currently the #8 team in the nation and have won three straight in dominant fashion.
The Wolfpack are being led offensively by Elissa Cunane who is averaging a double-double with 16.9 points and 10.4 rebounds while shooting 61.2% from the floor across an average of 26.3 minutes/game.
Senior Aislinn Konig is enjoying a nice season as she is averaging 10.6 points, a team-high 3.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds while connecting on a team-high 43 three-pointers. Kayla Jones ranks third on the team scoring 10.2 points/game.
As a team, the Wolfpack are averaging 73.6 points/game while allowing just 54.0 points/game, second lowest in the ACC. NC State also leads the ACC in FG% defense (33.2%).

LAST TIME OUT

Pitt posted their highest scoring first quarter (22) but weren't able to maintain their hot shooting as they fell to Syracuse inside the Pete, 69-51.
Junior Gabbie Green continued her strong play for the Panthers as she netted a team-high 16 points, six rebounds and two assists across 35 minutes. She has now led Pitt in scoring in each of the last two games.
Aysia Bugg had another good game on the offensive end of the court as she netted 13 points while connecting on four three-pointers in the loss. Freshman Amber Brown notched her ninth game with 10+ rebounds as she finished with 11 boards and five points.
As a team, the Panthers were able to win the rebounding battle, 46-40, for the 10th time this season but turned the ball over a season-high 26 times which turned into 29 points for the Orange in the loss.

GREEN LIGHT

Junior Gabbie Green has brought the Panthers some experience with a work ethic that pushes her teammates each and every day.
The Bellville, Texas native has begun to settle into her role and she has been given the green light on the offensive end of the court since the start of ACC play.
Last time out, Green led Pitt in scoring for the second straight game as she netted 16 points, six rebounds and two assists across 35 minutes.
Green currently ranks fourth in the ACC averaging 3.2 triples/game in conference games. The junior also ranks sixth in conference games shooting 37.3% from behind the arc. She has 19 three's through six ACC games.
On the year, Green ranks third on the team averaging 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists while connecting on 34.0% of her three-pointers across 30.7 minutes/game.
Over her last three games, Green is averaging 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds while knocking down 10 three-pointers across 35.0 minutes/game.
She has scored in double figures seven times this season including a career-high 23-point effort in the loss to Miami (OH) earlier this season.
The lightning-quick guard has 10 games with two or more three-pointers made including in each of her last six games.
Green has been asked to play big minutes for Pitt as she has notched 20+ minutes in all 17 games and 30+ minutes 10 times.

NEWCOMERS MAKING STRONG IMPACT

Entering the 2019-20 campaign, the Panthers knew they were going to have to rely heavily on a handful of newcomers to make an impact and they have done a nice job so far this season.
The six newcomers for the Pitt are averaging a combined 41.2 points and 27.2 rebounds per game so far this season.
The newcomers are accounting for 67.0% of the Panthers scoring efforts this season and 64.8% of the rebounding efforts.
The freshman duo of Dayshanette Harris and Amber Brown have combined to score 19.6 points per game, the second best freshman duo in the ACC behind Notre Dame's duo of Sam Brunelle and Anaya Peoples (26.3 ppg).
The freshman duo of Brown and Rita Igbokwe are currently lead all ACC freshman duos in combined rebounds (15.4 rpg). The duo also currently ranks third in the NCAA behind freshman duo's from UC Santa Barbara (16.2 rpg) and South Carolina (15.5 rpg).

BUGG FROM DOWNTOWN

Aysia Bugg has revamped her game this season to focus more on the three-point shot and it has paid off for the sixth-year guard.
So far this season, Bugg has connected on a career-high 38 triples and is moving up the career three-point charts, currently sitting in 11th place on the all-time charts.
She is just two triples shy of 100 for her career as she would become the 11th player in program history to connect on at least 100 triples.
Bugg is three triples shy of 10th place on the all-time charts, a mark that would tie her former teammate Cassidy Walsh who ended her Pitt career last season.

100+ Career Three-Pointers Made
#    Name                      Years            3's
1.    Erin Maloy              1990-94       166
2.    Taneisha Harrison 2007-11       150
3.    Fred Potvin            2013-16       126
4.    Brianna Kiesel       2011-15       123
5.    Mallorie Winn       2005-08       119
6.    Shayla Scott           2007-11       118
7.    Monique Toney    1997-01       117
8.    Haley Harguth       2001-03       114
9.    Alecia Balic            1995-99       113
10. Cassidy Walsh       2015-19       101
11. Aysia Bugg             2014-Pres.   98

NEXT UP

The Panthers will return to the road on Sunday afternoon as they head to Kentucky to take on #3 Louisville inside the KFC Yum! Center at 4:00 pm.

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Pitt To Battle #8 NC State At The Pete On Thursday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Amber Brown

Aysia Bugg

Gabbie Green

Dayshanette Harris

Rita Igbokwe

Cassidy Walsh

Pitt To Battle #8 NC State At The Pete On Thursday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Amber Brown

Aysia Bugg

Gabbie Green

Dayshanette Harris

Rita Igbokwe

Cassidy Walsh

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