Pitt Set To Host Final Home Game Thursday Night As They Welcome Syracuse

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women's basketball team (10-17, 3-13 ACC) sets their sights on their eight home win of the season Thursday night as they welcome the Syracuse Orange to the Petersen Events Center for their last home game of the season. Thursday's game will tip at 6:00 pm and air live on ACC Network Extra.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Thursday's game will air live on ACC Network Extra and can be viewed HERE.
Live stats of the game can be found by clicking HERE.
The game will also air live on the radio on 1320 AM WJAS and can be listened to by clicking HERE. The voice of the Panthers Josh Rowntree will get things started with the pregame show at 5:45 pm from the Pete.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

STORYLINES

Senior captain Dayshanette Harris is finding her groove over the past eight games as she has led Pitt in scoring in five of those games. Over her past eight games, she is averaging 11.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.5 assists while shooting 46.2% from the floor.
Junior Liatu King is enjoying the best season of her career as she is averaging a career-high 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 40.2% from the floor. King ranks T-4th in the ACC in blocks (1.4 bpg) and 5th in rebounds (7.6 rpg). King has scored in double figures a career-high 11 times while also posting a career-high five double-doubles on the year.

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt welcomes the Syracuse Orange to the Petersen Events Center Thursday night for their final home game of the season. Thursday's game will tip at 6pm on ACC Network Extra.
Grad transfer Channise Lewis has produced in a big way over her past seven games. Coming off the bench in all seven games, Lewis is averaging 8.1 points and 3.3 assists while shooting a team-high 54.5% from deep (12-for-22).
The Pitt bench is producing monster numbers of late as they have combined to score a program record 130 points across the past three games including back-to-back 50+ point efforts for the first time in program history.

THE SERIES WITH SYRACUSE

This meeting marks the 70th between the two programs with Syracuse owning the 50-19 lead in the all-time series. Syracuse is Pitt's most played opponent in program history.
The Orange have won 23 in a row against Pitt including a game in Syracuse earlier this year.
Pitt's last win against Syracuse came on Jan. 24, 2009.
Pitt is 12-21 all-time against Syracuse at home.

SCOUTING THE ORANGE

The Syracuse Orange enter Thursday night's game with a 17-11 overall record and a 8-9 ACC mark. They collected a 77-68 home victory over Miami on Sunday.
The Orange are led offensively by senior Dyaisha Fair who ranks 2nd in the ACC in scoring averaging 19.9 points per game while adding 4.1 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. She has connected on a team-high 72 three pointers across 28 starts.
Fellow transfer Georgia Woolley is also enjoying a great first season in the ACC as she is averaging 11.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists while ranking second on the squad with 52 steals. Teisha Hyman is averaging 10.3 points and 4.0 rebounds while Dariauna Lewis is leading the squad in rebounding (9.1 rpg) and adding 9.4 points per game and shooting 48.1% from the floor.
As a team, Syracuse is averaging 73.9 points per game while allowing 68.0 points per contest.

BENCH MAKING MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The Pitt bench has made a big impact so far this season as the Panthers' depth has really shined.
Last time out, Pitt scored 21 bench points in the home loss to #10 Notre Dame.
Over the past three games, Pitt has scored 130 bench points. The 130 bench points over a three game stretch are the most in program history and the most by any team in the NCAA this season.
Pitt posted back-to-back 50+ point bench games for the first time in program history last week. Pitt is also the only team in the country this season to score 50+ bench points in back-to-back games.
In the road win over Georgia Tech Sunday, the Panthers scored a program record 58 bench points from five different players. Pitt had four bench players score in double figures for the first time in program history.
The 58 bench points are the 7th most scored in a game so far this season in the NCAA. They are the second most bench points scored against a Power 5 team and the most scored in a road win by a team in the NCAA so far this season.
The Panthers bench is averaging 25.8 points per game so far this season. Pitt set a program record last season scoring an average of 22.4 points per game from their bench.
On the year, Pitt has 10 games with 30+ bench points after posting only four such games all last season. The 10 games with 30+ points for their bench are the most such games in a single season in program history.

BENCH POINTS IN A SINGLE GAME (NCAA)
Team            Opponent (Result) Points
GCU              Columbia College (W) 69
Boise St.       Multnomah (W)           67
WKU             at Ball State (L)             66
So. Carolina Hampton (W)               65
Iowa             Rutgers (W)                  61
Northern Ill. Western Ill. (W)            61
Pitt               at Georgia Tech (W)    58
Pitt               Boston College (W)      51

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU

Senior Amber Brown has turned into one of the most consistent and reliable players on the Pitt roster over her strong four-year career.
Last time out, Brown was the only Panther in double figures as she finished off the loss to #10 Notre Dame with 13 points, three rebounds and two steals while going 5-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe.
On the year, Brown is averaging a career-high 9.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting a career-high 50.0% from the floor and 75.5% from the free throw line. She is currently tied for 4th in the ACC in field goal percentage (50.0%) and 9th in free throw percentage (75.5%) while shooting over 50% from the floor in 14 of 27 games.
Brown is the only player in the ACC this season to have season averages of at least 9.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.1 spg, 50.0% FG% and 75.5% FT%.
On the year, she has a career-high three 20-point efforts and a total of four in her career.
She has picked up her play in ACC games, averaging a team-high 10.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 47.8% from the floor in 16 games against conference foes. She ranks 4th in field goal percentage (47.8%) and 9th in free throw percentage (.764) in ACC games.
Brown made her 107th straight start to begin her career Sunday against #10 Notre Dame, marking the most consecutive starts to begin a career for a Pitt player since Brianna Kiesel started a program record 122 straight games (2011-14).
Brown's streak of 107 straight games to start a career are the most by any active ACC player without missing a game. Virginia Tech's Elizabeth Kitley has earned 112 starts in a row to start her career but she has also missed games over her career as a Hokie.
She has accumulated 957 career points for Pitt. She is 43 points away from becoming the 21st member of Pitt's 1,000-point club. She would join classmate Dayshanette Harris in the club if she can reach the milestone across the final part of the season. They would become the fourth tandem of classmates (playing the same four years together) to both score 1000+ career points.
Brown is the first Panther since Shavonte Zellous (2004-09) to record 950+ points, 650+ rebounds and 150+ assists for Pitt.
Earlier this year against Ball State, Brown had a massive double-double as she finished with 20 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks and two assists across a career-high 42 minutes of work. The 17 rebounds and three blocks marked new career-highs for the senior. She finished the game going 7-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. Her 17 rebounds are also tied for the most by an ACC player this season.
Against Coppin State, Brown became the fastest Panther (81 games) since Lorri Johnson in 1989-90 (59 games) to record at least 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 assists.
For her career, Brown has scored 10+ points 49 times while grabbing 10+ rebounds 16 times. She has also secured at least five rebounds in 72 of her 107 career games.
She has racked up nine career double-doubles with five coming during her impressive freshman season.

NEXT UP

Pitt will hit the road for their final regular season game as they travel to Raleigh to take on NC State on Sunday afternoon. Sunday's game will tip at 2pm on ACC Network Extra.

#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram