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.

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