Collision Course

The season is young but two undefeated teams are on a collision course to meet on the Madison Square Garden floor in the Gotham Classic on Dec. 20.

Both Pittsburgh and Davidson enter Tuesday with 4-0 records. But they got there in different ways.

Pittsburgh is doing it with incredible balance as eight players average at least 6.0 points per game and 12 players are averaging at least 10 minutes a game. Leading the charge for Jamie Dixon’s squad are junior forwards Michael Young and Jamel Artis. Young leads the Panthers in scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg) and is tied for the team’s assists lead with 19. In addition, Pitt is playing suffocating defense, limiting opponents to just 61.8 points per game while scoring at an 89.2 ppg clip.

Davidson, on the other hand, has four players scoring in double digits, paced by junior guard Jack Gibbs and his 21.0 ppg average. Sophomore forward Peyton Aldridge is averaging 18.0 ppg, senior guard Brian Sullivan is scoring at a 16.5 ppg clip and has a team-high 24 assists, and senior guard Jordan Barham tallies 12.3 ppg. The Wildcats are averaging 83.0 points a game while yielding 76.8. Except for a 13-point win against Dennison – the 500th in the career head coach Bob McKillop – each game has been decided by six points or less.

Tuesday will be an interesting night for these two. Pitt faces Purdue in a 9:00pm (ET) at the Petersen Events Center as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Davidson hosts Charlotte at 7:00pm (ET) before getting ready to take on North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Sunday.

Tickets for the Pitt-Davidson on Dec. 20 at Madison Square Garden can be purchased at: http://bit.ly/1OlTywJ