Northern Illinois @ Pittsburgh preview

Pittsburgh lost to No. 1 Louisville by 18 points, but was within five with nine minutes to play before the Cardinals ended the threat. The Panthers and second-year coach Jeff Capel will look to bounce back and master the lessons learned in the 64-46 loss when they return following a nine-day layoff for finals week to host Northern Illinois on Monday.

Louisville led comfortably for most of the final 39 minutes on Dec. 6, but the Panthers made a run before a loose ball foul followed by a costly bench technical stopped the surge. "We put ourselves in position right around 10, 9-minute mark where we had a chance. Then we just allowed some distractions to
happen and it hurt us the rest of the game," Capel told reporters. "That's where we have to grow up." Sophomore Xavier Johnson had 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting as Pittsburgh dropped its 22nd consecutive ACC road game and fell short in its bid to earn a victory over the No. 1 team in the country for the first time since the 2008-09 season. Northern Illinois is coming off an eight-day break after dropping its second straight game 66-57 at UC Davis, despite being within two points with 1:44 left in the game.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ACC Network

ABOUT NORTHERN ILLINOIS (6-4): Eugene German leads the MAC in scoring at 20.3 points per game, which also ranks tied for 28th nationally, and the 6-0 senior has scored in double figures in all 10 games this season, including seven 20-plus point performances. German also leads the team with 2.5 assists per game, 1.3 steals and 25 3-pointers, while 6-9 senior forward Lacey James (8.1 points) tops the Huskies with 7.5 rebounds per contest. Northern Illinois plays at the 275th fastest pace in the nation and enters the game allowing just 62.1 points per game - tied for 43rd nationally - but they rank 115th in defensive efficiency (97.2 points/possession).

ABOUT PITTSBURGH (7-3): Johnson (12.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists) has scored in double figures in each of the past six games (14.3), and he is one of three players in the ACC (Elijah Hughes, Syracuse and Markell Johnson, North Carolina State) averaging at least 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Eric Hamilton (6.4 points, 5.0 rebounds) scored 10 points versus Louisville on 5-of-8 shooting for his fourth double-digit effort in five games (10.2 points, 61.8 percent shooting, 8.6 rebounds). Trey McGowens (11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.8 steals) was held to four points on 2-of-9 shooting and has three games of four or fewer points in his last five games.

TIP-INS

1. Pitt and Northern Illinois have never met before, but the Panthers are 35-25 versus current MAC teams.

2. The Panthers are in a stretch of just two games over a 23-day span. Pitt played 10 games in the first 31 days of the 2019-20 season, including a pair of ACC contests.

3. The No. 159 Huskies' best win according to KenPom has been against No. 172 Oakland on Nov. 25. Their other wins have been against teams ranked 284th or worse.

PREDICTION: Pittsburgh 67, Northern Illinois 52