Pittsburgh @ Miami preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 31, 2018 ) Pittsburgh 57, Miami-Florida 69

Two of the bottom four teams in the ACC hook up on Tuesday night as Miami hosts Pittsburgh in the final home game of the regular season for the Hurricanes. Both teams were battered their last time out as Miami returns to its homecourt after an 87-57 loss at Duke, while the Panthers were dumped by conference leader Virginia 73-49.

"That was a really disappointing performance for us," Miami head coach Jim Larranaga told reporters. "Hats off to them, they pressured us and made things difficult, got on a roll, and their fans got into it. I can't make any excuses. I have to be better than that. We have to forget this. I left that game in the locker room." The Hurricanes have to hope the whole team did too as they were held to a season-low 19 points in the first half and their 28-point halftime deficit was their largest since Larranaga was hired for the 2011-12 season. The Panthers are having their own problems putting the ball in the hoop of late, as they were held to 49 points by Virginia and 48 by Clemson in their last two outings, the only times this season that they failed to reach the 50-point mark. Pittsburgh has now lost 12 straight ACC matchups and 20 road conference games in a row.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Raycom

ABOUT PITTSBURGH (12-17, 2-14 ACC): Basically 50 percent of the Panthers' scoring this season has come from freshmen Xavier Johnson (16.0 ppg), Trey McGowens (11.5) and Au'Diese Toney (8.0), with the trio combining for 49 double-figure scoring games. Senior Jared Wilson-Frame (12.0 ppg) provides much-needed leadership and ranks second in the ACC in 3-pointers per game (2.75), hitting at least four long-distance shots in eight of the last 12 games and 12 times overall. While the Panthers have held nine teams below 40 percent shooting from the field, three of the last four opponents have nailed at least 50 percent of their attempts, with Virginia shooting 58.5 percent.

ABOUT MIAMI (12-16, 4-12): The Hurricanes will be celebrating the play of their seniors in their final home game, and center Ebuka Izundu and guards Anthony Lawrence and Zach Johnson have all been key contributors to Miami this season. Izundu and Lawrence led the Hurricanes with 15 points each against Duke, with the big man coming one rebound shy of a double-double -- all nine coming on the offensive glass -- while Johnson and Lawrence are tied for second on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg). Leading scorer Chris Lykes (16.5 ppg) was cold against Duke, connecting on just one of his 15 shots for four points, a far cry from the 26 points he posted the previous game and ending a string of eight straight double-digit outings.

TIP-INS

1. Miami leads the series 21-18 after winning the last five meetings.

2. Pitt is 0-10 in true road games this season, with six decided by 10 points or less.

3. Miami tied a season high with 11 steals against Duke.

PREDICTION: Miami 80, Pittsburgh 64