Pitt, West Virginia ink deal to extend basketball ‘Backyard Brawl’ for 2 more seasons
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West Virginia coach and alumnus Bob Huggins called Pitt “our biggest rival.”
Pitt coach Jeff Capel said Panthers-Mountaineers is “one of the best (rivalries) in the country.”
When hired as WVU athletic director, Shane Lyons reiterated a primary objective was to get Pitt and West Virginia playing again.
Soon, despite playing in different conferences, “Backyard Brawls” will be staged months apart in football and basketball again.
Pitt and West Virginia announced Thursday they reached an agreement to stage the men’s basketball version of the Brawl during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. The programs meet in November for the fourth and final game of a series announced in 2016, after a period of dormancy for the Brawl following the breakup of the Big East.
Rivalry. Tradition. Brawl.
Series renewed for an additional two years through the 2022-23 season: https://t.co/j5JI50am0N#ZooEra | #H2P pic.twitter.com/QTAohdb1Cr
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) June 18, 2020
“The Pitt-West Virginia rivalry is one of the best in the country,” Capel said in a statement released by Pitt. “Backyard Brawl says all you need to know about the intensity and energy around these games. Coach Huggins is an outstanding coach and has built a terrific program in Morgantown. We look forward to continuing the rivalry and building on the great tradition of the Backyard Brawl.”
The agreement calls for a second consecutive meeting in Morgantown (this year’s is scheduled for Nov. 13) likely in late 2021 and a return for a game at Petersen Events Center the following season. That one would happen within months of the resumption of the football Backyard Brawl on Sept. 3, 2022, at Heinz Field.
The schools will meet at alternating locales in football from 2022-25.
“We are certainly pleased to extend the men’s basketball series between West Virginia and Pitt,” Lyons said in a statement. “I’ve said numerous times that one of my first goals as athletic director was to renew the football and basketball series with Pitt because it is good for both schools. I want to thank (Pitt athletic director) Heather Lyke, coach Huggins and coach Capel for their efforts in extending the basketball series. The fans are the real winners because this series is great for college basketball.”
WVU has won each of the previous three nonconference meetings since the series resumed and four in a row overall to extend their series advantage to 99-88. The first official meeting was 1906, although according to Pitt they faced each other in 1904 prior to basketball becoming a varsity sport.
Specific game dates for each game in the series were not announced. They will be determined prior to each season.
The Backyard Brawl continues!
DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/1kILEyvldQ#HailWV pic.twitter.com/3q8RREXMaE
— WVU Basketball (@WVUhoops) June 18, 2020
The annual Pitt-West Virginia games were typically two of the most anticipated of the season for the schools during their heyday together in the Big East. But they did not play between Feb. 16, 2012, and Dec. 9, 2017, after the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 and Pitt the ACC.
Huggins was adamant he wanted to continue the series, but former Pitt coach Jamie Dixon was not as warm to it. It wasn’t until Dixon left for TCU and Kevin Stallings took over as Pitt coach before an announcement that the Backyard Brawl was renewed. Stallings coached in only one game against WVU before being fired as Pitt’s coach in 2018.
Pitt recently backed out of a verbal commitment to play Duquesne this coming season. The “City Game” series was not played in 2019-20 for the first time in a half century and when that was announced in early 2019 a statement from Lyke read, “We look forward to resuming the game with great anticipation in 2020 and 2021.”
In 2020, at least, that won’t happen. But while it was not a direct, either/or tradeoff, it appears as if Pitt is opting for another nearby nonconference longtime rival.
“The Pitt game has been our biggest rival,” Huggins said. “We are thrilled to add another two games to the series. During the last three months or so, I’ve seen numerous WVU-Pitt games being replayed on ESPN. In addition to both fan bases, there is always a national interest in the Backyard Brawl.”
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