West Virginia rolls to 81-56 victory against Pitt in Backyard Brawl
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Before the basketball version of the Backyard Brawl tipped off Friday night, rival fan bases from Pitt and West Virginia tried shouting over top of each other. It was reminiscent of the noisy venue Petersen Events Center became years ago when the Panthers were a formidable force in the old Big East.
In the end, however, the story remained the same. A large pocket of West Virginia fans reveled in the victory while Pitt fans, who had no reason to cheer after halftime, headed for the exits.
With a rebuilt lineup and new hope and optimism, Pitt (1-1) still had no answer for the chaos the Mountaineers create every time the teams meet.
West Virginia (2-0) forced 19 turnovers, shot nearly 53% from the field – 65.4% in the first half — and walked away with a decisive 81-56 victory.
Jeff Capel, on playing WVU without John Hugley pic.twitter.com/6VWf6M5l9h
— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) November 12, 2022
The Mountaineers have won the past six games between the two schools. What may make Friday’s game even more difficult for those connected with Pitt to swallow was this little bit of trivia: The final margin of victory was 10 points larger than WVU’s victory last season in Morgantown.
The home court was no advantage for Pitt.
“We hadn’t been through adversity,” coach Jeff Capel said. “Everything’s been terrific for us so far. Now, we got smacked in the face. Let’s see how we respond.”
The game was close for most of the first half, but West Virginia’s lead reached double digits at halftime, 47-36, and kept growing in the second half.
Joe Toussaint and Erik Stevenson led the Mountaineers with 18 and 16 points. Mohamed Wague, a 6-foot-10 forward, added 11 with four rebounds. Wague and others in the WVU frontcourt dominated play in the paint while Pitt was playing without star center John Hugley, who is out with a knee injury.
Jamarius Burton led the Panthers with 16 points. Blake Hinson, who scored 27 points Monday against Tennessee Martin, missed seven of nine shots and ended up with only five.
Hinson had a target on his back.
“The guys were really good about paying attention, knowing who’s who, who does what,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said.
Describing his defense’s chaotic style, Huggins said, “We just don’t know what the heck we’re doing. We run around and if we see a guy who’s open, we go get him. We’ve been that way for a while, kind of chaotic.”
He said he likes the chaos “when we win.”
“If we lose, I ask them, `What the heck are you doing?’ ”
Pitt had no answer for the chaos.
“We didn’t display the poise that is necessary to have a chance to win with a team like that, with the way they defend,” Capel said.
Capel praised the crowd of 10,827, including more than 2,000 members of the Oakland Zoo, many of whom waited outside in the rain before the doors opened.
“The atmosphere was outstanding,” he said. “We’re incredibly grateful for it. Just disappointed that our performance wasn’t worthy of the energy they gave.”
“It was a great crowd to play in front of,” said forward Greg Elliott, one of six players who are new to the team this season. “It was all for naught. That result is not representative of our team.”
The problems started late in the first half after Pitt had seized an early 15-10 lead. Capel said Pitt’s lead only caused the Mountaineers to ratchet up their pressure defense.
Meanwhile, Pitt point guard Nelly Cummings, an important facilitator, Hinson and Burton were in foul trouble for much of the game. Cummings fouled out with more than seven minutes left.
“(Foul trouble) changed everything,” said Capel, who had to scrap his man-to-man defense. “We hadn’t worked on zone as much, just trying to get our man-to-man right and better.”
The foul trouble also forced Capel to use lineups that he hadn’t assembled in practice.
More than that, Elliott said the team committed a sin that, in Capel’s mind, is worse than any silly foul or missed shot: Players didn’t talk on the court, something their coach demands.
“We didn’t talk for 40 minutes, honestly,” Elliott said. “That was the one thing our team had done a great job of (in practice). We didn’t do that at all and you can see the result.”
How did that happen when talking on the court is something Capel has preached since the day he was hired in 2018?
“We got into ourselves,” said Elliott, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half. “Once the game got a little tougher, we hit adversity. It was the first time hitting adversity as a team. It’s a new team so everybody thought they could do it on their own.”
It’s not unusual for a team with so many new faces to struggle when it’s only played together in games for less than a week.
But Huggins plucked four new players from the NCAA transfer portal, including Toussaint and Stevenson, and they have come together quickly.
“I think he did a great job recruiting,” Huggins said of Capel. “It’s hard whenever you bring guys in and try to mold them all together and they don’t really know each other.”
For Capel, however, there’s not much time to regroup. Pitt will leave Tuesday for the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the Panthers will play Michigan on Wednesday and either VCU or Arizona State on Thursday.
“I feel good about the character of our team that we’ll respond,” Capel said. “We’ll play some teams this year that will pressure like that, and we’ll be better.”
The hope is that Hugley will make a difference when he returns, possibly Wednesday. Capel refused to blame Hugley’s absence for the outcome, but West Virginia scored 36 points in the paint.
“We need John, but this game is just not the example of that,” he said.
“Hopefully, he can start doing some contact stuff in practice, starting next week. If he’s able to do that and has a couple of good days, there’s a possibility he would be available on Wednesday.”
Meanwhile, Capel said he hopes Pitt and West Virginia can get together and extend the series beyond the last scheduled date in 2023 when the teams will meet in Morgantown.
“The series is awesome,” he said. “We need to do our part to make it a rivalry. I hope it’s something that continues. It should continue.”