MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Ƶ News) Ƶ They picked up the Backyard Brawl right where it left of before COVID, West Virginia winning its fifth straight in the rivalry and its 100th all time, 74-59, in a game that twice almost exploded into fisticuffs in the first half but was clearly a TKO for the Mountaineers over Pitt.
The victory was Bob HugginsƵ 902nd of his career, tying the Hall of Famer Bob Knight on the all-time list.
Jalen Bridges led ƵU in scoring with 18 points while Taz Sherman scored 17.
The Panthers were flummoxed by West VirginiaƵs aggressive defense and turned the ball over 32 times, just eight turnovers short of the all-time opponentƵs record as the first November sellout crowd in ƵU history continued a chant that sounded very much like ƵEat Spit PittƵ.
At 7:10 p.m. there was a Panther sighting, five or six Pitt players venturing out onto the Coliseum floor to take some shots ... at the basket and from a student section that was rapidly filling up.
Funny, no matter how much time passes, the Maniacs remain ... well, the Maniacs.
Strangely, while ƵU was warming up taking shots, Gabe Osabuohien was practicing taking charges. Only kidding, thatƵs something that comes naturally to him.
It was obvious even before they rolled out the carpet and introduced the Mountaineers that this was different, the kind of thing a university, a city and a school had been waiting for. And, just to whet the appetite, ƵU provided Some great Backyard Brawl video, everything from Jack Fleming holding up the Beat Pitt sign to ƵUƵs own Pitt ... Kevin PITTsnogle.
WasnƵt much later, during a time out, that the fans went nuts as they put him and in attendance on the big screen.
The game didnƵt disappoint. If this was what we all were missing because of COVID-19, bring out the vaccine.
Everything about this game was up close and personal, twice within 20 seconds almost erupting into a real brawl. Each time PittƵs Femi Odukale found himself on the floor in the midst of a ƵU scrum. Each time he came up pushing and looking to fight, and he would have been obliged except that the officials intervened.
Coincidently, one of the officials was Kipp Kissinger. Interesting, isnƵt it, when they needed a peacemaker on the floor they had the wrong Kissinger, Kipp, not Henry.
What was obvious was that Huggins had performed some kind of defensive miracle since the opening win of Oakland, a rather lackluster performance. This time the defense was pushing the issue and by halftime they had force 18 Pitt turnovers, which made it rather easy for them to have built a 36-24 lead.
Five assists and 18 turnovers is never a winning formula and this was a true team effort by Pitt to get to 18, eight of the nine players who saw action in the half committing at least one.
The only thing that kept Pitt in the game was that the Panthers shot 50% from the field, which didnƵt match ƵUƵs shooting of 51.7%.
What this Brawl was lacking as play went into the second was something almost every ƵU game has, fans screaming at the officials.
They took care of that through the first 10 minutes of the second half as Pitt made the game turn plum ugly as they whittled away and got the lead under 10 points.
But thatƵs when ƵU found some electrifying offense, Malik Curry driving to the basket, floating through the air was a Pitt big defender soared into the air. Not to worry, he simply lofted a floater over him for the score.
Then it was Taz ShermanƵs turn, a nifty crossover that allowed him to split two defenders, one hacking on one of his arms, one on the other ... but he still somehow got the ball off and scored it, adding a free throw.
The gap now was widening and a trio of 3s, two from Bridges and one from McNeil, got the lead to 21.
