Mountaineers Aim to Keep Winning Streak Alive vs. Pitt
The West Virginia Mountaineers (1-0) look to make it sixth straight wins over the Pitt Panthers (1-0) on Friday night. WVU will make the trip north up I-79 to the Peterson Events Center where the Mountaineers have collected three consecutive wins. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and the action can be caught on the ACC Network.
The Mountaineers handled the Panthers last season in Morgantown 74-59. However, in this new era of college basketball, a combined five players saw action in last year’s Backyard Brawl. For West Virginia, the lone returning starter, guard Kedrian Johnson scored four points, dished six assists and tallied seven steals in 24 minutes while sophomore Kobe Johnson got his first taste of the rivalry with four points in 14 minutes.
Nov 7, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers guard Deandre Thomas (2) dribbles against West Virginia Mountaineers guard Kobe Johnson (2) during the first half at WVU Coliseum.
Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Meanwhile, Pitt returns three players from last year’s roster that were on the floor for the Backyard Brawl. However, two have been sidelined since the start of preseason with injuries, including leading scorer John Hughley IV. Forward William Jeffress is not expected to return on Friday, and Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said he’s been limited to individual drills.
"The biggest thing is that John has not played he has not done anything for think it's been six weeks," Capel said. "He's not done anything since then. So, the biggest thing with him is going to see how he responds to having to work out and then getting them in game shape.”
WVU head coach Bob Huggins is not buying the reports out of the Steel City and believes Hughley, a native of Cleveland, will be on the floor against the Mountaineers saying with a grin, “I know everybody in Cleveland.” The junior led the Panthers in scoring with 17 points and grabbed six rebounds a year ago against the Mountaineers.
Nick Santos made one of his sixth starts against the Mountaineers last season but has been reserved to the bench to begin the year which left five new starters for Pitt to open the season, giving the Mountaineer staff very little to prepare for.”
“It’s obviously more difficult because you don’t have many things to look at, but they played an exhibition game like we did, and then, I think we exchanged the exhibition game video, so they’ve seen us we’ve seen them,” said Huggins.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Pitt dominated UT-Martin Monday night 80-58. Iowa State transfer forward Blake Hinson led the Panthers with 27 points, shooting 9-18 from the field, including 4-12 from three-point range, and led the team with 13 rebounds.
“At six-foot-seven 255-pounds and he can really, really shoot the ball. He’s got a great touch - he’s got a quick release – he’s really good," said Huggins "He’s really good in transition and he’s good enough that if you try to crowd him or you try to go at him a little bit off balanced, he’s going to go right by you and he’s big and strong to finish inside.”
Pitt was without starting guard Jamarius Burton versus WVU a season ago. The fifth years senior was second on the team in scoring last season at 12.4 ppg, and he put up 10 points and seven assists on Monday night.
West Virginia opened the season with 76-58 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Monday. Senior Emmitt Matthews Jr. produced a team-leading 17 points while forward Tre Mitchell came off the bench and went for 13.
Nov 7, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. (1) dunks the ball during the second half against the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers at WVU Coliseum.
Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
The Mountaineers committed 18 turnovers in the season opener. Huggins says the team is continuing to prove but they must take care of the ball.
“I think we’re getting better. We got to take better care of the ball and it comes down to, you can’t turn it over that many times and beat good people,” he said.
Mathews is the only Mountaineer to make the trip to the Peterson Events Center. He poured in 17 points during which, he answered multiple Pitt runs as WVU took down the Panthers 68-53.
West Virginia leads the all-time series 100-88.
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