PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – West Virginia hit Pitt hard on its first possession. Even when the Mountaineers did that, the Panthers scored in what ended up a 86-62 win in the 191st Backyard Brawl Friday night. It was Pitt’s largest margin of victory in the series since 2003.
“Really, really proud of our performance, especially on the defensive end,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. “I thought our guys were incredibly locked in right from the beginning.”
On West Virginia’s first made bucket, Amani Hansberry’s off-hand went right into the face of Guillermo Diaz Graham for a flagrant foul, while Diaz Graham was being looked at, Zach Austin made a pair of free throws. Soon after, Pitt would go on a 15-2 run hitting 6 of 15 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes. Panthers put an exclamation point on the first half with a steal as Jaland Lowe led the fast-break throwing an alley oop to Damian Dunn to take a 22-point lead at the break.
Panthers would never trail by fewer than 22 points the rest of the game in winning a second straight meeting with West Virginia. They held WVU to 38% FG (33% 1 st half), 21% from 3 (15% 1 st half) and allowed only five offensive rebounds.