Pitt Preview
January 24, 2009 09:30 PM | General
January 24, 2009
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For years, Pitt going to Morgantown to play a basketball game at the WVU Coliseum was about like making a visit to the dentist office for a root canal. That has changed under Jamie Dixon, who could become the first Panther coach in school history to win three times at the Coliseum Sunday when Pitt takes on the West Virginia.
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| Bench players like John Flowers could play a big role in Sunday's Backyard Brawl.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Dixon, who is also seeking his 150th career victory, is 6-4 in 10 meetings against the Mountaineers. His latest Panther team is ranked fourth in the nation with a 17-1 record that includes wins over Texas Tech, Washington State, Florida State, Georgetown and Syracuse.
“I think Pitt is really, really good. They may well be the best team in the league,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “They’ve got so many guys that can score and they’re really, really good defensively.”
“Out of my four years here this might be the best Pitt team we’ve faced,” added senior guard Alex Ruoff.
Six-six senior forward Sam Young is Pitt’s leading scorer averaging 18.6 points per game, but the Panthers have plenty of offensive options. Six-seven, 265-pound center DaJuan Blair is averaging 14.6 points and 12.8 rebounds per game and has a team-best 12 double-doubles so far this year.
Senior guard Levance Fields is averaging 10.4 points per game while also handing out seven assists per game. Fields has an impressive 3.81 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Pitt’s tallest player Tyrell Biggs, a 6-8, 250-pounder, is averaging a shade below nine points per game and scored a season-high 16 in the USF win. And junior guard Jermaine Dixon, the younger brother of former Maryland star Juan Dixon, is averaging 8.2 points per game and scored 19 points in Pitt’s only loss of the year at Louisville.
Off the bench, the Panthers get 5.9 points from 6-6 guard Gilbert Brown, 5.2 points from 6-4 guard Brad Wanamaker, and 4.2 points from 6-2 guard Ashton Gibbs.
“They’ve got so many people and when you have that many a couple of guys can have a bad day. They just bring in someone off the bench,” Huggins said. “Rutgers played terrific against them at the RAC and was doing a really good job and Wanamaker comes in and hits a couple 3s and Ashton Gibbs comes in and hits a 3. Those are guys coming off the bench. You just can’t prepare for their starters because they’ve got so many guys that can hurt you.”
Huggins said keeping Pitt off the glass will be a major task for his undersized Mountaineers.
“They are leading the league in offensive rebounding and I think we are second. They’re so big and strong and they’re so wide,” Huggins said. “They’ve got three guys, and that’s not counting Sam Young, that may be three of the widest guys in the league. They’re athletic, they’re quick to the ball – they’re good.”
West Virginia (14-4, 3-2) is coming off a 17-point victory at No. 12 Georgetown on Thursday night. The Mountaineers got 27 points from forward Da’Sean Butler and 10 points and nine assists from Ruoff.
The Mountaineers were able to keep Georgetown off the backboard (39-31 rebounding advantage) and they forced the Hoyas to commit 19 turnovers.
West Virginia now shows double-digit road wins against Iowa, Ohio State, Seton Hall and Georgetown.
Butler (16.9 ppg.) and Ruoff (16.1 ppg.) are the Mountaineers’ top two scorers. Freshman Truck Bryant snapped a rough spell in conference play by scoring 13 at Georgetown. He is averaging 10.6 points per game.
Freshman forward Devin Ebanks shows averages of 7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while 6-7 junior center Wellington Smith has averages of 6.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
WVU’s top three off the bench are 6-7 sophomore John Flowers, 6-8 freshman Kevin Jones and 6-7 sophomore Cam Thoroughman.
The two teams split last year’s games: Pitt defeated West Virginia 55-54 on a last-second shot Ronald Ramon and the Mountaineers defeated the Panthers 76-62 in Morgantown.
Butler will be making his fifth appearance in basketball’s version of the Backyard Brawl.
“I treated them like any other team until we played them,” Butler said. “My freshman year we saw the way the crowd reacted to them. When you are a freshman you don’t really understand it until you are actually put into that situation. You’re like, ‘OK, this is how it is.’ And then you start to embrace it a little bit more.”
Sunday’s game will be the 176th in a series that dates back to 1903. West Virginia holds a 93-82 advantage.
Tip off is set for 4 pm and there are no tickets remaining. The game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Pittsburgh through the Big East Television Network.
