WVU Takes on Pitt
February 12, 2010 02:29 PM | General
February 12, 2010
WEST VIRGINIA GAME NOTES | PITT GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The first time West Virginia and Pitt played in Morgantown, the Mountaineers were able to hold Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown scoreless in a 70-51 WVU victory. In tonight’s rematch in Pittsburgh, another scoreless night for those two might be too much to ask.
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| Deniz Kilicli scored 9 points in his regular season debut against Pitt nine days ago in Morgantown.
WVU Photograpy Services photo |
“If you recall Brown got into foul trouble which certainly hampers anybody and Wanamaker just didn’t make some shots. That happens,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “It happens over the course of the season. There are going to be days when you don’t make shots.”
Pitt struggled shooting the ball against West Virginia, hitting just 16 of its 53 shot attempts for 30.2%. Ashton Gibbs, Pitt’s leading scorer with an average of 16.5 points per game, was just 2 of 13 shooting and finished with 11 points nine days ago in Morgantown. Six-nine Devin Ebanks was matched up on 6-2 Gibbs for most of the night.
“Dev’s done that all year,” said Huggins. “I think when you say the guy held Evan Turner without a field goal in the second half that kind of tells you how good he is defensively. He’s done a great job."
Huggins expects Pitt coach Jamie Dixon to come up with some different ways to shake Gibbs loose tonight.
“They run a lot of staggers for him,” Huggins said. “They will probably put some different sets in that we haven’t seen.”
The No. 25-rated Panthers (18-6, 7-4) have played much better in their two most recent wins against Seton Hall and Robert Morris. Pitt held the Pirates to just 35.7% shooting in an 83-58 win last Saturday. Brown came off the bench to score 23 points and Dixon added 15.
Two days later against Robert Morris, Pitt got 20 from Gibbs and 18 from Dixon in a 77-53 triumph.
“They’ve shot the ball better,” said Huggins.
The West Virginia-Pitt game does not directly impact the top of the Big East standings, but a win by Pitt tonight would move the Panthers into a three-way tie for third place. West Virginia presently occupies that spot with an 8-3 conference record.
Georgetown is a ½ game behind West Virginia at 8-4, while Pitt presently sits at 7-4. The top four teams in the Big East receive first-round byes in the Big East tournament next month.
Huggins believes West Virginia (19-4, 8-3) will have to rebound the basketball better than it has of late to keep from dropping back-to-back games for the first time this season. Villanova out-rebounded West Virginia by eight during Monday’s 82-75 Wildcat victory, and West Virginia also had trouble on the glass in the first half of the Pitt game.
“We’ve got to put bodies on people,” Huggins said. “We didn’t do a good job of putting bodies on people. You can’t give people a free lane to the basket or they are going to rebound the ball. I think with Pitt it becomes a little tougher because of the way they penetrate with the ball and because you have to over help and when you over help you put yourself a little further away from your man.”
West Virginia players and coaches are expecting a hostile reception tonight at the Petersen Events Center.
“I guess everybody saw how our fans treated them and we may get the same treatment or worse,” said forward Wellington Smith. “It’s an intense game. They will be really revved up for it, we will be revved up for and it’s a game that is really going to be a backyard brawl.”
Huggins has seen these atmospheres before throughout his long coaching career.
“I think they’ve sold out every game since they’ve started playing at the Petersen Center,” Huggins said. “They’ve got a great student section. They’re very enthusiastic and loud, but you can say that about a lot of places in this league.”
The last time West Virginia won at Pitt was on Feb. 23, 2005. It is also the only time the Mountaineers have won at the Petersen Events Center.
Tonight’s game will be the 180th meeting in the series with West Virginia now leading by a 95-84 count.
ESPN (Dave Pasch, Doris Burke and Allen Hopkins) will televise the game nationally. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m.
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Huggins is not sure if that will warrant more playing time for Mitchell tonight if the team is having trouble scoring.
“It depends on how the game is going and who they’ve got in the game,” Huggins said. “I don’t go in with any preconceived ideas about anything. We see how the game is going and what we can take advantage of and go from there.”
“They challenged us and we came back out there and responded as far as them beating us for every offensive rebound and every loose ball and them just getting layups and easy shots,” said Butler. “We came out and guarded, rebounded and executed our offense.”
Butler is now 16 points shy of cracking WVU’s top three in all-time scoring. All-American Wil Robinson presently occupies that spot with 1,850 career points.
Butler has struggled in prior games at Pitt. In last year’s game at Pitt (70-59 Panther victory) Butler scored just 4 points on 2 of 12 shooting. In three career games at the Petersen Events Center, Butler is 5 of 29 from the floor (17.2%) and has scored only 20 points (6.7 average).
