West Virginia beats Pittsburgh 71-49 in Backyard Brawl
West Virginia moved to 4-0 on the season convincingly beating rival Pittsburgh 71-49 Thursday night inside the Hope Coliseum.
The Mountaineers went with their usual starting five with point guard Jasper Floyd, guard Honor Huff, guard Treysen Eaglestaff, forward Brenen Lorient and center Harlan Obioha.
Obioha had 19 points and 6 rebounds, while Huff scored 15, Floyd chipped in with 13 points and 7 assists and freshman DJ Thomas scored 10 points with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
Obioha got West Virginia on the board first with a layup and Floyd would add to the advantage with a bucket and the foul to put the Mountaineers up 5-0 in the first minute. But the Panthers would quickly score six straight to take their first lead of the game at 6-5.
A layup by Thomas would push the Mountaineers back out front with the shot clock expiring to give West Virginia the edge back at 7-6 at the first media timeout with 15:17 left in the first half as the two teams battled back and forth in the early going of the game.
Thomas would connect again on a three-pointer to push the edge out to 10-6 but Brandin Cummings would answer with one of his own. The Panthers would then score five more to take a 14-10 edge at the 11:24 mark. Obioha would end the drought for the Mountaineers on a layup to cut the score to 15-12.
The Panthers would stretch their edge to 21-14 with 7:55 remaining in the half before Huff would connect on a three-pointer and Thomas would score on a layup to trim the edge to just 21-19.
After a Pitt basket, five straight points by Thomas pushed West Virginia back out front 24-23 with under five minutes left in the half. After a Floyd three-ball, an Obioha dunk and a Floyd layup the Mountaineers took their biggest lead at 32-23 on the back of a 13-0 run.
West Virginia would take a 34-25 lead into the halftime break.
Obioha would again open the scoring in the half with a ball in the paint on one trip then a free throw in the other to put the Mountaineers ahead 37-25. Then a steal and finish by Floyd forced the Panthers to take an early timeout at the 18:44 mark with the score at 39-25.
The Mountaineers would take a commanding 43-25 lead on an Obioha follow up and then an Eaglestaff three would increase the edge to 46-25 with 16:29 left to play.
The Panthers would end their second half drought with a layup but West Virginia was still in control 48-27 as the clock ticked under 15 minutes remaining in the game. The Panthers would hit on back-to-back threes to cut into the deficit at 48-33 however an Obioha basket would end the run.
The Panthers would continue to battle back cutting the deficit to just 50-40 with 10:55 remaining in the game using a 13-2 run. The pace would then slow between the two but Obioha would again provide an answer in the post with a layup to give the Mountaineers some cushion then a Huff three off a turnover would increase the advantage back out to 57-40 with 7:15 in the game.
After a technical foul with 5:44 left, two Huff free throws gave the Mountaineers a comfortable 59-40 lead with only 5:44 left to play in the game before four more free throws by Huff and another technical on the Panthers bench gave the Mountaineers a 63-40 edge.
After a layup by Pitt, a Morris Ugusuk three-ball pushed the Mountaineers ahead 66-42. The Panthers would get hit with another technical foul with the Mountaineers leading 68-47.
And from there West Virginia was able to effectively close out the game.
The Mountaineers will next take on Lafayette at home Monday inside the Hope Coliseum with tip-off set for 7 p.m. and the game televised on ESPN+.
Offer Alert
Fall camp is here and there’s no better time to sign up with us to get all your WVU intel! Sign up today – $1 for the first week, plus a complimentary year of access to The Athletic included. Join – http://gowvu.us/Join
__________________________________________
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
•Like us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok
