For West Virginia and Pitt, Wednesday night seemed to be an opportunity for each team to right the ship as they both entered the Backyard Brawl of losses.
The Mountaineers got positive news before the game with the return of Akok Akok, but that positivity didn’t last too long. A strong start from WVU ended with the Panthers shooting their way to a 80-63 victory at the WVU Coliseum, their first win in the rivalry since 2012.
“They brought the fight and we didn’t have probably enough dog in us to compete every single possession,” West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert said.
It was a good start for West Virginia (3-5) on offense, going on an 8-0 run after an early Pitt (6-3) layup. The run started after Ishmael Leggett was assessed a technical foul after he made a layup. WVU’s Kobe Johnson made the free throws, and then that spurred a run which ended with Edwards throwing down a lob from Johnson between two Pitt defenders.
From Edwards’ dunk at the 16:29 mark, everything would be downhill from there and it happened behind the three-point line.
Pitt made their three-pointers, West Virginia did not.
Blake Hinson came into Wednesday night as Pitt’s leading scorer. In the first half, Hinson scores 15 points, all on three-pointers. Hinson ended the evening going 9 for 15 from three, and scoring a career-high 29 points.
“You all know the story of the game, Blake Hinson,” Eilert said. “He came out and he rattled us for sure.”
West Virginia led by four with 10:36 to play in the first half, and a lid went on the basket for West Virginia and the floodgates opened for the Panthers. Guillermo Diaz Graham, Hinson, and Carlton Carrington all connected from beyond the arc, with Carrington adding a free throw on to the end of his four-point-play, putting Pitt in front, 23-17.
“They saw shots fall early and they built that confidence. That momentum snowballed in their direction,” Eilert said.
West Virginia trailed 36-35 at halftime, despite Pitt going 9 for 23 from three, and West Virginia going only 2 for 10.
West Virginia’s hope was the scales would turn, but Pitt’s shooting weighed too heavily on the Mountaineers.
Pitt connected on 7 of their 15 three’s in the second half, while the Mountaineers stayed cold from beyond the arc, going 1 for 10.
This allowed the Panthers to open up a lead, going on two separate 9-0 runs in the final 20 minutes.
Hinson would hit on three more three-pointers, scoring his first field goal that was not from three with 11:02 to play, to put Pitt in front 60-50.
“I think you can always do a better job on defense. He shot the ball better than Kevin Durant does tonight,” Quinn Slazinski said of Hinson’s shooting. “We felt like we were there on a lot of shots. 9 for 15, people don’t even hit that when they’re wide open.”
West Virginia would get a bucket back of their own on the next possession from Edwards, but that is as close as the Mountaineers would get.
Pitt went on their second 9-0 run of the half, with Carrington scoring five of the nine points, as their lead ballooned to 17 and they did not look back. Pitt went the final 9:31 of the game on a 20-11 run. Carrington’s evening finished with him scoring 16 points, making three shots from beyond the arc, and going 6 for 13 from three.
West Virginia shot 41 percent from the field on the night, going 3 for 20 from three. In the second half the Mountaineers’ only make from three was from Ofri Naveh with 13:10 to play.
Quinn Slazinski led the Mountaineers in scoring with 22 points, while Edwards scored 20 points.
