Pitt and West Virginia first met on a basketball court back in 1906. Tonight, the two schools will meet for the 191st time in the renewal of the Backyard Brawl with an 8:00 p.m. tip at the Petersen Events Center.
West Virginia comes into this game with pretty much a new identity. Darian DeVries is in his first year coaching the program following a successful six-year run at Drake University, where he took the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament three years.
DeVries is trying to replace the legendary Bob Huggins, and is pretty much starting from scratch. The Mountaineers are starting five brand-new transfers this season with a roster that was totally reassembled by the first-year coach.
The star of the show is Tuck DeVries, the son of the coach. The younger DeVries is quite good. He is averaging 17.5 through two games this season, and has 1,902 points in his career. The entire offense will run through the 6’7” wing. The other name to be mindful of is Javon Small, a 6’3” senior guard who averaged 15 points a game for ECU in 2023, 15 points for Oklahoma State last year, and 13.5 through two games this season with the Mountaineers.
West Virginia was picked to finish 13th in the 16-team Big 12 in the preseason. The Mountaineers are off to a 2-0 start with an easy win over Robert Morris, and a narrow 75-69 win over UMass.
The Panthers are 3-0 and have won every game by at least 15 points to date. The Brawl should represent the first real challenge for this team to date. Pitt lost six in a row to West Virginia before prevailing 80-63 in Morgantown a season ago.
Can the Panthers make it two in a row over the Mountaineers? The Panther-Lair.com staff gives their pick.
Stephen Gertz (3-0, 2-1 ATS) — I like the Pittsburgh Panthers to pick up their first win against a P4 opponent tonight. It is going to be a step up in competition for both teams. The West Virginia Mountaineers will not have played for an entire week, which I do not think helps them in this scenario. Pitt has been pretty good out of the gates through three games and if West Virginia needs a little time to find their bearings they could find themselves in a hole early. Additionally, the Mountaineers have an entirely new starting lineup that will be going on the road for the first. That gives the Panthers an edge as well. Pitt is going to need to defend the three-point line as WVU takes half (48.7%) of their attempts from there. The Panthers will need to focus on limiting the new guard duo of Tucker DeVries and Javon Small. Pitt will have a slight edge in the frontcourt in terms of size but not in the backcourt. I believe the Panthers will prevail on their home court as they have a more potent and cohesive unit top-to-bottom.
Prediction: Pitt 76-66
Jim Hammett (3-0, 2-1 ATS) - I guess I gave a spoiler earlier this morning in my 3-2-1 Column, when I said Pitt would win by double digits. I’m sticking with that pick, even with the 7.5-point spread on tonight’s game. The Panthers just seem like a more established team, whereas West Virginia still has a lot to figure out with a new head coach. As we’ve seen with some past Pitt teams, it can take a little while for a roster made up of transfers to hit their stride and that’s where the Mountaineers are right now.
I think that’s where Pitt’s experienced backcourt comes into play. Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett sort of picked up this season where they left off last year, and they just look so comfortable and poised out there. When you have talented, veteran guards playing connected, it’s a tough thing to stop.
Prediction: Pitt 77-63
Matt Steinbrink (2-1, 0-3 ATS) - Pitt will experience its toughest test of the season tonight. This West Virginia team is not great, but they have a couple of legitimate scorers and the best one Pitt has seen to date. Pitt should have the edge in the back court and they have the length advantage inside, but they need to take advantage. The Mountaineers will shoot a lot of threes so it is crucial to have a fresh Dunn and Austin chasing DeVries for 40 minutes. There should be some buzz in the arena for the first time this season and I expect a very competitive game. What else would you expect in this rivalry?
Prediction: Pitt 77-73
Houston Wilson (3-0, 1-2 ATS) - The competition continues to step up tonight as Pitt hosts West Virginia in a pivotal early non-conference game. Pitt has shown through the first three games of the year that they have multiple options on the offensive end of the floor which is going to make it hard on West Virginia tonight. I think Pitts depth will wear down West Virginia as they are still trying to find an identity themselves under first year coach Darian DeVries.
Prediction: Pitt 82-71
Chris Peak (3-0, 2-1 ATS) - These early-season games are tough to pick. What do we really know about Pitt after games against Radford, Murray State and Gardner-Webb? And what do we really know about West Virginia after wins over RMU and UMass? In the absence of a whole lot of tangible evidence, I’ll side with what we can comfortably say we do know about the Panthers: they have some really good guards, and while other elements of the team will need to emerge - and I think they will - for the time being, the strength of the guards should be enough to carry Pitt to another non-conference win. I think Ishmael Leggett will keep playing at a really high level and I think Jaland Lowe will remind everyone of how he played in the first two games. Either way, we’ll know a lot more about the Panthers after tonight.
Prediction: Pitt 84-71
