MORGANTOWN, WV — Pitt committed 32 turnovers on the way to a 74-59 loss to West Virginia on Friday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Panthers have now lost five straight games in the series with rival West Virginia, and have not defeated the Mountaineers since 2012. Pitt head coach Jeff Capel is now 0-3 in Backyard Brawl games.

Pitt falls to 0-2 on the season after a season-opening loss to The Citadel on Tuesday. The Panthers struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball. While the team shot 57.5% from the floor, the turnovers limited the team throughout the contest.

John Hugley led Pitt with 17 points. Mo Gueye added 10 himself. No other Panthers reached double figures on Friday. Pitt held a 36-20 advantage in rebounds, but it did not seem to matter.

West Virginia was more than willing to take advantage of the Pitt errors, and scored 34 points off of turnovers. The Mountaineers were led in scoring by Miles Bridges, who scored a game-high 18 points. Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil also reached double figures in scoring for Bob Huggins' team with 17 and 11 respectively.

Pitt looked up to the task early on in this game. It was a typical boisterous crowd in Morgantown, and the Panthers got engaged with the crowd early. Pitt even held a slight 13-12 lead at the 11:15 mark of the first half, but the turnovers gave way to big scoring runs by the Mountaineers.

Sherman's jumper put West Virginia up 36-21 just before halftime. Sherman nearly added to that lead with a desperation three at the end of the shot clock, but it was waved off and Pitt reserve guard Onye Ezeakudo buried a three to make it 36-24 at the break.

The two teams traded runs at the early stages of the first half. West Virginia mounted a 43-26 lead, before a quick 7-0 run sparked by four points from John Hugley cut it to ten points with 14:37 remaining.

It was never closer than that for the Panthers. West Virginia built the lead up to 21 points at times, before winning by 15 points.

Pitt is down three scholarship guards at the moment, leaving Femi Odukale as the lone ball handler on the roster. It was a frustrating night for the sophomore guard as the West Virginia ball pressure glued to him throughout the night. He finished with 7 points and 4 assists, but finished with a game-high 8 turnovers and was just 2-of-7 from the field.

Pitt is now 0-2 on the season, while the Mountaineers improved to 2-0. The Panthers return to action on Tuesday night when they host UNC-Wilmington at the Petersen Events Center for a 7:00 p.m. tip.