By Mickey Furfari
MORGANTOWN — What could be the best basketball team old rival Pitt has ever had visits the Coliseum this afternoon for the 176th meeting of its Backyard Brawl against West Virginia.
A sellout crowd of 14,000 is assured for the 4 p.m. tip-off. The action will be televised by the Big East Network, including Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh and Fox Sports Net Baltimore.
The Panthers, 15-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big East, are ranked No. 4 in both major national polls. The Mountaineers, 14-4 and 3-2, are eagerly hoping to add another ranked opponent to their list of victims.
West Virginia is coming off Thursday night’s 75-58 upset of Georgetown in Washington. But coach Bob Huggins readily admitted Saturday that the going never gets easier in this conference.
“I think Pitt is very, very good,” he said. “They might well be the best team in the league. They’ve got so many guys that can score, and they’re really, really good defensively.”
Could this be the best Pitt team he has seen in his nearly 30 years of coaching?
“It might well be,” Huggins replied. “I thought they were pretty good a few other times, but they’ve got so many people. A couple guys can have a bad day and they just bring in other people off the bench.
“It’s great to have that many people. Rutgers played terrific against them at the RAC and really was doing a good job. Then (Brad) Wanamaker comes in and hits a couple threes. Ashton Gibbs comes in and hits another big three.
“And those are guys who really are coming off the bench. You can’t prepare for their starters because they’ve got so many people that can hurt you.”
Huggins said he had yet to find any weaknesses in this powerhouse.
But he intended to keep looking until the game gets under way.
This will be only the fourth time in this ancient rivalry that Pitt has played in Morgantown when ranked among the nation’s Top 5. It won all three of such previous situations — 70-64 on Dec. 12, 1987, when ranked No. 2, 80-61 on Jan. 14, 2003, when No. 3 and 67-58 on Feb. 21. 2004, when No. 5.
West Virginia leads the all-time series by a 91-82 margin. But it is 9-14 vs. Pitt since joining the Big East in 1995. The Mountaineers are 58-27 against Pitt in Morgantown and 23-7 in the Coliseum.
The teams split last season, WVU winning here 76-52 after losing 55-54 in Pittsburgh. Pitt has won four of the last five meetings and six of the last 10.
Besides Rutgers, Pitt’s victims this year include Georgetown, St. John’s, Syracuse and South Florida. The Panthers’ lone loss was at Louisville 69-63 eight days ago.
Sam Young, a 6-foot-6 senior, leads Pitt in scoring with 18.6 points per game. DeJuan Blair, 6-7 sophomore, is next at 14.6 and is the top rebounder (12.8).
Other starters are 5-10 senior guard Levance Fields (10.4, 2.6), 6-8 senior Tyrell Biggs (8.4, 5.4), and 6-3 junior Jermaine Dixon (8.2, 2.2).
Da’Sean Butler, 6-7 junior forward, and Alex Ruoff, 6-6 senior guard, remain the main guns for West Virginia. Butler is averaging 16.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and Ruoff 16.1 and 3.4.
Rounding out the opening cast will be 6-9 freshman forward Devin Ebanks (7.8, 6.3), Wellington Smith (6-4, 4.0) and 6-2 freshman point guard “Truck” Bryant (10.6, 1.9).
Butler doesn’t know whether Pitt is the best team WVU has faced so far, but he will tell you that it’s a very good team.
“They do a lot of great things,” he said. “This is a big game, and it’s going to be a battle. It will be very physical, too, as always.
“They play hard and smart. But I think we’ll be ready to meet the tremendous challenge. The atmosphere will be great.”
Ruoff said, “Pitt has to be one of the best teams in the country and one of the best in my four years here. It’s going to be real physical out there. They’ve got size on us.
“But that’s just something we have to overcome again.”
Smith, who usually guards the opposing post player, thinks the Mountaineers will do a pretty good job against Pitt.
“We’ll have a good game plan,” he said. “If we can come out and play well, I believe we’ll be all right.”
