Rivalries don’t get much more fierce and historic than this: it’s the Backyard Brawl, and it returns to the hardwood this week.
West Virginia (1-0) will face Pitt (1-0) for the 189th time overall and the 94th time in the Steel City Friday night.
Here’s everything you need to know about this matchup.
WVU men’s hoops vs. Pitt game information
- Date: Friday, Nov. 11, 2022
- Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Stream: ACC Network Extra on ESPN+ (Note: It appears that two streams will be available for this game via the ESPN app; one for ACC Network subscribers, and another that can be accessed through a regular ESPN+ subscription)
- Radio: Find your affiliate of the Mountaineer Sports Network
- Series history: WVU leads 100-88 since 1906
- Last meeting: WVU 74, Pittsburgh 59 in Morgantown, West Virginia, on Nov. 12, 2021
West Virginia vs. Pitt matchup preview
What was once a twice-yearly matchup between conference foes has turned into an early-season nonconference meeting between rivals. West Virginia and Pitt will meet for the fifth time since the two programs left the Big East for the Big 12 and ACC, respectively.
WVU has won each of the last five meetings, dating back to 2012. Those five victories have come by an average of 13.4 points per game. Three of those wins have come inside the Peterson Events Center, where the two teams will battle Friday night.
Bob Huggins’ crew is coming off an 18-point win over Mount St. Mary’s on Monday. Pitt also won its season opener, defeating UT Martin by 22 points.
A trio of Mountaineers started the year by scoring in double figures. WVU was led by Emmitt Matthews Jr., who scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists. Tre Mitchell (13) and Erik Stevenson (10) also tallied double-digit point totals. Newcomer Mohamed Wague finished one point and one rebound shy of a double-double in his Mountaineer debut.
The victory over The Mount was win No. 917 for the Mountaineers’ Hall of Fame head coach.
On the other side, forward Blake Hinson scored a game-high 27 points in a double-double performance in the Panthers’ season opener. Hinson was one of four Pitt players to score at least 10 points.
The Panthers are letting it fly from three-point land. Jeff Capel’s crew attempted 41 3-pointers against UT Martin. Hinson was responsible for 12 of those attempts.
Pitt also forced 17 turnovers; West Virginia committed 18 giveaways against Mount St. Mary’s.
WVU has won the last five meetings in this series.
