West Virginia at Pittsburgh

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West Virginia at Pittsburgh

The football season is over, the NBA is on its All-Star break and the NHL is going to a few weeks off for the Olympics. Yet Friday night is still set with a great matchup on the college hardwood as the Backyard Brawl is set to go between the Panthers and Mountaineers at 9:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

West Virginia (19-4 straight up, 10-13 against the spread) comes into this game primed for a let down slump after falling as a five-point home favorite to the Wildcats on Feb. 8, 82-75. There are numerous reasons for Bob Huggins to be upset with his team?s performance outside of not being refilled on his single-malt against Villanova. They shot 41 percent from the field, while they allowed the ?Cats to hit 57 percent. And we can?t forget that the Mountaineers drained 18-of-32 of their free throws. But the biggest issue WVU has been its dependence on Da?Sean Butler.


Butler has averaged 17.1 points in his senior season in Morgantown. On Monday night, however, he scored 13 points, which was his lowest total since Jan. 16 versus Syracuse. Incidentally, that was the last time the Mountaineers were on the wrong side of the score.

Pittsburgh (18-6 SU, 10-8-2 ATS) was looking for anything to bring them out of a funk that saw them lose three out of four Big East games to end January. The Panthers appear to have turned the corner, winning two straight, covering the lone match that was on the board.

While Pitt had no problems in a 77-53 beatdown of Robert Morris, it was the 83-58 victory over the Pirates as a 4 ?-point home fave that showed they were back. Besides the fact the Panthers put up the most points they had all year, they were hitting shots from the field effectively (52 percent) and 20 of their 31 total buckets.

Las Vegas Sports Consultants has deemed this a match too close to call by making the Mountaineers one-point road favorites.

The recent history of this rivalry has been tilted towards Pittsburgh with a 6-4 SU mark, but 5-5 ATS. The ?under? was 7-3 in those last 10 matchups.

Out of the last seven meetings of these teams, the home squad is 5-2 SU and 4-3 ATS.

The Panthers have been tough to beat on their home court, as evidenced by a 13-1 SU and 5-4-2 ATS.

West Virginia is 5-2 SU and 3-4 ATS in its seven true road games of the season. Bettors should also note that the ?over? hit in four of those seven contests for the Mountaineers as well.

Other Looks?

Normally you have a few other games to take a gander at in college hoops, but Fridays are designated for the mid-majors. The positive side to that is the Ivy League?s top club is ranked and rolling through conference foes. Let?s look at their fixture.

Cornell at Pennsylvania ? 7:00 p.m. EST

The Big Red are worth the hype, getting medieval on the Ivy League with an average score of 80-55 in their last four league games. Cornell should keep it up against the Quakers as a 17-point road ?chalk.? Bettors shouldn?t have any fear in taking the Big Red as they?ve won four straight against Penn, covering the spread in the last two. The ?over? is a solid total play as it?s 4-1 in the last five.

 

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Top 25 Matchups

Top 25 Matchups

Top 25 Matchups

West Virginia Mountaineers (4) at Pittsburgh Panthers (23) Friday 9:00 PM ET

A rare top 25 matchup takes place on Friday night in the rematch of the Backyard Brawl. The first meeting in West Virginia saw the Mountaineers win by 19 points, sending Pittsburgh to its fourth loss in five games but it was the extracurricular activities that made the headlines. There were a couple small scuffles as well as fans throwing objects onto the floor at one point. Even after they were told to refrain from throwing things, Pittsburgh assistant Tom Herrion was tagged with a coin under his right eye. ?We knew they had a rowdy crowd,? Pittsburgh?s Jermaine Dixon said. ?But the best part is that we get to play them up at our place in a couple days.?

Pittsburgh recovered and blew out Seton Hall in its next game by 25 points and then it picked up a non-conference win over Robert Morris by 24 points, the 28th consecutive win against the Colonials. Those wins should provide some confidence to a team that was 5-0 and leading the Big East at one point but is now 7-4 and in need of a big win. This looks to be a great revenge spot for the Panthers who are 13-1 at home including 4-0 in the Big East although this will be the biggest home test yet. Let?s not forget that the Panthers are the only team to hand Syracuse a loss this season.


West Virginia knows it will be coming into a hostile environment but it has been solid this season, going 7-2 in true road games. The losses came at Purdue by 15 points and then by just a bucket at Notre Dame and it will no doubt be ready on Friday. The Mountaineers know what they are going to run into but they are coming off a home loss against Villanova on Big Monday and they will want their own sort of bounce back as well. West Virginia has followed up all of its losses with a win the next time out and has not lost back-to-back games since early February of last season.

Tennessee Volunteers (12) at Kentucky Wildcats (2) Saturday 9:00 PM

After suffering back-to-back losses against Georgia and Vanderbilt, the Volunteers looked to have righted the ship with three straight wins to pull back within a game of Kentucky in the SEC East. Tennessee then went to Vanderbilt for the rematch in trying to avenge that nine-point home loss against the Commodores but instead of revenge it got pounded yet again. The Volunteers never led and that is a loss that is not a good segue into facing the number one team in the nation on the road again no less. The matchup on paper does not look good for Tennessee but we all know what can happen in rivalries.

Kentucky did not last very long as the number one team in the country last month. The Wildcats were 19-0 after defeating Arkansas by 31 points but then proceeded to lose their first game as the top team in the nation as they were defeated by South Carolina in Columbia. Kentucky has bounced back to win its last four games, all by double-digits, two of which came against ranked teams Vanderbilt and Mississippi at home. This is the first of two meetings against the Volunteers, a team the Wildcats swept last season by 18 and 19 points.

The best way for Tennessee to walk away with an upset is to not get into a track meet with the Wildcats. Tennessee hopes to keep it a low-scoring game, as their offense has struggled of late, unable to reach 80 points in the past eight games after scoring 80 points or more in eight of its first 15 games. The loss of Tyler Smith for the season has no doubt hurt. Playing solid perimeter defense is also important as Kentucky has been involved in close games against a solid zone defense that defends the long-rang shot well. Tennessee is 34th in the nation in three-point defense, allowing just 30.1 percent so there may be hope after all.

 

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Preview: Mountainers (19-4) at Panthers (18-6)

Preview: Mountainers (19-4) at Panthers (18-6)

Preview: Mountainers (19-4) at Panthers (18-6)

Date: February 12, 2010 9:00 PM EDT

After the latest installment of basketball's Backyard Brawl, West Virginia's players are prepared to face just about anything when they visit Pittsburgh in the rematch.

Coming off a defeat to the Big East leader, the fifth-ranked Mountaineers could face an ever bigger challenge Friday night as they try to avoid a fifth consecutive road loss to their biggest rival and sweep the season series from the No. 25 Panthers.

For the second straight meeting and fifth time in the 180-game series between the conference rivals, both teams are ranked. After what transpired during West Virginia's 70-51 win on Feb. 3 at Morgantown, it's likely Pittsburgh's fans will do their best to give the Panthers (18-6, 7-4) the ultimate homecourt advantage.



As Pitt rallied from a double-digit, second-half deficit, West Virginia's fans threw objects onto the court, prompting Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins to pick up a microphone and address the raucous, sellout crowd on its behavior.

With 5:14 left, while officials reviewed a scuffle under the basket involving Pitt's Gary McGhee and two West Virginia players, Panthers assistant coach Tom Herrion was hit with what appeared to be a coin under his right eye. Though West Virginia president Jim Clements later apologized for what transpired, the Mountaineers (19-4, 8-3) know they might be even more unwelcome at the Petersen Events Center than they have in the past.

"We may get the same treatment or worse, or not even the treatment they got," forward Wellington Smith told West Virginia's official Web site. "It's going to be an intense game. They're going to be revved up for it, we'll be revved up for it. It's going to be a brawl to the end."

Huggins, however, doesn't expect anything extraordinary in terms of fan behavior as his squad looks to win at Pitt for the first time since Feb. 23, 2005. The Mountaineers, 1-5 all-time at Petersen, have averaged 58.0 points on 37.6 percent shooting during the four-game road skid.

"I don't think it will be any different," Huggins said. "They have a great student section, they're very enthusiastic and loud."

Lost in the circumstances of the teams' last meeting, is the importance of this game in terms of the Big East standings.

After its six-game winning streak was snapped with an 82-75 home loss to No. 4 Villanova on Monday, West Virginia needs a victory to remain alone in third place and move two games behind the Wildcats.

The Panthers, meanwhile, could move into a three-way tie for third with the Mountaineers and No. 7 Georgetown with a third straight victory. To do that, they must improve on their last effort against West Virginia - Pitt was outrebounded 45-31, shot a season-low 30.2 percent, made just six field goals after halftime.

"We've already put last week behind us," said Jermaine Dixon, who had a team-high 13 points against West Virginia. "We are trying to get better from that game. We are anxious because it's our next game, not because it's West Virginia."

Since that loss, Dixon has scored 33 points in victories over Seton Hall and Robert Morris. Leading scorer Ashton Gibbs (16.5 points per game) had 11 against the Mountaineers and the same versus Seton Hall, but finished with 20 in a 77-53 win over Robert Morris on Monday.

West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler had 18 points and Devin Ebanks added 16 rebounds last week against Pitt. Both finished with 13 points versus Villanova, but Butler made 2 of 12 shots.

Butler is averaging a team-leading 17.1 points this season, but 6.7 on 5-of-29 shooting in three career road games against Pitt.