Pitt smothers WVU
MORGANTOWN – Sam Young came off the bench and scored 21 points and pulled down 7 rebounds to help keep Pitt perfect in conference road games this year (5-0) as the seventh-ranked Panthers (20-3, 9-1 Big East) raced to a 60-47 win against West Virginia (18-5, 7-4 Big East) at the Coliseum Wednesdayt night. “Sam played very good against WVU last year too,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s been playing better and better and because of his style, he’s a tough match-up against West Virginia’s 1-3-1 defense.”
Pitt remained atop the Big East with the win and now has its best Big East record in school history, but Dixon is far from claiming any accolades yet.
“We were expected to be one of the top teams in the conference this year so we’re not surprised at where we’re at,” Dixon said. “We have a long way to go, though, so we’re staying focused and only taking one game at a time.”
West Virginia was a perfect 11-0 at the Coliseum this year before last night’s loss. In five conference games at home this year, West Virginia had trailed for less than 3 and a half minutes total, but not last night.
After taking a 2-0 lead and tying the game 4-4 less than three minutes into the game, the Mountaineers trailed the rest of the game. Entering the game, The Mountaineers led the Big East in made 3-pointers and were third in the country but made only three on 16 attempts in the first half and 6 for 27 overall.
“Pitt’s defense doesn’t give you many good looks so when you get them, you gotta hit the shots,” West Virginia head coach John Beilein said. “We didn’t shoot well tonight and Pitt had something to do with that, but we also missed some layups and you can’t do that against a very, very good team like Pitt.”
The Panthers were also somewhat out-of-character. They lead the nation in turnovers-to-assist ratio, but committed 9 turnovers and dished only 7 assists as a team in the first half, which helped the Mountaineers stay within striking distance. They only trailed 27-17 at the half.
“We turned the ball over a lot and their (West Virginia) 1-3-1 defense gave us some trouble at times,” Dixon said. “However, when you play a system like that, you also give up some things and we were able to take advantage of that tonight.”
Pitt pushed its lead to a game-high 17 points with nine minutes left after Ronald Ramon hit a 3-pointer. Ramon was a perfect 2 for 2 from 3-point range and 4 for 4 from the foul line to add 10 points.
“I love coming off the bench and giving our team a spark,” Ramon said. “That’s what it’s all about, playing as a team.”
Aaron Gray was Pitt’s only other player who scored in double figures as he added 14. He led everybody in rebounds with 9.
“West Virginia is a tough team to play so this was a good win, especially on the road,” Gray said. “They’re (West Virginia) a rivalry and anytime you win a conference game on the road, it’s a good win.”
West Virginia didn’t roll over, however. Da’Sean Butler helped spark a 12-0 run and the Mountaineers pulled to within 4 points with les than five minutes left. He led the Mountaineers in scoring with 14 points.
“We’re a blue collar team,” Butler said. “We try to work as hard as we can every game.”
Frank Young added 12 points and got hot during the run, but the Mountaineers could not sustain the comeback. The Panthers finished off the game with an 11-2 run.
“We dug ourselves too deep of a hole to get out of,” Beilein said. “Pitt almost has a dream team up there.”
The Panthers return home on Saturday to host Big East foe Providence. West Virginia stays home on Saturday for a tough non-conference game against UCLA.