WVU's Wacky Whipping

An assemblage of fans in Morgantown witnessed something that hasn’t happened in nine years to the Pittsburgh Panthers. They were out in force and at times, too excessive in the stands. The hometown Mountaineers pasted Pittsburgh 70-51 at the WVU Coliseum Wednesday night. The loss marked the Panthers’ fourth straight in five games. Sixth-ranked West Virginia held the usually tenacious 22nd ranked Panthers to 30% shooting from the field. Pittsburgh coasted through their first five Big East games unscathed, but has now lost four against conference opponents. The Panthers are 6-4 in the Big East, while the Mountaineers hang tough at 7-2. West Virginia fans gave a new meaning to the coin flip. During the contest, Pitt assistant coach, Tom Herrion, was pelted in the face by a coin. West Virginia was charged with a technical foul after one of their fans foolishly flicked the object. Wild and wacky West Virginia backers also threw bottles and T-shirts on the court. The unruliness prompted Coach Bob Huggins to address the crowd. The 18-3 Mountaineers have plenty to cheer about this season. The disruptive student section in the Coliseum is not one of them. Play even got physical in the second half. Pitt’s Gary McGhee and two WVU players got into a scuffle under the basket. The referee broke up the fight and charged the players with fouls. It’s too bad the rowdiness didn’t ignite the Panthers’ offense. It’s also a shame the home crowd can’t be as classy as the coach.
Jamie Dixon’s Panthers were outrebounded and outworked by Huggins’ team Wednesday in Morgantown. Da’Sean Butler scored 18 points to lead West Virginia. Butler had a trio of treys in the hardwood version of the Backyard Brawl. Kevin Jones added 16. Turkey native, Deniz Kilicli, had nine points in seven minutes for WVU. The freshman was a factor in the first half, going three of three from the field. The Panthers trailed by six at halftime and trimmed the lead to two following the break. J.J. Richardson, the little-used first year Pitt shooter, tallied five points in the span of one minute. Jermaine Dixon, playing injured, led the Panthers with 13 points, and Ashton Gibbs finished another sluggish night with 11. The visitors gained momentum during the second half but each highlight was halted by West Virginia. The Mountaineers resumed control of the game to take a ten point lead again. The Panthers did not record a field goal in the game’s final four minutes and missed on ten consecutive shots. Pitt wouldn’t get any closer than 43-41 and failed to pick up a rebound in the final 12 minutes. West Virginia went on a 15-4 run after the coin throwing incident to pull ahead 56-43 with six minutes on the clock. The Mountaineers were steady from long range and fed off the energetic home crowd to hand Pitt their sixth loss of the season. WVU was near 74% from the free throw line and had 11 takeaways. The Panthers were outrebounded 45-31. Devin Ebanks had 16 rebounds for West Virginia, more than half the total of the entire visiting team. Stunningly, Pitt’s second leading scorer, Brad Wanamaker, was held without a basket.

Parting Points: Can Kansas please not do this to be anymore? KU squeaks by 11-11 Colorado in overtime and Jayhawks fans are supposed to rejoice?

Thursday’s tune- Foo Fighters’ “Big Me”