Pitt Dominates West Virginia in Basketball Backyard Brawl

Pitt men’s basketball routed West Virginia 86-62 in front of a record-setting Oakland Zoo crowd that showed why they’re the Panthers’ sixth-man. Two Mountaineers fouled out, to the pleasure of the Oakland Zoo each time. Pitt remains undefeated and gives their biggest rival their first loss.

“I’m really, really proud of their performance, especially on the defensive end,” head coach Jeff Capel said. “I thought our guys were incredibly locked in right from the beginning… I think we beat a good team. I like their team, I think they’re good and I hope they win a bunch of games going forward. That helps us.”

Graduate student guard Damian Dunn led Pitt with 23 points including four three-pointers. Senior guard Ishmael Leggett scored 15 points, junior forward Guillermo Diaz Graham finished with a double-double, including 10 points and 10 rebounds.

After winning the opening tip, Leggett tossed in a floater to ignite the excited and packed Oakland Zoo. On Pitt’s first defensive possession, Diaz Graham got violently hit in the mouth by sophomore forward Amani Hansberry, earning Hansberry a flagrant foul in the first minute of action. 

“It got me fired up,” Diaz Graham said on the shot he took to the mouth. “When I came back, I was ready to kill. I went in there, I was cursing, I was mad and when I came back, I was ready.”

“Maybe we have to punch him in the mouth every game,” Dunn said.

Redshirt senior forward Zach Austin made both flagrant free throws and junior forward Cameron Corhen, who finished with 14 points, made his first three-pointer of the season. 

With the crowd fired up, Pitt didn’t look back. The Panthers never trailed for a second.

Sophomore guard Jaland Lowe faced a full-court defense the whole first half. Lowe consistently created offense for Pitt, but turnovers were an issue. Lowe’s turnovers didn’t lead to any points for the Mountaineers but showed that their aggressive on-ball defense was paying off.

After getting two stitches in his lip, Diaz Graham returned from the locker room and immediately made an impact. Leggett made a pull-up jumper and Diaz Graham laced a three-pointer, coaxing visible emotion out of the Panthers, who didn’t appreciate the early flagrant foul.

“We kind of felt early on that [West Virginia] were kind of being a little aggressive,” Dunn said.  “When [Diaz Graham] got hit. It kind of settled in for us. We took that as a little bit of adversity. We overcame it and kind of punched back a little bit. The rest is history.”

Despite strong defense from West Virginia, Pitt kept making tough shots. Dunn caught a bad pass late in the shot clock but set his feet and made a three-pointer anyway. Pitt led 20-8 with 11:30 left in the first half.

Turnovers were Pitt’s biggest problem in the first half, but the Mountaineers attempted nine three-pointers and went the first 15:36 without a make from deep, allowing Pitt to keep its lead comfortable.

Austin, Diaz Graham and Dunn each hit a three-pointer in front of West Virginia’s bench in just over three minutes. Leggett highlighted the run with a spin move to the rim, footwork the veteran guard had perfected, and the Panthers had reason to keep beating their chests. Pitt led 35-16 with 5:33 left in the first half.

Pitt’s home atmosphere let the mental side of basketball shine through, as West Virginia suffered uncharacteristic shooting woes. Fifth-year guard Toby Okani, who air-balled a three-pointer earlier, air-balled consecutive free throws. Sophomore guard Sencire Harris refused a wide-open three-pointer for a contest lay-up.

First-year guard Jonathan Powell, who led the Mountaineers with 16 points and made four of West Virginia’s six three-pointers, finally broke the ice with a deep three-pointer, but West Virginia still trailed 36-19 with 3:40 in the first half.

But when it rains, it pours. West Virginia’s star senior guard Tucker DeVries, who averaged 17.5 points per game before Friday’s matchup, made a three-pointer for his first points of the night. Now feeling more confident, the Mountaineers were firing from deep. But Austin shut down any hope of that working with a leaping block, his first of the game.

With the half winding down, Leggett hit another mid-range jumper over two defenders. Then, a West Virginia turnover gave the Panthers a shot at a buzzer-beater. Lowe, who finished with nine rebounds and five assists despite the bad shooting night, threw a lob to Dunn, who finished the timely lay-up. 

Despite having eight turnovers, Pitt led 44-22 at the half. Pitt dominated the glass, finishing with 24 first-half boards compared to West Virginia’s 11. No Mountaineer had more than four first-half points.

The Mountaineers’ fortunes were unchanged out of the break, as they missed a three-pointer and turned the ball over twice. Dunn capitalized with his third three-pointer. Then, Corhen got a post up and drew a foul on Hansberry, his fourth of the game. For a West Virginia team that lacks depth at the forward position, Hansberry in foul trouble is terrible news.

Getting to the paint, Leggett bodied Small to the ground, finished the lay-up and stared Small down. Dunn and Leggett each got the rim and finished through contact and each guard forced a turnover in the paint. Dunn’s defender went under on a screen, giving Dunn more than enough space to splash a three-pointer. Lowe found Leggett wide-open in the corner and he made a three-pointer. 

Pitt led 67-39 with 10:00 to play.

Powell hit three three-pointers in under three minutes to try and bring West Virginia back, but it was too little too late.

DeVries, who finished with only six points, tried to back Austin down, but Austin quickly swiped at the ball and forced a turnover. If there’s any Panther to take one-on-one, Austin is not the guy.

“Coming into this game, [DeVries] had made two two-point shots. And we saw on tape when he was in the two-point area, he was backing down, that he was really a passer in those situations,” Capel said on his team not fouling. “So, we talked to our guys a lot because he was leading [West Virginia] in free throw attempts. A lot of times when he got in there, he was shot faking, getting you up in the air. So, having the discipline to do that and to defend these guys without fouling, I thought it was the best we’ve done all year.”

West Virginia tried to push the pace after a Leggett miss. But Austin was there to pin Harris’s lay-up off the backboard and gobble the rebound. After another Leggett miss, Small sprinted downhill. But there was no chance with Austin at the rim. Austin swatted Small’s shot attempt and taunted West Virginia’s bench with an aggressive finger-wag.

With the game in hand, Pitt’s younger guards got a chance to shine. First-year guard Brandin Cummings scored a driving lay-up off the glass and got DeVries to foul out of the game on the next possession.

Lowe made a defender bite on a long pump fake and drilled a mid-range jumper. Capping off the dominant night against Pitt’s most hated rival, Corhen dunked with two hands and hung on the rim for good measure.

Another chapter is written in the Backyard Brawl book. But as fun as dominating its biggest rival might be, Pitt has its eyes set on bigger goals. Pitt’s performance in their non-conference schedule last season resulted in a disappointing omission from the NCAA Tournament—but last season’s team also started 4-0. 

The road is long, but Pitt’s off to as good of a start it could ask for. If the Panthers are going to make the journey, the Zoo has to come with them.

“I think these guys deserve to have a crowd like that,” Capel said of the Oakland Zoo’s energy and attendance. “Hopefully, it’s something we can have going forward, all the time. The past two years I think we ‘ve been a pretty good team and an exciting team to watch. I think this team is an exciting team to watch. I know the Zoo appreciates it, and hopefully, we can come out and have a great performance… So I thought the fans had a great night. We need them to be great again on Monday, as well.”

Pitt hosts VMI in the final game of its beginning-of-the-season home stand on Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.