As you may have figured, I did not bother paying Pitt/Yahoo! for the streaming feed. Nor did I pay the $20 extortion fee from ESPN for the “Full Court” slate of the night.

[Bit of an aside. Aside from guys who are not married, or are not sports writers or involved in sports business and get reimbursed for the expenses, who else will pay the full season package for “full court.” Further, what genius at ESPN figured they could make more money making people pay $20 for one night of all the games on the list rather than an option for just $10 for one game? Do they really make more money that way? I’m just asking, because I know I could have rationalized a couple of the games at $10 a pop on TV, but not $20. And don’t even get me started on how ESPN.com charges you the same price to watch on your computer — lower quality and smaller picture, all at the same price!]

Instead I did the live stats at the Pitt web site. Well, actually I just had the wife updating me, as I gave our daughter a bath. Not good. She’s at the age where kids like to repeat your words. Especially the ones that have a lot of emotion behind them.

I’m waiting to see the box score splits and the full play-by-play from Pitt. But the general box score is astounding. Pitt got 13 more shots, 7 more FT attempts, 19 more rebounds (15 more just on offense), a 14 point lead with under 10 minutes left. I’m not sure I would have believed it if I saw it.

I see that Pitt is up by 10 at the half, 34-24.

Feel free to comment during and after the game.

A few more articles regarding tonight’s game.

Here’s Blue and Gold News.com’s breakdown of the game.

After getting gunned down from beyond the arc in the second half of WVU’s win at the Coliseum earlier this month, one of the most interesting points to watch for in the game is Pitt’s defensive tactics. Will the Panthers attempt to lock up against WVU in man to man, where Kevin Pittsnogle has an advantage from the perimeter over any defender the Panthers might deploy against him? Or will they go to a zone that spreads out to the line, and hope that the Mountaineers can’t take enough advantage of the mid-range gaps in such an alignment to get a win away from home? Either way, the magic 70-point mark will be WVU’s goal, as the Gold and Blue haven’t lost a game when reaching that point total this year.

Just as important, however, will be West Virginia’s defensive effort. Foes have shot the lights out against WVU’s shorter and lighter lineup for much of the Big East season, so much so that the Mountaineers 6-7 conference record is something of a surprise. Although WVU has managed to creep close to the .500 mark in the league with such a burden, it will be very difficult to get a win at the Petersen Events Center if the Panthers shoot close to the 50% mark that has been the norm for West Virginia opponents during the league season.

Pitt has only let 2 BE opponents break 70 points this season: WVU and ‘Nova. Both losses.

Another WV columnist see the keys in 3s.

For instance, three is what WVU needs plenty of and what the host Panthers are surprisingly yielding at alarming rates. In other words, the Mountaineers might need another game with 13 3-pointers to beat Pittsburgh for the second time within three weeks.

Then there is the matter of how many times Pittsburgh has fallen in its three-seasons-old, on-campus, 12,500-seat Petersen Events Center.

I think we all know that the Mountaineers will be hoisting plenty of deep shots tonight. The question are, will Pitt be forcing them to take uncomfortable shots.

Another columnist thinks WVU has to make its run this year.

The grind toward spring has become about more than games for WVU, however.

The Mountaineers, eighth in the Big East Conference standings, need to go on the road to sustain — and improve — success in Coach John Beilein’s third-year program.

The quandary there is about more than the 2005-06 Big East hoops arrival of Louisville, Marquette, Cincinnati, DePaul and South Florida.

If WVU doesn’t land more talent, it’s going to be an annual battle just to make the 12-team conference tournament after a season that will be no Garden party.

Boston College will be gone to the ACC, but programs like Connecticut, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Villanova, Pitt and Georgetown aren’t going to perennially regress.
…
The Mountaineers need someone who can play a lot, immediately. WVU loses seniors Tyrone Sally and D’or Fischer and Beilein has a junior-heavy team with his son, Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey, Joe Herber and Jarmon-Durisseau Collins.

Sitting out is 7-foot Robert Summers, a Penn State transfer. Bulky, 6-7 forward Brad Byerson, after two seasons of basic inactivity for WVU, may be thinking transfer.

You get the talent by winning. Winning makes the program more attractive and opens more doors to the better recruits. This is especially true for programs like Pitt and WVU. Schools that don’t have a strong local recruiting base for basketball. That have to look for pipelines.

The stories for today are about what you would expect in this game. Pitt is looking for revenge.

“We feel like we owe them quite a bit,” Pitt sophomore forward Levon Kendall. The Panthers lost to the Mountaineers on Feb. 5. “We want to really stick it to them.”

WVU had been reeling at that point, and then with the win against Pitt was the start of them winning 4 of 5 games.

The other standard is Pitt not taking WVU lightly this time.

Immediately after the loss in Morgantown, Pitt players said they lost the game because they took the Mountaineers lightly. It was a lesson learned, and something the Panthers are guarding against in the sequel.

“It’s not that we weren’t ready,” Kendall said. “We just made some mental mistakes. We feel like we should be able to beat them. It was a tough loss to take with it being a rivalry thing. We’re looking for some revenge.”

Pitt lost the game at West Virginia because Kevin Pittsnogle, a reserve forward, had the game of his life. Pittsnogle started because D’or Fischer was sick. He responded by scoring a career-high 27 points.

Pittsnogle, a 6-foot-11 junior, made 4 of 9 from 3-point range. As a team, West Virginia was 13 for 40 from behind the arc. Pitt forward Chevon Troutman said limiting Pittsnogle is the most important objective the Panthers have for this game.

“If he comes out and gets hot, it’s going to be a problem,” Troutman said. “If not, we probably should be able to pull this one out.”

Either Kendall was the main guy available to the media this week, or he was the only one with good quotes.

As for Pittsnogle. That game also turned his season around. As is the standard when these two meet, is discussing how Pittsnogle was also recruited by Pitt.

Down in Hoopie Land, this game is part of the whole “bubble watching.” For WVU, this game is vital. Of course it is their biggest rivalry game, but it is the toughest remaining game on their schedule. If they lose it would likely mean needing to win out the rest of the games and winning at least 2 games in the BE Tournament. The latter being very difficult as they would likely end up facing BC in the 2nd round. Winning tonight would at least give them an argument if they go out in the second round.

Like last time, it can be expected that WVU will be looking to bomb 3s early and often. For Pitt, the guards have to resist the urge to try and answer every 3 with one of their own. Pitt ended up taking 20 3-point shots in the loss last time. They need to be patient with the offense and control the pace.

I guess we’ll find out how Pitt’s perimeter defense plays tonight.