WVU is trying to beat Pitt 3-times in a row. Something it hasn’t done in 15 years. It is also trying to be the first team to win twice at the Pete. Pitt is a 5.5 point favorite in the game.

As the game has two top-15 teams, ESPN has assigned Dick Vitale and Dan Shulman to call the game tonight. For those of us watching on TV (with the sound) that means hearing plenty of praise for the Oakland Zoo and fighting the urge to puncture your own eardrums with a pencil.

Honestly, what really bothers me about Vitale is how good he used to be, and now he’s a caricature of himself. I know I’ve said this before, but if you catch a college game on ESPN Classic from the late-80s/early-90s (not that ESPN Classic bothers with that anymore) you almost don’t realize it’s Vitale. He’s more reserved, provides more game insight and only rarely goes over the edge with the screaming. The enthusiasm for the game is there, but not the wild praising and heralding individuals as great guys.

[One other aside, ESPN Classic on Sunday night will be airing “The That Saved Pittsburgh.”]

The WVU players seem excited about the game and the coverage.

“I’m sure it’s going to be even more crazy with (Dick) Vitale being there,” said Patrick Beilein, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who is averaging 8.4 points and has converted 218 career 3-point shots.

“It’s a 9 o’clock game and the students are going to be all over us. We’re just going to have to be mentally prepared and not let them take us out of our game.”

Said teammate Mike Gansey, the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer (18.5 ppg.): “Any time you play at Pitt on national TV, it’s exciting. I remember last year, the crowd, that zoo (the Oakland Zoo). The fans were loud and they were all on us the whole game. It’s just a great atmosphere for a college basketball game.”
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“We’ve got to beat them on the boards. We’ve got to get putbacks. We’ve got to take care of the ball,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They’re going to make some threes, some tough threes. We’ve talked about making them all tough shots. We can’t give them any easy ones or open ones, where they get comfortable. We’ve got to avoid that situation.”

The game marks the first time that both teams are ranked at the same time.

“It adds to all the media and fans, I’m sure,” John Beilein said. “It’s great for both programs. For us, four years ago, and for Pitt, seven years ago, those were not highlights in their storied histories.

“And now, both teams have rebounded from low times in their basketball programs to probably as well as either team has been recognized.”

Added son Patrick: “Both schools are close and really don’t like each other. It’s a war the whole time. How can you not get up for this type of game?”

WVU Coach John Beilein reflects on how quickly he learned what the game means to the Hoopies.

The point is, if there’s anything a West Virginia fan hates more than Pitt it is losing badly to Pitt. And that seemed a certainty on that night.

But that was the night Beilein found out what the Pitt game means.

“I sensed that it was something special when in our first year here, when we were really struggling and [former] Coach [Ben] Howland and Jamie [Dixon, Howland’s successor] really had it going at Pitt,” Beilein said. “It was an 8 o’clock ESPN game and I came to the arena at 6 and the student section was already filled here.

“I had never experienced that before in my life at all these college levels, where the students were coming two hours early to make sure they got a seat. That’s the first thing I think of every time I think of this rivalry.”

He never experienced that at Richomond or Canisius? I’m stunned.

While Pitt is looking to end it’s two-game losing streak both in general and to WVU, the Hoopies start their rough stretch.

But while a few of those 15 wins in the past 16 games have come against some heady competition and a few have been on the road, there has been nothing like what the Mountaineers face now. In the last eight games of the regular season, West Virginia plays four times against Top 25 teams, all eight against teams that have either been ranked this season or beaten a ranked team on the road, five road games and a home game against the top-ranked team in the country.

For Pitt, there is a sense of not wanting a repeat of what happened last year against WVU.

Both times Pitt faced arch-rival West Virginia last season, they held seemingly comfortable halftime leads and wound up losing when the Mountaineers’ Kevin Pittnogle produced two of his famous catch-phrased shooting performances and “Pittsnogled” the Panthers.

On Feb. 5, 2005, Pitt led West Virginia at the break, 30-23, before the Mountaineers rode Pittsnogle’s 27 points, including eight in overtime, to a wild 83-78 victory at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va.

Then, only a little more than two weeks later — on Feb. 23 — Pittsnogle struck again, scoring 20 of his game-high 22 points in the game’s final 9 minutes and 14 seconds, leading WVU to a 70-66 victory at Petersen Events Center.

Among the scoring spree was a 4-for-4 effort from behind the 3-point arc.

“You can’t simulate a quick release that Pittsnogle has,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of the 6-foot-11, 255-pound West Virginia senior, who leads the Mountaineers in scoring (19.5 ppg.) and rebounding (6.3 rpg.). “We’ve tried to prepare for it and make our guys aware of it.”

The big thing for Pitt, is with WVU’s motion offense and the fact that all the players can shoot from anywhere, they have to stay close to their man.

“Basically, we can’t be overanxious,” Pitt sophomore guard Keith Benjamin said. “We know what guys they have who shoot the ball really well and we know what guys they have who penetrate and look to get other people open shots. We have to be more patient on our defense and not over-help, just close out all shooters and play with our hands up the whole time.”
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“What hurt us last year was giving up penetration and then giving up open shots,” Pitt junior forward Levon Kendall said. “That’s what they do really well. We know that. It’s something we’re aware of. It’s no secret. It’s just a matter of us being able to execute it in the game.”

One of Pitt’s strengths is playing help defense, but Kendall said the Panthers can’t do much of that against West Virginia because the Mountaineers have five outside shooters on the floor at almost all times. That means playing man-to-man defense will be one of the biggest keys to the game for the Panthers.

“They’re a pretty unique team because all five guys can shoot and space the floor,” Kendall said. “It comes down to individual defense because you can’t help too much, which is something we tend to do quite a bit. They can all shoot, so you can only help so much off penetration.”

It raises a tough decision about what to do with Aaron Gray. If you don’t put him on Pittsnogle, who do you have him defend? All the WVU players can and do shoot from outside. Drawing Gray out from the basket is not a good thing. You hate to lose a guy averaging a double-double, but Pitt can’t risk leaving WVU too open around the perimeter. The ‘Eers are too good a passing team not to find the open look. I could see Gray getting fewer minutes tonight in favor of a line-up that has more from Young, Benjamin and even DeGroat along with Kendall at the Forward and Center spots.