Just a ton in this game, that has WVU as a 3.5 point home favorite.

For Pitt, what rides on the game is this:

Third place or sixth place. That, in a nutshell, is what the game against West Virginia at 7 p.m. today means for Pitt.

(Hmmm. Someone’s been cribbing my posts or I simply preempted the storyline.)

“That bye is really huge,” senior guard Carl Krauser said. “No one wants to play four days in a row, playing against the top competition in the Big East. You want to have that chance to rest your legs and have your teammates watch a couple of games so they can get a feel for what the Big East tournament is like.”
…
Boiled down, Pitt has to beat West Virginia to give itself a realistic chance at winning the Big East tournament.

“It’s definitely important,” junior center Aaron Gray said of the bye. “That’s what the emphasis is now. We only want to have to play three games up there.”
…
If there is one thing missing from Pitt’s NCAA resume this season, it’s a signature road win. The Panthers are 3-4 away from home in Big East play. In years past, the Panthers have recorded some impressive road wins, including wins at Connecticut, Boston College and Syracuse last season and at Providence and Syracuse the year before that. All of those teams were ranked.

Pitt is winless against top echelon teams on the road this season. The Panthers’ most impressive road win? How about South Carolina?

And South Carolina has hit the skids. They lost to Vandy and their RPI is now much closer to 100 than 50.

Under normal circumstances, with both teams playing Saturday, Pitt’s depth would be expected to be a good advantage.

There hasn’t been much time for either team to prepare. The game comes two days after both teams posted victories and 18 days after Pitt handed West Virginia its first Big East loss, 57-53, on Feb. 9 at Petersen Events Center.

“We’ll be ready to go,” Dixon said. “Our guys will be anxious to go. We took care of business (Saturday). We played very well throughout.”

Pitt and West Virginia earned conference victories Saturday on their home courts to keep pace in the race for a tournament bye. The Panthers defeated Providence, 81-68, and the Mountaineers held off Louisville, 68-64, to end a three-game losing streak.

But this is not a normal game. It’s the Backyard Brawl in basketball. The sellout crowd in Morgantown will be in a hightened state of frenzy — and not just from the booze. It’s Senior Night, on a senior-laden team.

“I think that’s what is amazing about this group of seniors,” West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong said. “They came along at a time when there wasn’t a lot to feel good about our basketball program and they have established a credibility with our fans, with people all over the country, with our alumni — they’ve been role models for our other student-athletes as well as student-athletes of all ages.

“The class and effort with which they play with is something West Virginia will always appreciate and remember.”

That’s putting it mildly. The season before they arrived, WVU went 8-20 overall and 1-15 in the Big East.

Now…

And while illustrating just what those five have meant to West Virginia basketball is difficult to condense, perhaps just taking a look at the game that will mark their final appearance here is a good place to start.

West Virginia is 19-8 overall, 10-4 in the Big East and already has sewn up its second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.

The game is a sellout, the fifth straight at the Coliseum. The total attendance and average attendance this season is the highest in more than 20 years.

Oh, and the Mountaineers go into the week ranked No. 14 in the country and are actually a 3 1/2-point favorite over No. 9 Pitt (21-4, 10-4).

The game will be carried nationally by ESPN.

That, in a nutshell, is how far West Virginia has come in the four years since John Beilein inherited a team — and even to some degree a program — in complete shambles. It is a team playing for a spot near the top of the Big East conference standings and near the Top 10 in the country; a team that a year ago was a basket away from the Final Four.

So, while WVU could lose this game and would still be in a position to get 4th place and the bye in the BE Tournament (they hold tie-breakers over Marquette and Georgetown), they would need a win on the road in Cinci. A team that really needs another quality win to ensure their own berth in the NCAA.

Even WVU Coach John Beilein isn’t trying to minimize this game and his players.

Five WVU seniors will be playing at home for the last time. Coach John Beilein is expecting a highly emotional occasion when they’re introduced.

“It’s hard for me to talk about seniors because you’re so close to them,” he said after Saturday’s 68-64 victory over Louisville. “Then one is your son, and that makes it even tougher to talk about it.

“Those five seniors on the court, they went to the foul line and executed the game plan at the end. So that’s going to be very difficult for everybody here.

“But you know what would be more difficult? If we can’t come up with a ‘W’ (vs. Pitt). That would make it even more difficult.”

It will be very interesting to see what kind of game Pittsnogle has. He was tearing up before and after playing Pitt. Was it an aberration or does Pitt have the goods to shut him and Gansey down once again?

Pittsnogle said he won’t force the issue.

“That’s something I’m not going to do this game,” he said. “I think I did that the last game against Pitt, and I’ve got to let the game come to me like I’ve done in our games lately.”
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Mountaineers senior forward Mike Gansey called Pittsnogle’s performance against Pitt “a fluke.”

“He couldn’t make a basket against Pitt the last time, but I think he’s going to be ready for what they’re going to throw at him this time,” Gansey said. “He’s going to make shots. That was a fluke game for him.”

Pittsnogle, the Mountaineers’ leading scorer, has shot 49 percent from the floor, 40 percent from 3-point range and 86 percent from the foul line this season. He’s knocked down 71 3-point shots so far.

“For Kevin not to make shots in the first game against Pitt, that’s kind of hard to believe,” Gansey said. “He’ll be fine.”

Pittsnogle likely will face Pitt center Aaron Gray, who leads the Big East in double-doubles with 13. He also leads the league in roubounding with a 10.5 average.

“They’re going to be anxious to come and play us,” Gray said. “They didn’t do so well offensively against us in the last game that they played us. It’s going to be probably more motivation for them to come out and try to literally come at us.”

In the past couple weeks while the ‘Eers have been struggling, their 3s have been falling at a worse percentage. Hopefully, that continues.