The storyline: Pitt used a West Virginia slump to create separation and never let the Mountaineers get close again in a dominating 86-62 win at the Petersen Events Center Friday night.
The teams: Pitt (4-0), West Virginia (2-1)
Standouts
Damian Dunn - 23 points, 7/12 FG, 4/7 3FG, 5/7 FT
Ishmael Leggett - 15 points, 7/13 FG, 1/2 3FG
Guillermo Diaz Graham - 10 points, 4/5 FG, 2/3 3FG, 10 rebounds
Cam Corhen - 14 points, 5/8 FG, 1/2 3FG, 5 rebounds
Dunn’s night
The star of the game for Pitt was Damian Dunn, the Houston transfer guard who scored a game-high - and season-high - 23 points for his first 20-point game of the season.
Nine of Dunn’s points came beyond the arc, where attempted a season-high seven shots. But his other five field goal attempts were all physical plays where Dunn fought inside for a layup or a jump shot. Now he’s averaging 16.3 points per game after four games for Pitt this season.
Physicality
The Backyard Brawl has a reputation, and the 2024 edition lived up to it. The 191st version of the basketball Brawl was physical from the start, and while West Virginia was largely initiating the physicality, Pitt was answering it - and doing so without fouling. The Panthers were called for just three fouls in the first half; that number increased to 11 in the second half, but Pitt’s willingness to play through the physicality and be able to excel in that kind of game was encouraging for the Panthers’ season.
Defense
Pitt’s defense was good for stretches in the first three games, but Friday night’s step-up in competition seemed to bring out the best in the Panthers. West Virginia isn’t the most talented offensive team Pitt will face in the non-conference, but the Panthers were able to make the Mountaineers completely pedestrian.
In addition to scoring a season-low 62 points, West Virginia shot just 24-of-62 from the floor and 6-of-9 from three. Tucker DeVries, WVU head coach Darian DeVries’ son, came into Friday night averaging 17.5 points per game as the Mountaineers’ leading scorer; when he fouled out with 4:21 left in the game, DeVries had scored six points on 2-of-10 shooting. And guard Javon Small, who has been averaging 13.5 points per game, had 12 points but it took 5-of-12 shoot. Pitt guards Dunn and Ishmael Leggett drew the primary defensive responsibilities for DeVries and Small.
Guillermo knockout
The physicality of the game was established right off the bat when, on West Virginia’s first possession, Mountaineer center Amani Hansberry went up for a basket and hammered Guillermo Diaz Graham in the nose. Diaz Graham hit the ground after the shot - which was good for two points - and Hansberry was called for a flagrant foul.
Zack Austin made both free throws from the flagrant call while Diaz Graham went to the locker room. He returned five minutes later and almost immediately set up Leggett for a jump shot. Leggett returned the favor 20 seconds later when he set up Diaz Graham for a three that he drained to five Pitt a 15-8 lead.
Centers making three’s
Diaz Graham’s three was the Panthers’ second of the game; the first was also made by a Pitt center: Cam Corhen hit one less than 2:30 into the game to break a 4-4 tie. Diaz Graham hit one more later in the game for the centers to account for three of the team’s 10 made three-pointers.
The crucial stretch
At the under-16 media timeout, Pitt’s lead was 10-6 and West Virginia had shot 3-of-7 from the floor to that point in the game. Coming out of the timeout, though, the Mountaineers went ice cold, making just one of their next eight shots, a stretch that saw Pitt’s four-point lead bloom into 12.
And when WVU made back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to eight, the Panthers poured in five consecutive baskets in two minutes to take the lead to nearly 20 - a benchmark they would reach less than a minute later when Dunn hit a three to make it a 21-point game.
By halftime, Pitt had a 22-point lead, and WVU never got the deficit under 20 in the second half.
Sharing is caring
Pitt finished the game with 13 assists on its 28 made field goals, but the Panthers were especially good at setting each other up in the first half. Pitt had eight assists on 15 baskets in the first 20 minutes, including five assists on the first seven field goals and seven on the first 10.
Lowe struggles
Jaland Lowe had a rough game in Monday’s win over Gardner-Webb, scoring eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, and Friday night didn’t necessarily represent an improvement. The sophomore point guard scored eight points on 2-of-11 shooting, and while he had nine rebounds and five assists, he also turned the ball over three times. All three of those came in the first half, and Lowe didn’t have a turnover in his 12 second-half minutes, so that’s a positive. But Pitt will need him to produce at a more consistent and efficient level going forward.
Leggett finally missed
14 minutes and 22 seconds into the fourth game of the season, Ishmael Leggett finally missed a layup.
After making 15 layups in a row - 14 in the first three games and his first layup attempt in the first half Friday night - Leggett tried a tough baseline drive inside the final six minutes of the first half and missed for the first time. He made one of three layup attempts through the rest of the game and finished with 15 points - his lowest scoring total of the season so far.
Short rotation
Capel approached the fourth game of the season like a late-schedule ACC contest, trimming his rotation to just seven players for the entire first half and the first eight minutes of the second half. In addition to the starters - Lowe, Leggett, Dunn, Guillermo Diaz Graham and Corhen - Pitt used Austin and Brandin Cummings for the first 28 minutes. At the 12:04 mark, Jorge Diaz Graham made his debut in the game.
All told, Pitt used 11 players. Four finished in double figures and eight scored in all.
Brawl history
Pitt is now 90-101 against West Virginia in the basketball version of the Backyard Brawl. The Panthers won last year’s matchup 80-63 in Morgantown.
Up next
Pitt (4-0) will be back on the court Monday night to face VMI in the first game of the Greenbrier Tip-Off at 7 pm at the Petersen Events Center.
The teams: Pitt (4-0), West Virginia (2-1)
Standouts
Damian Dunn - 23 points, 7/12 FG, 4/7 3FG, 5/7 FT
Ishmael Leggett - 15 points, 7/13 FG, 1/2 3FG
Guillermo Diaz Graham - 10 points, 4/5 FG, 2/3 3FG, 10 rebounds
Cam Corhen - 14 points, 5/8 FG, 1/2 3FG, 5 rebounds
Dunn’s night
The star of the game for Pitt was Damian Dunn, the Houston transfer guard who scored a game-high - and season-high - 23 points for his first 20-point game of the season.
Nine of Dunn’s points came beyond the arc, where attempted a season-high seven shots. But his other five field goal attempts were all physical plays where Dunn fought inside for a layup or a jump shot. Now he’s averaging 16.3 points per game after four games for Pitt this season.
Physicality
The Backyard Brawl has a reputation, and the 2024 edition lived up to it. The 191st version of the basketball Brawl was physical from the start, and while West Virginia was largely initiating the physicality, Pitt was answering it - and doing so without fouling. The Panthers were called for just three fouls in the first half; that number increased to 11 in the second half, but Pitt’s willingness to play through the physicality and be able to excel in that kind of game was encouraging for the Panthers’ season.
Defense
Pitt’s defense was good for stretches in the first three games, but Friday night’s step-up in competition seemed to bring out the best in the Panthers. West Virginia isn’t the most talented offensive team Pitt will face in the non-conference, but the Panthers were able to make the Mountaineers completely pedestrian.
In addition to scoring a season-low 62 points, West Virginia shot just 24-of-62 from the floor and 6-of-9 from three. Tucker DeVries, WVU head coach Darian DeVries’ son, came into Friday night averaging 17.5 points per game as the Mountaineers’ leading scorer; when he fouled out with 4:21 left in the game, DeVries had scored six points on 2-of-10 shooting. And guard Javon Small, who has been averaging 13.5 points per game, had 12 points but it took 5-of-12 shoot. Pitt guards Dunn and Ishmael Leggett drew the primary defensive responsibilities for DeVries and Small.
Guillermo knockout
The physicality of the game was established right off the bat when, on West Virginia’s first possession, Mountaineer center Amani Hansberry went up for a basket and hammered Guillermo Diaz Graham in the nose. Diaz Graham hit the ground after the shot - which was good for two points - and Hansberry was called for a flagrant foul.
Zack Austin made both free throws from the flagrant call while Diaz Graham went to the locker room. He returned five minutes later and almost immediately set up Leggett for a jump shot. Leggett returned the favor 20 seconds later when he set up Diaz Graham for a three that he drained to five Pitt a 15-8 lead.
Centers making three’s
Diaz Graham’s three was the Panthers’ second of the game; the first was also made by a Pitt center: Cam Corhen hit one less than 2:30 into the game to break a 4-4 tie. Diaz Graham hit one more later in the game for the centers to account for three of the team’s 10 made three-pointers.
The crucial stretch
At the under-16 media timeout, Pitt’s lead was 10-6 and West Virginia had shot 3-of-7 from the floor to that point in the game. Coming out of the timeout, though, the Mountaineers went ice cold, making just one of their next eight shots, a stretch that saw Pitt’s four-point lead bloom into 12.
And when WVU made back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to eight, the Panthers poured in five consecutive baskets in two minutes to take the lead to nearly 20 - a benchmark they would reach less than a minute later when Dunn hit a three to make it a 21-point game.
By halftime, Pitt had a 22-point lead, and WVU never got the deficit under 20 in the second half.
Sharing is caring
Pitt finished the game with 13 assists on its 28 made field goals, but the Panthers were especially good at setting each other up in the first half. Pitt had eight assists on 15 baskets in the first 20 minutes, including five assists on the first seven field goals and seven on the first 10.
Lowe struggles
Jaland Lowe had a rough game in Monday’s win over Gardner-Webb, scoring eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, and Friday night didn’t necessarily represent an improvement. The sophomore point guard scored eight points on 2-of-11 shooting, and while he had nine rebounds and five assists, he also turned the ball over three times. All three of those came in the first half, and Lowe didn’t have a turnover in his 12 second-half minutes, so that’s a positive. But Pitt will need him to produce at a more consistent and efficient level going forward.
Leggett finally missed
14 minutes and 22 seconds into the fourth game of the season, Ishmael Leggett finally missed a layup.
After making 15 layups in a row - 14 in the first three games and his first layup attempt in the first half Friday night - Leggett tried a tough baseline drive inside the final six minutes of the first half and missed for the first time. He made one of three layup attempts through the rest of the game and finished with 15 points - his lowest scoring total of the season so far.
Short rotation
Capel approached the fourth game of the season like a late-schedule ACC contest, trimming his rotation to just seven players for the entire first half and the first eight minutes of the second half. In addition to the starters - Lowe, Leggett, Dunn, Guillermo Diaz Graham and Corhen - Pitt used Austin and Brandin Cummings for the first 28 minutes. At the 12:04 mark, Jorge Diaz Graham made his debut in the game.
All told, Pitt used 11 players. Four finished in double figures and eight scored in all.
Brawl history
Pitt is now 90-101 against West Virginia in the basketball version of the Backyard Brawl. The Panthers won last year’s matchup 80-63 in Morgantown.
Up next
Pitt (4-0) will be back on the court Monday night to face VMI in the first game of the Greenbrier Tip-Off at 7 pm at the Petersen Events Center.
