It wasn't as bad as it could've been, even though Pitt still lost 74-59.
The Panthers went on the road for the first time this season to face the first packed arena Pitt's played in front of since the 2019-2020 season before the pandemic. It was a matchup with a West Virginia program that's been ranked in each of its last six seasons with several returning Big 12 stars.
Jeff Capel had his players playing more contested basketball as Pitt showed more fight than it did in its embarrassing loss to The Citadel on Tuesday, but the Panthers were reminded of the kind of basketball that build the reputation of the Backyard Brawl.
West Virginia, sometimes nicknamed "press Virginia," applied an aggressive defense that included plenty of hand-checks and physical challenges to Pitt on offense to maintain the ball. Pitt was able to keep up with the Mountaineers halfway into the first half as the Panthers were only down 17-15 with 10:23 left.
But eventually it was the Mountaineers' defense that continued to press Pitt in front of a packed stadium at the WVU Coliseum. Pitt turned the ball over 32 times on the night, leading to the Mountaineers scoring 34 points off those turnovers.
"I'm proud of my guys," Capel said. "I thought we fought for 40 minutes. We had a couple of blips there towards the end, but our half court defense was good. If you take away the easy 34 points off turnovers, that's the difference. Their pressure is relentless because they run bodies at you. I think we got better today."
Part of the challenge for Pitt's young team was playing in front of a loud, hostile crowd. Several of Pitt's players from last year like Femi Odukale, William Jeffress, John Hugley IV, and Noah Collier played last season for Pitt, but never in front of a packed crowd that created an antagonizing environment.
"It was an incredible environment," Capel said. "It was good to be back in that type of environment in college basketball. It's been a couple years since we've been in front of a crowd like that. For all of our guys, this was the first time they've been in front of an environment like this."
Eventually the combination of West Virginia's physical defense that contested Pitt on almost every possession combined with the loud crowd caused feisty moments between the two teams. There were multiple loose ball fouls and jump ball situations called where Odukale, Pitt's sophomore starting point guard, would get tied up with multiple Mountaineers and need to be pulled away from a potential conflict.
After the second time, Capel put Odukale on the bench to calm him down. But after the game, Capel wouldn't single Odukale out for how he responded, noting this was a learning experience for the entire team.
"This is the first time the majority of our players have played in this type of environment," Capel said. "This is the first time we've seen our guys in a packed, rowdy gym after a season when we never had that. We got to see our guys deal with that. They weren't scared, but we have to learn not to get into it with anyone else. We have to only talk to Pitt. Don't get into it with the crowd, officials, or the players. When we did that, we got good looks and we finished better."
Odukale definitely wasn't scared, but you could tell he was rattled. In each of his games last year and even in Pitt's loss Tuesday, he looked like the calm, poised point guard figuring his game out and trying to captain the offense to successful possessions. That poise was shaken by West Virginia's defense.
After scoring 20 points Tuesday, Odukale only scored seven points Friday night and committed a career-high eight turnovers. It wasn't just him though, as every Panther who played more than six minutes on the court had multiple turnovers on the night.
"Our guys tried to do too much," Capel said of the turnovers. "There's too much dribbling instead of making the simple, easy decisions. A lot of times those decisions are right in front of you. We just have to be able to see it against pressure and make those plays. We didn't do that, it wasn't one person, we as a group didn't do that."
That's the kind of bullying that's made the history of the Backyard Brawl rivalry on both sides, as physical, challenging defense has been a staple regardless of the era these programs played.
Jalen Bridges, a sophomore forward who made he Big 12 All-Freshman Team last season, showed up big for the Mountaineers on both ends of the court. He led West Virginia 18 points shooting 6 of 9, including 4 of 6 on three-pointers. He also led West Virginia with six rebounds and five blocks.
West Virginia's defense was able to get Pitt to make several mistakes that gave away the game. But it wasn't a game without efforts that stood out for Pitt, as Hugley led the Panthers for a second-straight game with 17 points and also pulled in six rebounds.
Jeffress was the Panthers' leading rebounder with eight on the night, while Mouhammadou Gueye bounced back from a rough shooting performance Tuesday by hitting 5 of 9 shots for 10 points.
Outside of turnovers, Pitt actually stood well against West Virginia in several important stat categories. The Panthers hit 57 percent of their shots compared to the Mountaineers' 51 percent, and outrebounded West Virginia 36-20. It was a positive showing that maybe Hugley and Gueye as forwards could grow to put together some stronger performances as they grow together this season.
"We can't have 32 turnovers," Capel said after the game. "We have to value the basketball more. That was the difference in the game. We outrebounded them by 16. When we got shots we hit almost 58 percent from the floor, but the difference was the turnovers. We have to be able to make simple passes and decisions."
Plenty of those simple decisions were just outlet passes from Pitt after defensive rebounds where a guard on the court wouldn't know it was their responsibility to bring the ball up for the next possession. Other times it would be players on backdoor cuts being a hair late and allowing West Virginia's aggressive defense to break up a pass.
The Mountaineers, on the other hand, showed they were still a team that could turn mistakes into quick points. In addition to the 34 points off Pitt's 32 turnovers, West Virginia scored 21 points off fast breaks, and recorded 17 steals on the night while also shooting 9 of 22 on three-pointers for 45 percent, several of those shots coming in transition after Pitt turnovers.
It showed how well-oiled the Mountaineers could be as a team under coach Bob Huggins, who notched the 902nd win of his career, tying Bobby Knight for the fourth-most wins by a head coach of men's basketball in NCAA history.
It was a lesson that Pitt can take with it moving forward on the season about how it needs to sharpen its offensive rhythm and how to fight back within the confines of the game when opponents get physical with them. Pitt also wasn't outscored in the paint, where both teams scored 34.
But, Pitt must show that it can grow from this lesson and deliver an improved and composed performance when it returns to action against UNC Wilmington at the Petersen Events Center, 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Taking lumps like these won't matter if the Panthers can't turn these battle scars into teachable moments that develop their young core of players.