Pitt shows cracks amid 'chaos' in Backyard Brawl

Nov 12, 2022 • 3:35 am

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The Panthers went into the Peterson Events Center Friday expecting a brawl. What they got was "chaos."

The 189th Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia did harken back to the glory days of the rivalry, at least for the Mountaineers, who pressed and beat up Pitt on defense, leading to 19 turnovers, 21 fouls, the Panthers abandoning man-to-man defense and being forced to throw out lineups on the court that hadn't practiced together.

The final result was a definitive 81-56 Mountaineers win that got progressively worse for Pitt as the second half drudged on.

“They’re really good in chaos," Jeff Capel said. "They create chaos in their defense. We turned it over. We didn’t display the poise necessary to have a chance to win against a team like that.”

Both Pitt and West Virginia had trouble holding onto the ball early, and the Panthers were able to hang tough for most of the first half by capitalizing on those opportunities, trailing just 31-30 after a Nate Santos jumper 15 minutes into the first half. However, as West Virginia started to cut down on their miscues, Pitt's fouls started to pile up, including on point guard Nelly Cummings. Cummings picked up three fouls in the first half, but Capel still sent him out to start the second half to try to keep the game close. He would quickly pick up a fourth foul and then a fifth with 7:38 to play.

And while plus-minus is a far from perfect stat, it is telling that in the 22 minutes Cummings was on the court, Pitt played even with West Virginia. They were outscored by 25 in the 18 minutes he was away. Without their point guard and forced to improvise with the lineup because Santos, Blake Hinson, Federiko Federiko and Jamarius Burton each had at least three fouls, the offense fell apart and the defense was forced to go to zone, which had barely been practiced.

And if there is something worse that can make a new lineup worse, it's when they aren't communicating.

“We didn’t talk for 40 minutes, honestly," Greg Elliott said. "That was the one thing our team had done a great job of: Talking, offensively and defensively. And today, we did not do that at all and we see the result.”

Why weren't they talking? Elliott says they "got into ourselves" and “It’s a new team, so everybody felt like they can do it on their own.”

Capel has spent five years preaching the importance of communicating on the court. It's a new team with a lot of moving parts still, but that only played into what West Virginia was trying to do.

“It was chaotic, and we didn’t handle it well," Capel said.

“It’s early. We’ll learn from it," Capel said later. "We’ll get better. We’ll use this as a teaching lesson. I’m glad it happened early, certainly not this game and against this opponent, but it gives us something to learn. We hadn’t been through adversity. Everybody has been terrific for us so far. Now we smacked in the face. Let’s see how we respond. And I feel good about the character of our team that we’ll respond.”

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Elliott gave Pitt a big boost early, hitting a trio a 3s in the opener five minutes, the third coming from the corner before he even set his feet. The Mountaineers would zero in on him in transition from there, and he did not make a nother field goal on the night.

"Weren’t too many times I was left open as I was to start the game,” Elliott said.

He finished with 12 points.

The turning point of the game may have been an Elliott turnover on a controversial call. While running in the paint, he was called for a travel after a stumble, but was still dribbling the entire time. Tre Mitchell sank a three for West Virginia, who extended their lead to 35-30 as part of a 16-6 run to close the half. Pitt never pulled closer than two buckets away the rest of the game.

• Perhaps Pitt would have been able to hang around longer if John Hugley was active.

West Virginia's interior game was stronger, racking up 36 points in the paint and keeping Pitt away from the rim for most of the night.

Capel said Hugley's absence "had nothing to do with tonight's outcome," but considering the Panthers' struggles from three (5-23), they needed more production from the paint.

It does appear Hugley could return soon. Capel said he will hopefully start contact practice this week. If he has a couple good practices, he could potentially return to game action as soon as Wednesday.

• West Virginia shot 64% (17-26) from the first in the first half, including making 11 of their first 12 attempts.

They didn't look sharp early, but they were able to pull from their bench to eventually right the ship, getting more points from their bench (42) than their starters.

• West Virginia is now 5-0 in this revival of the Backyard Brawl, and 101-88 all-time. The Pete had great energy throughout, even as the Mountaineers started to pull away.

“Atmosphere was crazy," Elliott said. "It was a great crowd to play in front of. I just wish it was not all for naught. That result is not representative of our team. I don’t want the Oakland Zoo to feel like they didn’t show up and do their thing, because they definitely did, and we’re going to make up for that.”

The two teams will return to West Virginia next year in what is the last scheduled meeting between the two schools.

“The series is awesome," Capel said. "We have to do our part to make it more of a rivalry, but it’s awesome. I hope it’s something that continues.”

• Shortly before the game, Pitt announced they signed three high school seniors: Marlon Barnes, Jr., Carlton Carrington and Jaland Lowe.

Barnes, a a 6'6", 185-pound forward, is a three-star prospect ranked No. 5 overall in Ohio. He verbally committed to Pitt last January.

Carrington, a 6'4", 180-pound guard, is a four-star recruit and ranked No. 94 by Rivals.

Lowe, a 6'2", 165-pound guard, is a four-star recruit ranked at No. 89 on the ESPN Top 100.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

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