MORGANTOWN, WV (93.7 The Fan) – Early in Pitt’s first road game Thursday in West Virginia, there was success. A 21-14 lead, but from that point it was mostly all WVU, a 32-4 run pretty much ending the Backyard Brawl, final 71-49.
“I thought just everything with the environment and then they got on a run, the crowd, I thought we were a little bit overwhelmed,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel.
With the Mountaineers up 21 points with 15 minutes to play with 11:03 to go, Pitt did mount a run of its own to cut the lead to 10, but several empty possessions (two missed shots, two turnovers and an offensive foul in five possessions with the chance to cut it to single digits) thwarted the comeback and WVU built back the lead.
“We kind of lost our head,” said senior guard Demarco Minor. “It was our first time on the road. Like I said in the huddle earlier, but I maybe didn’t emphasize it enough and I take that on the chin, just understand that every mistake on the road is bigger on the road. A turnover may seem like just a turnover, but when you are on the road, it’s way bigger. We saw it spiral.”
Capel said there were times where his team just tried to do too much and it played right into what the Mountaineers wanted.
“We had little mental lapses, that’s all,” said guard Demarco Minor. “Everybody individualized when somebody made a mistake, it was like ‘dang, I made a mistake’ instead of sticking with the game plan.”
“We were just juiced up. It’s a rivalry game. It’s a big crowd, first time on the road. We lost track of our identity. We got too hot.”
“This is not good, but it’s the fourth game of the year,” Capel said. “It’s our first road game. We can learn a lot from this. We will learn a lot from this. I’m anxious to see now how we respond and how we come back.”
“It’s how we are going to respond,” Minor said. “Everybody is going to lose. It’s how you respond.”
Notes
· Cam Corhen had 12 points (5-7 field goals) and 10 rebounds to lead Pitt in both categories
· Freshman Omari Witherspoon 11 points (5-10 field goals)
· WVU shot 43% FG, Pitt 38%
· WVU was +3 rebounds
· WVU shot 15 more free throws than Pitt (4-6 Pitt, 16-21 WVU)
· Pitt had 12 assists and 12 turnovers
· WVU was +12 points in the paint
Up Next
Panthers home to Bucknell Monday at 7p. Voice of the Panthers Bill Hillgrove and former Panthers great Curtis Aiken with pregame starting at 6:30p on 93.7 The Fan.