Xavier Johnson drives to the West Virginia hoop Friday night at Petersen Events Center. – MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Pitt

Backyard Brawl a fun, fair fight ... at first ☕️

Nov 16, 2019 • 12:06 am

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"I think they got worn down a little."

That's West Virginia's Bob Huggins with the understatement of Pitt's young 2019-20 season, ladies and gentlemen. Huggins offered that take regarding the Panthers' guard play following his Mountaineers' runaway 68-53 romp over the Panthers Friday night at the Petersen Events Center.

The numbers couldn't support him more. The basketball version of the Backyard Brawl was a fun, energetic and electric fight ... for the first couple rounds. Then fans scrambled to find their white flags.

Check this out:

• The game was tight at the half: 36-35, West Virginia. Look above at that final score once again. Yeah. Pitt faltered big time down the stretch.

• In that second half, Pitt shot 3-for-25 from the field. That's 12 percent. Twelve. "I mean, 3-for-25 is as bad as I've seen — as bad as I've been a part of," Jeff Capel was saying after the game. "A big part of it is their defense but [also] our inability to finish."

• Twelve percent is pretty bad. Even worse? Ten percent. That's how Pitt closed this one out, making just one of their final 10 shots.

• Trey McGowens scored 12 first-half points on an efficient 4-for-7 shooting display ... then scored just one point the rest of the game to finish with 13.

• Want to see Xavier Johnson's full highlight reel from this game? Say no more:

There it is. All 10 seconds. Johnson scored those four points within a half-minute span in the first half ... and didn't score another point in the game. Briefly, it appeared the Johnson of old was back, slashing and dashing to the hoop at will and finishing with equal parts power and finesse. It was what Pitt's needed from him all season.

And it was a mirage.

He finished with those four points, five turnovers, five assists and an 0-for-1 effort from the free-throw line. Capel didn't single Johnson out after the game, but he did say this:

"We got some wide-open threes, but at times I thought we were rushed," Capel said. "We had a few possessions of no pass, shot. I think what happens with us is that at times, especially when we're struggling, guys know we're struggling and so we have some guys who [say], 'OK, I have to do it,' instead of constantly we have to do it."

There's no doubt about it: Stars gotta shine, and Pitt counted on Johnson to be a high-candlepower part of this team in 2019-20. He hasn't been that thus far, though, in part because he's forcing the issue and in part because teams are specifically working to eliminate his strengths. That's what happens when you distinguish yourself at this level. He needs to adjust, and fast. Because on the other side of the court in this game, fans were treated to a true shining performance from West Virginia's Oscar Tshiebwe.

Twenty points. Seventeen rebounds — eight offensive, nine defensive. Three blocks. A steal.

One man can have that kind of impact.

"That's his best game by far," Huggins was saying of Tshiebwe. " ... He was looking to score instead of just doing what he does. And what he does is rebound the ball as well as probably anybody in college basketball."

Oscar-Tshiebwe-west-virginia-mountaineers-wvu-hype

West Virginia's Oscar Tshiebwe gets hyped by teammates Friday night. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Pitt certainly struggled to slow Tshiebwe's scoring down — in part because it's physically impossible for them to prepare for 6-foot-9, 250 pounds of polished power forward.

"We can't simulate it, and certainly in a day, in two days preparation, it's not something we can do," Capel admitted of the challenges with planning for Tshiebwe. "We don't have those types of bodies yet. But it's something that we do work on. Obviously we did a better job against Florida State. They're big too. So we did a better job there, but we have to become consistent in doing it."

Pitt does need to "become consistent" in that — and in scoring the ball, in making free throws, in minimizing turnovers, in McGowens and Johnson taking over games, etc. The list rolls on for this Panthers squad.

Tonight, however, the story was everything Huggins summarized in those three crucial words — "got worn down" — because the signs, both mental and physical, were everywhere throughout the loss. Pitt met an imposing, dominant team with a standout, potential star big man in the fold.

"They're a big, physical team and really dominated inside, dominated the paint and offensive rebounds and really made it difficult for us to score around the basket," Capel said. "I thought the game was lost in the first three minutes of the second half ... We got four shots right there at the basket early and got nothing out of it. We didn't finish strong. We didn't play through contact, and I thought that gave them even more confidence to become even more physical and to become even more dominant."

Within this, freshman Justin Champagnie pointed out a crucial detail.

"Getting to the rim wasn't difficult, but finishing around the rim with them was difficult," Champagnie said. "They're obviously big kids, but it's a man's game, so you just gotta get better."

The Panthers got owned in this one.

You could almost hear the cries of "uncle" as this Backyard Brawl came to a close.

• For his part, Capel wasn't buying the "worn down" comment from Huggins. He was asked if he agreed with that assessment after the game, to which he replied:

"No. No. We just didn't play well."

• Still, that idea intrigued me, so I probed Huggins a bit on it. Was that something he drew up and intentionally targeted, or did Pitt's guards just "wear down" in the flow of the game?

He delivered with some Grade-A snark. You gotta love it:

"If you were out there and they chased you around for 40 minutes, you know, and you had to just run, zig and zag and run around, trying to get the ball, then when you get the ball you're trying to drive and as soon as you think you're driving somebody comes to help, then you gotta bounce it back and throw it to somebody else and then try to get open again, and you do that for 40 minutes, I'll bet your ass would be tired, too."

• That wasn't Huggins' best moment, though. It was this, when asked about the "hostile" environment at the Pete. Sound on, watch the video. Trust me:

"I really never understood the meaning of 'hostile.'"

Care to elaborate?

"Well, I mean, I didn't see anybody with spears — or knives or machine guns or anything like that, so I mean, I just, I'd like to know the meaning of 'hostile.' Because I just thought it was a whole bunch of people [who] paid some money to come in here and watch a good ball game."

• Pitt faced a similar challenge in the season opener against Florida State, a big, physical team known for its dominant defense and inside presence. They handled that one well — and even won the rebounding battle, 37-35. But tonight? Nope. Not at all. They were out-rebounded 51-37.

Why?

"I don't know," Capel said after the game.

Only he did know. He said it in his next sentence.

"I mean, Tshiebwe's pretty big and athletic."

Yep. That guy again. Can't overstate just how dominant he was Friday night.

• Oh, and yeah ... the Mountaineer Maniacs were loving this performance:

We won't talk about the, uhh, "eating habits" they also chanted with gusto about during this one.

• Panic? Nah. Don't panic. Run it back to the preseason. You knew this would be a young team with its ups and downs. Now, the rollercoaster's left the station and you've felt a few twists, drops and turns. This is what was expected. The good news here is that the team is young and it is learning.

"It is early. It's four games in ... We'll be able to use this to help us get better," Capel said of the early bumps.

"[This experience] definitely helps, because we haven't really been through a team like this ... It's a learning point," Champagnie added.

I believe them.

• The game as a whole had zero flow or rhythm, largely because of the 48 fouls called.

"It's kind of hard. It's kind of frustrating trying to get going offensively, but still no excuses," Champagnie said.

The sheer volume of fouls was staggering, but even more alarming was how they were being called. Light contact — particularly on rebounds — was getting called at will, while contact at the basket was oftentimes left uncalled. There was no consistency and seemingly no rhyme or reason to the referees' decisions tonight. From a pure basketball perspective, it was flat-out not fun to watch.

• Pitt's now 70-4 all-time in non-conference home games in November at the Pete. Two of those losses came this season (West Virginia, Nicholls State).

• Friday's attendance: 11,750, including an Oakland Zoo record 2,161 student tickets, thanks to the new, larger Zoo configuration.

• West Virginia leads the all-time series, 88-99.

• This is a neat stat:

The guys were trying to figure it out on the radio, but I looked it up myself - #WVU has now won four in a row in Backyard Brawl (basketball version). The last time that happened? 1976-1977.... with Jr/Sr guard Bob Huggins leading the way.
— Chris Anderson (@CMAnderson247) November 16, 2019

• Ryan Murphy hit double figures again with 11 points, including a 5-for-5 effort from the free-throw line. He's now gone over 10 points in each of Pitt's four games this year. Like McGowens, however, Murphy got nine of those 11 points in the first half. West Virginia adjusted, ran him off the three-point line and shut him down.

• Pitt went deeper into its bench than it has at any point this year, utilizing Abdoul Karim Coulibaly for 19 minutes, Samson George for seven minutes and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo for three minutes in the game. Of them, Coulibaly showed out the best, scoring four points on 2-of-6 shooting. Not great by any stretch, but it was more than nothing, which was what he'd put on tape to this point in the season.

• McGowens' 13 points ultimately disappointed, given his 12 first-half points, but that's four games in a row for him going over 10, good for 21 total in his collegiate career. Plus, he showed this, a beautiful, step-back three after faking the drive, for his 10th, 11th and 12th points: