WVU Mountaineer Sports: Basketball | Football | News |Men’s Basketball: WVU vs. Pitt Preview

If there's any team that could help West Virginia put its heartbreaking loss to Syracuse in the past, it would be Pitt.

Sure, it would help if Pitt wouldn't be in the middle of arguably its worst season under Jamie Dixon, but this is still the Backyard Brawl, and it will still generate plenty of excitement. Besides, after losing their first seven conference games, the Panthers have won two in a row, including an upset over #10 Georgetown on Saturday. This isn't a team that will be taken lightly.

Which West Virginia team will be the one to show up? There's the group that took the court in Madison Square Garden Wednesday night and was embarrassed by St. John's. That team won't have a very good chance to beat this Pitt team that is finding some momentum.

Yet, there's the WVU team that went on the road on Saturday and took the fourth-ranked team in the country to the wire. In fact, it would seem that the team earned its way to overtime. A goaltending violation that wasn't called late in the game kept Syracuse ahead by two with six seconds remaining. There would be no more scoring after that, and the Mountaineers left the Carrier Dome two points shy of a signature win.

Despite the loss, West Virginia looked much better in that game. If Bob Huggins can get that kind of performance out of his team on Monday against Pitt, WVU will be tough to beat.

Pitt has looked like a much better team since Tray Woodall returned from injury. The junior has played in just 11 games this season, but in the three games since his return, the Panthers are 2-1, including that win over Georgetown. He's third on the team in scoring with 10.9 points per game, and despite playing in just half the games as some of his teammates, leads Pitt with 81 total assists.

He'll be feeding the ball to Ashton Gibbs, the team's leading scorer. Gibbs is dangerous from three and averages 16.8 points per game. He's also one of the best free throw shooters in the Big East. The Panthers will also rely on Nasir Robinson (12.6) for points. He does a good job of finding quality shots, helping him lead the conference with a 60.4 field goal percentage.

West Virginia has its own weapons, most notably Kevin Jones. The senior continues to be the most productive and consistent player in the entire conference. He leads the Big East in both scoring (20.9) and rebounding (11.4). In 22 games, he has 14 double-doubles and has scored 20 or more points in each of his last seven games. Also, in his last five games, he's shooting 57 percent from three.

It's become apparent that Jones is going to supply that production game in and game out. The difference between wins and losses for the Mountaineers is whether anyone else can step up and provide significant scoring to compliment Jones. Usually, that player is Truck Bryant.

The team's only other senior is averaging 17.4 points per game and, for the most part, has thrived in his role as a shooting guard rather than point guard. In recent games, though, points have been hard to come by for Bryant. If he's able to break out of his mini-slump against Pitt, West Virginia will be much tougher to beat.

Deniz Kilicli played his first game at West Virginia against Pitt two years ago, and in just seven minutes of action, made four field goals on his way to nine points. A year later, he had a career-high 19 points at home against the Panthers. The Mountaineers would love for him to continue his trend of big games against Pitt in the Coliseum.

A win for West Virginia would end a three-game losing streak in the series. Pitt has also won two of the last three here in the Coliseum. This season, the Mountaineers have been tough to beat at home (10-1) and Pitt is 0-4 on the road in conference play.

Monday's game tips at 7 p.m. and will be nationally-televised on ESPN.