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

West Virginia and Pitt first met on a basketball court in 1906, and the two teams have played each other every season since 1918. Since 1996, they've been doing so as conference mates.

On Thursday night, they'll face each other once again, but this time, it will mark the end of the series as a Big East game. With the announcement that WVU would be allowed to enter the Big XII this summer, the Backyard Brawl, if nothing else, lost some luster for the future.

The rivals could always meet in nonconference action, and they could still meet in the Big East Tournament this season, but that's the only way they'll be seeing each other after Thursday.

This will add a certain element to a rivalry that is hardly starved for storylines as it is.

In addition to the conference realignment issue, there is the fact that West Virginia (16-10, 6-7) will be looking to revenge a home loss to Pitt (15-11, 4-9) just over two weeks ago, and that the Mountaineers are still fighting to get themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

To a certain extent, Pitt is doing the same, though a loss to Seton Hall on Sunday has made that goal much more difficult to obtain. There was a point this season when the Panthers were 11-1 and were in the top 15 of both polls.

Since then, it's been a tough year for Jamie Dixon and the Panthers. An eight-game losing streak that started at the end of December dug Pitt a deep hole, and despite bouncing back with four straight wins, the team's current two-game losing streak has almost ended any hope the Panthers had of earning an at-large bid.

Yet there's no question that this has been a different team since the return of Tray Woodall. The last time these two teams met, he was good for 24 points, leading Pitt to the road win. West Virginia can't let him have a similar performance at the Peterson Event Center.

If it's not Woodall frustrating defenses, it's likely Ashton Gibbs. Gibbs hasn't quite had the season that was expected of him, but he still leads Pitt with 16.7 points per game, and he's scored at least 25 in two of the team's last three games. In Morgantown, he put up 15 points against this West Virginia team.

Nasir Robinson is the other Panther to average at least ten points (11.5) and leads the team with 6.5 rebounds.

There's no debate as to who's been the best player for West Virginia this season. Whether the team comes away with a win or a loss, it's a safe bet that Kevin Jones had a good game.

The senior continues to lead the entire league in scoring (20.6) and rebounding (11.2), and has scored at least 20 points in 10 of the last 11 games. He had a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds the first time these two met.

The team's other senior, Truck Bryant, is also the second-leading scorer on the team with 16.8.  He has shown the ability to be the team's top offensive threat, as evidenced by his 32 points against Providence. He's also had trouble with consistency, as he failed to score a single point in his very next game.

Deniz Kilicli has been providing offense for the Mountaineers lately, too. His left-handed hook shot seems almost impossible to defend, but he has to learn to stay out of foul trouble. After picking up his second foul against Louisville on Saturday, he threw the ball in the air, earning a technical, which was his third foul. WVU needs him in the game too badly, especially with the injuries behind him, for him to be doing that.

The team is mostly comprised of freshmen, and Jabarie Hinds has been the one to step up lately. He averages 8.3 points, but had 17 against Notre Dame last week and had 6 assists against Louisville on Sunday.

These guys are going to have to help Jones with the scoring, not only Thursday night, but for the remainder of the season.

Doing so against Pitt will not only help the team's tournament chances, but help end this conference rivalry on a winning note.

The game will start at 9 p.m. and will be on ESPN.