Mountaineers look to add to Pitt's slump
Slowly but surely the Mountaineers have been climbing out of the slump that greeted them with the new year. Da'Sean Butler and West Virginia now look to add to Pittsburgh's recent hard times.
Less than three short weeks ago the Pitt Panthers were the talk of the Big East. Now they're in danger of falling out of the rankings, and considering their task at hand on the road in Morgantown, that's a very real possibility.
The No. 22 Panthers head to West Virginia to face the No. 6 Mountaineers on Wednesday night with a lot at stake for both clubs. Villanova sits atop the Big East with a perfect 8-0 conference mark, and Syracuse is hot on the Wildcats' tail at 8-1. Neither of those clubs is showing any signs of letting up, meaning neither Pitt nor West Va can afford to fall any further behind.
Pittsburgh (16-5, 6-3 in Big East) was not supposed to mount much of a challenge in the Big East this season after losing its top three players from last years team. Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields took the Panthers into last March's dance as a No. 1 seed before they lost out in the Elite Eight to 'Nova.
Jamie Dixon's troops never got that memo, however, and Pitt stormed out of the gate this season on its way to a 15-2 overall record and 5-0 start to conference play. Included in those five Big East wins were three during a brutal road stretch at Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn. A home win over Louisville on Jan. 16 pushed the Panthers into the AP's Top 10.
That was just 18 days ago, and as the Panthers have discovered, a lot can change in 18 days.
Since then Pittsburgh has dropped three of four, including two relatively 'easy' road stops on the Big East schedule at Seton Hall and South Florida. The defeat at the hands of the Bulls on Sunday, 70-61, came as three-point favorites and left the Panthers 10-7-2 at the window this season.
Making it even tougher on Pitt for this one is senior Jermaine Dixon will be a game-time decisions for the Panthers after he injured his right foot in last Thursday's win over St. John's.
West Virginia (17-3, 6-2 in Big East) hit a similar rough patch as Pitt is going through now, but the Mountaineers have bounced back in fine shape. After bolting to an 11-0 start to the season Bob Huggins' boys didn't find the start of the 2010 calendar year to their liking with three losses during a five-game stretch.
West Va. fell hard at Purdue on New Year's Day, dropped its first conference game at Notre Dame on Jan. 9 and then lost a tough one at home to Syracuse, 72-71, on Jan. 16 just when Pitt was reaching its peak.
Since then WVU has responded with four consecutive triumphs that includes last Saturday's 77-74 home thriller vs. Louisville. Thanks to Da'Sean Butler's season-high 27 points and late 11-0 run ignited by Kevin Jones, the Mountaineers overcame a four-point halftime deficit to stave off the Cardinals' upset bid.
Huggins & Co. have not been kind to their backers this season or recently, going 7-12 at the window overall and covering just one of their five previous efforts. The Mountaineers have also been general fade material at WVU Coliseum where they have cashed just twice in the last seven in front of the home fans.
West Virginia has also had trouble against the spread in this series. Pitt owns a 7-3 straight up mark the past 10 meetings, and the ATS numbers are fairly equal at 5-4-1 in the Panthers' favor. But that stat is a bit misleading in more recent times with Pitt up 5-3 ATS since March 2006, and 6-3 ATS at Morgantown the last nine times the Panthers have made the trip.
Pittsburgh won and covered both regular season contests a year ago before West Virginia pulled the upset in the opening round of the conference tournament last March, 74-60. Blair got in early foul trouble and only managed 18 minutes for the Panthers before hitting the pines with his fifth flag. West Virginia, 4 ½-point underdogs, outscored Pitt 24-14 at the charity stripe and held the Panthers scoreless on eight attempts from outside the three-point arc.
West Virginia got the tag as a 7 ½-point favorite for this one when Bookmaker initially released its lines. That spread has risen to nine points at most shops. Likewise, the total opened at 125 ½ and has since shifted up to 127 ½.
Slowly but surely the Mountaineers have been climbing out of the slump that greeted them with the new year. Da'Sean Butler and West Virginia now look to add to Pittsburgh's recent hard times.
Less than three short weeks ago the Pitt Panthers were the talk of the Big East. Now they're in danger of falling out of the rankings, and considering their task at hand on the road in Morgantown, that's a very real possibility.
The No. 22 Panthers head to West Virginia to face the No. 6 Mountaineers on Wednesday night with a lot at stake for both clubs. Villanova sits atop the Big East with a perfect 8-0 conference mark, and Syracuse is hot on the Wildcats' tail at 8-1. Neither of those clubs is showing any signs of letting up, meaning neither Pitt nor West Va can afford to fall any further behind.
Pittsburgh (16-5, 6-3 in Big East) was not supposed to mount much of a challenge in the Big East this season after losing its top three players from last years team. Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields took the Panthers into last March's dance as a No. 1 seed before they lost out in the Elite Eight to 'Nova.
Jamie Dixon's troops never got that memo, however, and Pitt stormed out of the gate this season on its way to a 15-2 overall record and 5-0 start to conference play. Included in those five Big East wins were three during a brutal road stretch at Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn. A home win over Louisville on Jan. 16 pushed the Panthers into the AP's Top 10.
That was just 18 days ago, and as the Panthers have discovered, a lot can change in 18 days.
Since then Pittsburgh has dropped three of four, including two relatively 'easy' road stops on the Big East schedule at Seton Hall and South Florida. The defeat at the hands of the Bulls on Sunday, 70-61, came as three-point favorites and left the Panthers 10-7-2 at the window this season.
Making it even tougher on Pitt for this one is senior Jermaine Dixon will be a game-time decisions for the Panthers after he injured his right foot in last Thursday's win over St. John's.
West Virginia (17-3, 6-2 in Big East) hit a similar rough patch as Pitt is going through now, but the Mountaineers have bounced back in fine shape. After bolting to an 11-0 start to the season Bob Huggins' boys didn't find the start of the 2010 calendar year to their liking with three losses during a five-game stretch.
West Va. fell hard at Purdue on New Year's Day, dropped its first conference game at Notre Dame on Jan. 9 and then lost a tough one at home to Syracuse, 72-71, on Jan. 16 just when Pitt was reaching its peak.
Since then WVU has responded with four consecutive triumphs that includes last Saturday's 77-74 home thriller vs. Louisville. Thanks to Da'Sean Butler's season-high 27 points and late 11-0 run ignited by Kevin Jones, the Mountaineers overcame a four-point halftime deficit to stave off the Cardinals' upset bid.
Huggins & Co. have not been kind to their backers this season or recently, going 7-12 at the window overall and covering just one of their five previous efforts. The Mountaineers have also been general fade material at WVU Coliseum where they have cashed just twice in the last seven in front of the home fans.
West Virginia has also had trouble against the spread in this series. Pitt owns a 7-3 straight up mark the past 10 meetings, and the ATS numbers are fairly equal at 5-4-1 in the Panthers' favor. But that stat is a bit misleading in more recent times with Pitt up 5-3 ATS since March 2006, and 6-3 ATS at Morgantown the last nine times the Panthers have made the trip.
Pittsburgh won and covered both regular season contests a year ago before West Virginia pulled the upset in the opening round of the conference tournament last March, 74-60. Blair got in early foul trouble and only managed 18 minutes for the Panthers before hitting the pines with his fifth flag. West Virginia, 4 ½-point underdogs, outscored Pitt 24-14 at the charity stripe and held the Panthers scoreless on eight attempts from outside the three-point arc.
West Virginia got the tag as a 7 ½-point favorite for this one when Bookmaker initially released its lines. That spread has risen to nine points at most shops. Likewise, the total opened at 125 ½ and has since shifted up to 127 ½.
Too easy. Total domination.