Mar 13 2009
WV Mounties upset Pitt in Big East tournament
I don’t know which was the bigger shock, my West Virginia Mountaineers finally beating the Pitt Panthers on the third try or the Syracuse Orangemen upsetting the Uconn Huskies in 6 over times.
I sure know which one makes me happier though, the Mountaineers 74-60 upset win over the Panthers. To win against them in anything is sweet if your a West Virginia fan.
The Pitt Panthers like to think of themselves as the Detroit Pistons back in the day when they use to play tough and rough their opponents up. Not last night though and Jermaine Dixon, one of the Panthers starting guards said it best when he was quoted after the game, “They were tougher than we were.”
With Pitt’s DeJuan Blair, the co Big East player of the year sitting on the bench much of the game with foul trouble, West Virginia led at the half by the score of 36-34. when they come out for the 2nd half Coach Huggins put on his 1-3-1 zone defense and Pitt couldn’t shoot over it. They went without a 3 pointer for the first time all season going 0-8 from the 3 point line. Pitt was also out rebounded for the first time since Jan 25 when West Virginia did it in one of their losses to them.
West Virginia was led by Devin Ebanks with 20 points and 7 rebounds and also played the entire game, never coming out.. ESPN announcers Jay Bilas and Bill Rafferty continuously praised Ebanks good play and said he’s going to be a great player in the years to come. Alex Ruoff added 18 points and DaSean Butler put in 16 points.
Pitt was led in scoring by forward Sam Young with 15 points and Dejuan Blair added 14 even with all his foul trouble. The experts are saying this loss may jeopardize Pitt’s chances at getting a number 1 seed in the tournament but it’s really to early to tell.
Next up for my Mountaineers is the Syracuse Orangemen who beat the 3rd ranked Uconn Huskies 127-117 in 6 overtimes last night. Their game ended at about 1:30 this morning so I hope they get no sleep so we can kick their butts real good tonight. The game will be on ESPN at 9 pm.
Topics on this page are: West Virginia Mountaineers, Pitt Panthers and Big East Tournament
