MORGANTOWN — We welcome you to the WVU-Pitt series, which will be resumed for the 188th time tonight, with the Mountaineers going for their 100th all-time victory and their fifth consecutive win, which are both sort of historic in their own rights.
One hundred wins against a single opponent is obviously noteworthy, especially considering Penn State (66) is second on the Mountaineers’ most-beaten opponent list and those two schools haven’t played in a regular season game since 1991. A five-game winning streak is maybe more significant, because the last time WVU accomplished that against the Panthers, Bob Huggins was a freshman in high school.
That was back in the late 1960s and WVU ran up a nine-game win streak against Pitt that actually began in 1964 and lasted for four years. Just before that, WVU had racked up 13 consecutive wins against Pitt, which stands as the longest winning streak by either school in the rivalry.
So, a five-game win streak would be nice. It adds to history, but still has a ways to go before reaching all-time status.
OK, so we got some of the rivalry facts out of the way. For now, let’s introduce you to WVU newcomer Dimon Carrigan, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward from Boston, who introduced himself to WVU fans on Tuesday with this block against Oakland.
He was known as a shot blocker during his two seasons at Florida International, but really made a name for himself as a rim protector in junior college — where he once blocked 17 shots in a single game — as well as his high school days at Cambridge Rindge & Latin. If that high school sounds at all familiar, it should, because it’s the home of Patrick Ewing.
“You stand on the shoulders of giants when you live in Massachusetts and go to Cambridge Rindge & Latin,” Carrigan said. “For me being a center, yeah, I felt like there was a lot of pressure. Everybody feels that when you walk in there. This is Patrick’s school. He built it.”
Carrigan has met Ewing a few times and played with Ewing’s nephew in high school.
“He came to his nephew’s Senior Night and I took a picture with him,” Carrigan said. “That was the first time I felt little.”
As for the block he had against Oakland, Carrigan called it normal stuff.
“I’m going to keep it honest, that was an average block,” he said. “You’re going to see a crazy one. I’m going to catch someone off the backboard with two hands and come down with it or catch a dunk with two hands and come down with it. I have some crazy blocks. I get dunked on every now and then, but it’s going to take a lot to catch me slipping.”
Catching a dunk attempt with two hands sounds a lot like what WVU fans used to witness with forward Sagaba Konate, and yes, Carrigan has watched plenty of film on Konate.
“That man was a different breed. We’re two different types of shot blockers,” Carrigan said. “He was a muscle shot blocker. He’ll muscle with you in the air. Me? I don’t know about all of that. Depending on what you look like, I may come from behind and swat it. I’ve watched a lot of film on him.”
So, as we head into another WVU-Pitt matchup, here’s what you need to know:
TV: ESPNU (174 Comcast, 853 HD; 208 DirecTV; 141 DISH) for the 8:30 p.m. tip-off. BETTING LINE: West Virginia is a 15-point favorite.
WHAT DOES BOB HUGGINS HAVE TO SAY?
The WVU head coach spent much time discussing the differences between the WVU-Pitt rivalry now and what it was like when he was playing for the Mountaineers in the 1970s.
Not all rivalries are built the same, Huggins said, calling his coaching days at Cincinnati going up against Xavier “a bloodbath.” Taking the UC-Xavier series even further, “The only thing you didn’t have at the game was prison guards,” he said.
Even at its peak, the WVU-Pitt rivalry may never had been a bloodbath, and maybe that’s a good thing.
To go off-script and speak for myself for a moment, the Pitt rivalry growing up as a child from the 1980s was an intimate affair of us vs. them. Conferences didn’t matter a lick at that time. What the national buzz was for the game didn’t matter, either. WVU-Pitt was merely a battle for supremacy in our own little pocket in the East with the winner likely headed to a really good bowl game or definitely headed to the NCAA tournament in basketball.
So much has changed in our sports world since then. Conferences REALLY do matter now, to the point where what conference a team plays in is probably more important to some schools than what bowl invitation the football team receives.
Conferences are now spread across time zones and not just neighboring states and rivalry games are no longer intimate affairs. Most traditional rivalries have been killed off through conference realignment. Now, that’s all bigger-picture stuff. The WVU Coliseum is expected to be packed with 14,000 fans tonight, all of whom are just wanting to see WVU beat Pitt.
As for the series itself, there are two more years under contract after tonight’s game. Pitt hosts the game next season, while WVU will host the final game of the series in 2023. Another contract extension will be needed to keep it going beyond that.
But, even Huggins admits the WVU-Pitt rivalry is not what it once was and may never be that way again.
“It’s been dead for a while,” Huggins said. “Even in the Big East days, it wasn’t nearly like it was back when I played. You didn’t have all the craziness. It was a basketball game.”
Did Pitt really lose to The Citadel?
Jason Roche hit eight of the Bulldogs’ 13 3-pointers and finished with 27 points and The Citadel upset Pitt, 78-63, on opening night.
How much of an upset was it? It was The Citadel’s first win against a Power Five team since 1989.
“It’s one of those things where they played a team that just made shots,” Huggins said. “You go back and look at that game — I’ve watched it three or four times — and they made shots and they made hard shots. It wasn’t just standing out there and taking step-in threes, they drove it and pitched it and they really did a good job. I don’t think (Pitt) expected that, but they’ll expect what they get from us, much like we’re going to expect what they bring to us.”
Take a look at the highlights (or lowlights?) of that game here:
PREDICTION TIME
The 15-point line was actually a little lower earlier in the week, so a lot of late money has gone on the Mountaineers. Guessing the close win against Oakland didn’t put up some red flags for those gamblers. In all actuality, it’s hard to ignore the state of the Pitt program, which has gone under a tremendous amount of turnover in the last four seasons under head coach Jeff Capel.
Add on to that the suspension of Ithiel Horton, who was arrested a week ago, charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness after allegedly striking a police officer in the face. Horton was the team’s leading returning scorer after averaging 8.9 points per game last season.
The Panthers are 40-49 since Capel’s hire and 15-39 in ACC play, so things have not been smooth.
Still, WVU did not look great in its 60-53 win against Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies came away with an impressive 48-33 rebounding advantage. It’ll be interesting to see if that improves tonight, because rebounding was the one thing Pitt did well in its first game.
Because of the sold-out crowd and the energy that crowd will likely bring, we will go with a WVU win and cover, but we don’t necessarily feel good about it. WVU wins, 75-59.
Justin’s season picks against the spread: 0-1.
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