This Friday, the (1-0) West Virginia Mountaineers will travel to Pittsburgh, PA to take on the (1-0) Pittsburgh Panthers. Tipoff will be at 7:00 PM EST inside the Peterson Events Center. Both of these teams picked up a win in their first game of the season, but the last time that these two teams matched up, the Mountaineers walked away with a 74-59 win.
West Virginia is coming into this one after taking down Mount St. Mary, 76-58. The Mountaineers looked great on the defensive end of the court, as they only allowed them to shoot 32.7% from the floor. They will need to continue to lock up on that end of the court if they want to challenge the Panthers in this one.
The Pittsburg Panthers are entering this game after taking down UT Martin, 80-58. The Panthers had it working on both ends of the court, as they continued to efficiently score and they looked solid on the defensive end. They will need t o carry that momentum over into this game if they want to defend their home court.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The West Virginia Mountaineers picked up their first win of the season earlier in the week, as they will be looking for two in a row against the Panthers. On the offensive end of the court, the Mountaineers are scoring 76 points per game and shooting 49.1% from the floor. This is the 169th most points scored per game and the 115th-highest team shooting percentage. According to KenPom, West Virginia currently has an adjusted offensive rating of 103.8, which is the 87th highest in the country. They did struggle from behind the three-point arc in their first game of the season, though. They only shot 30% from three, which is the 219th-highest shooting percentage in college basketball. Emmitt Matthews Jr. led the way in their first game of the season, as he scored 15 points on 60% shooting from the field. West Virginia also shot 73.7% from the charity stripe, this is the 118th-highest percentage in the nation. They have to take advantage of the se free points if they want to stay competitive in these games.
On the defensive end of the court, West Virginia smothered their opponents in the first game of the season. They only allowed 58 points and forced their opponents to shoot 32.7% from the floor. This is the 104th least amount of points surrendered per game and the 65th-lowest shooting percentage allowed. According to KenPom, West Virginia has an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 92.2, which is the 58th lowest in the country. They have also shown that they will contest shots near the rim, but they struggled to defend the three in game one of the season. They allowed Mount St. Mary to shoot 47.6% from deep, which is the 337th-highest three-point shooting percentage allowed in the country. They also snatched 43 rebounds, which is the 58th most in the nation. They have to secure the ball off the glass if they want to keep the Panthers from scoring any second or third-chance points.
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Injury Report: Patrick Suemnick F (Knee) is questionable for Friday's contest.