Pittsburgh, PA (My Sportsbook) - The Pittsburgh Panthers are legitimate national title contenders, and they will attempt to avoid an upset tonight against the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers in Big East Conference play.
West Virginia snapped a two-game skid with an 86-59 romp over Providence on Saturday that enabled the Mountaineers to improve to 8-2 at home. They are 16-7 overall, including 5-5 in conference, and a solid finish to the regular season could land the club an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Pittsburgh is already a lock to be invited to the "Big Dance", and the club is now fighting for a No. 1 seed. The Panthers has won their last three outings and five of the last six to improve to 21-2 overall, including 8-2 against teams from the Big East, considered by many to be the nation's elite conference. On Saturday, Jamie Dixon's team crushed DePaul on the road by a 92-69 final and now returns home where it has won all 14 of its outings thus far.
Pitt beat WVU in a 79-67 final on January 25th, but the Mountaineers hold a 93-83 advantage in the all-time series.
West Virginia depends heavily on the duo of Da'Sean Butler and Alex Ruoff to be productive at the offensive end of the court. Butler is scoring 17.8 ppg while pulling down 6.2 rpg, and Ruoff checks in with 16.2 ppg, 78 assists and 44 steals. The third and final double-digit scorers for the Mountaineers is Darryl Bryant with his 10.1 ppg. WVU is posting 72.7 ppg this season, and strong defense has enabled the club to limit its opponents to 60.6 ppg on 41.3 percent field goal efficiency. In the blowout victory over Providence just two days ago, Ruoff nailed 6-of-7 three-pointers and finished with 24 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals, proof of his versatility. Butler added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Mountaineers, who connected on 50 percent of their field goal attempts while forcing 19 turnovers and holding the Friars to 37.5 percent shooting.
Pittsburgh plays tremendous team defense, as the squad is limiting foes to 61.9 ppg on 39.8 percent shooting from the field. Offensively, the Panthers are posting 78.3 ppg, and like the Mountaineers they have three double-digit scorers in the fold. Sam Young provides 17.8 ppg, while DeJuan Blair adds 15.7 ppg and 12.7 rpg to the mix. Levance Fields is the club's point guard, and he is scoring 11.0 ppg to go along with a staggering total of 171 assists. The fact that Fields has only committed 43 turnovers is proof of his poise and ability. Blair was completely unstoppable against DePaul on Saturday, as he poured in a career-high 32 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Fields was nearly as impressive, as he dished out 16 assists while committing only one turnover. The Panthers shot 55.9 percent from the floor and earned a 42-25 rebounding advantage.
