Can West Virginia Stay Perfect? ESPN’s Predictor Reveals the Odds vs Pitt

The Mountaineers are looking to hand the Panthers their first loss of the season.

WVU Athletics Communication

Here in just a few hours, the West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0) will take on the Pitt Panthers (3-0) in the 192nd edition of the Backyard Brawl. The home crowd should certainly play a factor in this one, and the computers at ESPN see it that way as well.

What the ESPN BPI says

According to the ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI) matchup predictor, West Virginia has a 74.9% chance to defeat Pitt and remain undefeated on the season. Pitt has just a 25.1% chance, which ironically, is pretty close to what the predictor said last year when the Mountaineers went to Oakland, where they had a 22.% chance. WVU, as you know, was beaten soundly 86-62, so perhaps this is a good sign for the Old Gold and Blue.

West Virginia's recent games

Despite the 3-0 start, there is some level of concern with this group, considering they were unable to run away from Mount St. Mary's and Campbell. They jumped all over Lehigh from the opening tip and did take care of business there, yet the offense is still a work in progress.

A big reason for the Mountaineers' lack of firepower stems from their two best shotmakers, Honor Huff and Treysen Eaglestaff, not hitting shots at a high clip, and in Eaglestaff's case, he's not been aggressive enough, hunting his shot.

Pitt's recent games

Much like WVU, Pitt hasn't been overly dominant in any of their first three games, where it played Youngstown State, Longwood, and Eastern Michigan. In the second half against EMU, Pitt got outscored, albeit 34-33. They only had a +2 advantage on the boards and allowed the Eagles to snag 10 offensive rebounds, which had to have driven Jeff Capel crazy.

The other big issue the Panthers have had thus far is free-throw shooting. As a team, they're shooting 68.2% from the line. Fortunately for them, WVU has been worse, seeing just 67.8% of those shots go through the net.

WVU and Pitt will tip it off at 6 p.m. ET on FS1.

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