What the ESPN BPI Says About WVU's Chances Against Pitt

This game appears to be a coin flip.

The Backyard Brawl will be one of the key non-conference matchups on Friday night as West Virginia looks to extend its winning streak over Pitt to six games.

The Mountaineers took care of business in the season-opener by defeating Mount St. Mary's 76-58 despite an extremely slow start offensively. West Virginia's defense played with tremendous energy and effort, holding the opposing Mountaineers to an 18-point first half.

Pitt also cruised to victory in their first game of the season defeating UT-Martin 80-58. Ole Miss transfer Blake Hinson had a heck of a debut notching 27 points on 9/18 shooting from the floor. 

The Panthers pulled down 18 offensive rebounds which helped lead them to several second chance baskets, getting them to the 80-point mark. They didn't shoot the ball all that well going just 11/40 from three-point range. If that poor shooting carries over into tonight's game, Pitt will be in trouble because West Virginia simply won't allow that many second chance points.

According to the ESPN BPI, West Virginia has a 52.1% chance to win while Pitt has a 47.9% chance.

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