West Virginia cruises past Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl

The West Virginia Mountaineers (2-0) hit a Backyard Brawl milestone on Friday, earning their 100th win over the Pittsburgh Panthers (0-2) by a score of 74-59.

The win also marked Bob Huggins’ 902nd career win, moving the future hall of fame coach into a tie for fifth place alongside Bob Knight. Huggins needs two more wins to pass Roy Williams for fourth place, which he’ll have the opportunity to do next week.

Pittsburgh held a 6-4 lead over the Mountaineers at the first media timeout, but West Virginia began to force turnover after turnover and the Panthers lead was quickly erased. The Mountaineers scored 21 points on 18 turnovers in the first half, and controlled a 36-24 lead at halftime.

Everything continued to go West Virginia’s way coming out of the locker room, allowing the Mountaineers to extend their lead to as much as 21 points midway through the half. The Panthers tried to mount a comeback, but were never able to close the lead to single digits.

Jalen Bridges led all scorers with 18 points, 6 rebounds. Taz Sherman was close behind with 17 points, and Sean McNeil finished with 11 points. Malik Curry went 5-of-5 for 10 points, 3 assists in an outstanding performance off the bench. Gabe Osabuohien didn’t score a point, but he did take another charge — his sixth of the season.

The Mountaineers will travel to Charleston, South Carolina next week for the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic, where they’ll take on the Elon Phoenix at 9:00PM ET on Thursday. That game will be broadcast on ESPN2.