BACKYARD BRAWL, HOOPS EDITION: PART II

Despite their recent 70-51 loss on the road to the rival Mountaineers just nine days ago, sports betting houses have made the host Panthers just a three-point underdog when they host rival West Virginia tonight at 9 PM at the Peterson Events Center on the Pittsburgh campus.

The game is part of ESPN's 'Rivalry Week' theme and will be broadcast live nationally by the sports network.

In the previous meeting the rivalry showed to be very much alive and well as a mini scrum between players on the court and an unruly crowd was more of the story than the game itself. Bob Huggins had to take the microphone to ask the crowd to refrain from throwing objects onto the court and following the mini scrum on the court Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion was hit just below the eye by a quarter thrown from the crowd. After the previous warning, this resulted in a Technical foul being assessed against the home team.

This time it is WVU Entering Hostile Territory (Register Herald) and the Oakland Zoo, the nickname of the Pitt student section, will be ready for action. The Mountaineers will look to rebound from a loss earlier this week when Villanova beat them on Monday night at the Coliseum.

Pittsburgh knocked off local rival Robert Morris on Monday night and Pitt Returns to the Pressure Cooker (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) of the Big East tonight in a contest that will greatly enhance the March Madness odds of the winning team earning a higher tournament seed next month.

Pitt has won two in a row since their loss at WVU, which was their fourth in five games. WVU looks to avoid a two-game losing streak heading into the conference stretch run.

Tune in to ESPN tonight at 9PM for the action!!