Last night’s game marked only the second time the two teams had faced one another outside the locales of the home schools. The previous matchup was Feb. 10, 2000, when West Virginia defeated Pitt, 62-58, at the Civic Center in Charleston, W.Va. That year, WVU played all of its games away from WVU Coliseum, which was closed for renovations that included the removal of asbestos. The Mountaineers played nine games in Charleston and six games at Wheeling (W.Va.) Civic Center.

The last time West Virginia faced Pitt in a conference tournament was in 1982. It was a day to forget for the Mountaineers, ranked ninth at the time, as unranked Pitt won the Eastern 8 Conference tournament title with a 79-72 upset victory at the former Civic Arena. Thursday’s meeting in the quarterfinals of the Big East Conference tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York marked the third time this season and the second time in the past 10 days the two teams have met. Third-seeded West Virginia, which joined the Big East before the start of the 1995-96 season, was idle during the tournament’s first round, having earned its first bye. Digits 4 Big East statistical categories West Virginia led before last night’s Big East tournament quarterfinal versus Pitt. The Mountaineers led the conference in assists per game (17.0) — just ahead of Pitt (16.8) — 3-point field goals made (293), turnover margin (7.6) and assists-to-turnover ratio (2.1). They were second in steals per game (8.3) to Syracuse (9.2).

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