Pitt's rally not enough in home loss to West Virginia

After Pitt's 69-60 loss to West Virginia on Saturday night, freshman guard Marcus Carr met the media with sad eyes.

"It was a winnable game for us," he said.

Moments later, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins sat in Carr's chair and didn't look much different. Huggins spoke like anything but a coach whose team has won nine games in a row.

He complained about his team complaining about being tired.

He criticized West Virginia's rebounding.

"It's hard to rebound if you don't try," he said.

He even said he thought about offering forward Lamont West a chair because "he was standing around" on the court during Pitt's second-half rally. Then, he was asked about the charged atmosphere at Petersen Events Center that finally shook like the old days with 7,748 in attendance.

"It's fun for the fans and you guys," he said. "But for me it's work. I'd be a damn liar if I said I had fun."

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Pitt coach Kevin Stallings didn't have fun, either, but he left thinking he has a young team that will listen to what he has to say and, at least, will try to follow instructions.

"(West Virginia was) a little too good," he said, "but we got better tonight."

At least, he's looking forward to his team's next practice.

"I told our guys what allowed us to play this way is the way that they come out and try to prepare every day," he said. "I am heartbroken that I couldn't have done a little bit more to help them get over the top, but it's all about continuing to get better.

"I hate that we are 5-5, but I love going to practice every day."

It didn't look like Pitt had much of a chance at halftime after West Virginia (9-1) grabbed a 45-27 lead by forcing Pitt to commit 10 turnovers and holding the Panthers to five field goals in 20 minutes.

"If halftime hadn't come, we might have died on the vine," Stallings said.

But Pitt had only four turnovers in the second half, took advantage of West Virginia foul trouble and senior Ryan Luther and freshman Shamiel Stevenson played every second after halftime.

All of sudden, there was Carr hitting a 3-point shot and getting fouled by Wesley Harris with 5 minuts, 31 seconds to play. The ensuing foul shot cut the lead to 61-59, but Pitt scored only one point after that.

West Virginia guard Jevon Carter scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half and sat out a spell in the second half with four fouls.

"I liked the game a lot when Carter was on the bench with four fouls," Stallings said. "I really enjoyed that segment of the game."

Carter was one of three Mountaineers to step up when Pitt cut the lead to two points. Sagaba Konata hit a jumper 19 seconds after Carr's foul shot, and Daxter Miles ensured the victory with two layups.

Luther had a hard time celebrating the moment. Pitt's four-game winning streak was over, but he couldn't ignore the obvious facts.

"We did a good job of letting them get one shot," he said. "We didn't let them get any easy shots.

"We could have made a few more shots, especially myself, but we fought hard and we played hard."

Luther led the Panthers with 13 points, and his 12 rebounds helped Pitt outrebound the nation's No. 18 team 38-32.

Carr and Stevenson added 12 points each.

Stallings was disappointed in the outcome but encouraged by what he saw.

"They believed we were going to get back into it and have a chance to win," he said. "You could see that they believed. It wasn't fake. It wasn't bravado.

"They thought we were going to have a chance to win the game. We had a chance. We just didn't get it done."

Huggins remained in a bad mood.

"This is getting ready to be finals week. I hope they do better on their finals than they did tonight."

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.