1st road trip, hostile West Virginia crowd to present new tests for Pitt basketball

To varying degrees, the majority of Jeff Capel’s roster is currently experiencing a learning curve as it pertains to being successful basketball players in the ACC.

For Pitt sophomore guard Nojus Indrusaitis, that entails getting acclimated to more of a starring role after being used sparingly as a freshman at Iowa State last year.

True freshman Omari Witherspoon is grappling with the ins and outs of simply playing at the collegiate level, while fellow freshman Roman Siulepa continues to adjust after joining the Panthers from Brisbane, Australia.

Those efforts will continue, but Thursday at West Virginia, Pitt faces an additional task: performing in front of a sure-to-be rowdy Backyard Brawl crowd.

“I’m anxious to see how we’re going to respond to that environment and being uncomfortable,” Capel said. “We’ve been comfortable. Our two exhibition games were (at home) and we’ve played three games (at home).

“I’m anxious to see how we respond to hostility, how we respond to really good competition and the type of passion that I know will be in that building.”

Pitt’s upcoming trip to Hope Coliseum marks the 192nd installment of the hardwood version of the Backyard Brawl, with the Mountaineers owning a 101-90 edge in a series that dates to 1906.

The Panthers (3-0) have begun their 2025-26 campaign with three straight wins over Youngstown State, Longwood and Eastern Michigan, while WVU (3-0) has beaten Mount St. Mary’s, Campbell and Lehigh.

Through three early nonconference games at Petersen Events Center, Capel’s squad has on average played in front of a crowd of 4,919 people.

The last time Pitt played in Morgantown Dec. 6, 2023, 12,301 fans piled into the then-WVU Coliseum.

The Panthers’ two other trips to Morgantown under Capel have unsurprisingly attracted similar sellout crowds.

The experience in a hostile environment, one Pitt’s players must become accustomed to ahead of ACC league play, will be a necessary trial by fire.

However, it remains to be seen how the Panthers, with eight first-year players to the program, will handle the rigors of their first road trip together as a team.

“Everything that we’re doing is new,” Capel said. “We’re getting ready to go on the road. They’ve never been on the road in college. They’ve never played in front of a big crowd — I’m assuming there’s going to be a big crowd there on Thursday. We’re going to be in someone else’s gym. We’ll be in a hotel together — that’s something we haven’t done. All of this stuff is new.”

In terms of personnel, uncertainty surrounds the status of Panthers guard Brandin Cummings, who missed Monday’s contest vs. EMU with a lower-body injury sustained in practice the day before.

Pitt has listed Cummings, who is averaging 18.5 points, as day-to-day.

Minus Cummings on Monday, Indrusaitis subbed into the starting lineup and scored nine points with three rebounds in his team’s 78-6 win.

With or without Cummings on Thursday, Capel has stressed to players that the price of poker is about to go up. More than anything, Capel wants to see his players handle the double dose of adversity of playing in a tough venue against high-major competition.

“I know it’s a big game, I know it’s a different game — I understand that,” Capel said. “I understand the rivalry, I understand the passion, intensity and all of that with it. We really, really want to win. But the main things I want us to get better at are: I want us to play well.”