WVU athletic director Wren Baker supports continuing basketball version of Backyard Brawl with Pitt
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The Pitt and West Virginia basketball teams have met 189 times, with No. 190 coming up this season.
WVU athletic director Wren Baker said Monday he wants the series to continue beyond 2023-24, and he has made his intention known to Pitt’s Heather Lyke.
“I called her and told her we would definitely love to extend it,” Baker said after the news conference that launched WVU head men’s basketball coach Josh Eilert into his new job.
“We would extend in pretty much every sport in our series with Pitt,” Baker said. “It’s a great rivalry, a great series, draws well for both. So, I think it makes a ton of sense. I’m for continuing the series.”
Pitt and West Virginia are scheduled to meet Dec. 6 at the WVU Coliseum. The game will mark the first time since 2012 that Pitt and West Virginia will meet after both teams reached the NCAA Tournament the previous season. The Mountaineers own a 101-88 advantage, including a current six-game winning streak. Those six games are the only meetings between the teams in the past 12 seasons.
Pitt-WVU is the most-played series in Panthers program history, dating to a 30-25 Panthers victory in 1906. West Virginia won 81-56 last season at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt hasn’t won in Morgantown since 2012.
The schools’ football teams will play the second of a four-game series Sept. 16 in Morgantown. After that, the series is scheduled to resume in 2029, the start of another four games.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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