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A Brief Overview of the Backyard Brawl History, WVU Looks For 100th Win

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MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – When the West Virginia men’s basketball team welcomes Pitt to the WVU Coliseum for the 188th edition of the Backyard Brawl on Friday night, it’ll be a nostalgic flashback for those who remember the rivalry back in its prime.

Let’s go back and take a look at the series history.

West Virginia leads the all-time series 99-88, as they look for their 100th win over the Panthers. The series first started back in 1906, in Pittsburgh, with the Panthers winning 30-25.

The Mountaineers took over the series in the 50s and 60s, winning 13-straight from 1957-63.

Despite Pitt leaving the Eastern Athletic Association (Atlantic-10) in 1982, the two schools kept the series going. They were reunited in the same conference, when West Virginia joined in the Big East in 1995.

The series came to a seemingly end in 2012, when WVU left to join the Big 12. Both WVU and Pitt never scheduled a home-and-home with each other until 2017. WVU AD Shane Lyons and Pitt AD Heather Lyke have both want to bring the series back for good, in both football and basketball.

West Virginia has won the last four meetings of the Backyard Brawl, last winning in 2019, when the Mountaineers traveled to Pitt, winning 68-53.

WVU and Pitt will continue to play each other as scheduled until the 2023-24 season.

There have been great performances over the last 115 years, including a 42-point performance by Will Robinson in 1972, or 40 points by Rod “Hot Rod” Hundley in 1956, but nothing would be greater for West Virginia fans as the 100th victory over the Panthers.

On Friday night, just don’t throw anything onto the court, or else, Bob Huggins will lay it into you.

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