WVU Basketball
Pitt’s Jeff Capel: WVU Basketball ‘Not as Physical’ Without Bob Huggins
The Darian DeVries era of WVU basketball is all of two games old, but Pitt coach Jeff Capel believes he’s already spotted a big difference in how the Mountaineers play under him compared to his predecessor.
“Obviously they’re different from when Coach (Bob) Huggins was there,” Capel said on Thursday. “It seems like they’re more offensively oriented than the Coach Huggins teams. They still play good defense, but they’re not as physical and rugged as those teams were, at least in the two games they’ve played. They’ve been really good in the two games they’ve played, but it just seems like that’s the difference.”
Capel, who was winless in four meetings against Huggins’ Mountaineers from 2018-22, will get a first-hand look at DeVries’s squad when WVU travels to Pittsburgh for the 191st Backyard Brawl tomorrow at 8 p.m.
Huggins, who coached his alma mater from 2007-23, was known for having a rough-and-tumble system that put more of an emphasis on defense and rebounding than scoring points. His most famous system was the full-court “Press Virginia” defense in the mid-2010s.
While DeVries has coached good defenses in his career, his system focuses on playing in transition and goes at a much faster pace than Huggins’s. DeVries said he expects Pitt to have a similar style of play.
“They like to get out and run and we like to get out and run,” DeVries said. “I certainly anticipate both teams wanting to run. Whether it plays out that way and the defense allows you to do that, we’ll see.”
In its first two games, West Virginia’s success on both ends of the court has run through senior Tucker DeVries, who Capel gushed about.
“He’s really good, I like everything about him,” Capel said. “I was a fan of his from afar last year watching him playing for his father at Drake. The thing, to me, that stands out is he has a great feel for the game, he really knows how to play.”
Coach DeVries, who admitted he’s never met Capel, said he has respect for what Capel’s done in seven years with the Panthers.
“He’s done a really good job,” DeVries said. “When you watch some of these teams he’s had the last couple of years and some of the things they’ve been able to do, I just think he does a really good job and has an identity to what they try to do on offense.”
Capel picked up his first Brawl victory last season, defeating the Mountaineers and interim head coach Josh Eilert 80-63 in Morgantown.
It should be noted that college basketball analyst John Rothstein seems to agree with Capel’s assessment of DeVries’ team in comparison to the Huggins era by retiring his famous slogan.
The first Backyard Brawl between DeVries and Capel is scheduled to tip off from Peterson Events Center on Friday night at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the ACCNetwork.
For a related story, Darian DeVries was “elated” to sign 2025 recruit Trent MacLean.
