Jalen Bridges had 18 points, six rebounds and five blocks to lead West Virginia to a 74-59 home win over Pitt in Morgantown, W.Va., on Friday.
Taz Sherman scored 17 points, Sean McNeil had 11 points and Malik Curry added 10 points to flank Bridges for West Virginia (2-0).
John Hugley scored 17 points and Mouhamadou Gueye added 10 points in defeat for Pitt (0-2).
The story of the game for Pittsburgh was sloppiness with the basketball, as the Panthers committed 32 turnovers for the game.
Pitt shot 57.5 percent from the field (23 of 40) and outrebounded West Virginia 36-20, but couldn't overcome all the turnovers.
West Virginia shot 50.8 percent from the field overall and 40.9 percent from 3-point range (9 of 22), and collected 17 steals.
Neither team shot from well from the free-throw line. Pitt went 10 of 17, while West Virginia went 5 of 11 on foul shots.
West Virginia held a 12-point lead at halftime before surging further ahead in the second half, opening the half on a 7-2 run to take a 43-26 lead with 16:42 left in the game.
Pitt answered by scoring the next seven points to cut West Virginia's lead to 43-33, but the Mountaineers responded with a 13-3 run to take a 56-36 lead with 11:20 remaining.
West Virginia held a 67-46 lead with 5:10 remaining before Pitt made a flurry in the waning stages, cutting West Virginia's lead to 71-59 with 1:15 left.
Leading 17-15 midway through the first half, West Virginia started taking control of the game from there, going on a 6-0 run to take a 23-15 lead with 8:42 remaining until halftime.
The Mountaineers then went on a 9-0 surge to take a 34-19 lead with 3:38 left in the first half before taking a 36-24 lead into halftime.
--Field Level Media
Pittsburgh | West Virginia | |
John Hugley 17 | Scoring | Jalen Bridges 18 |
Femi Odukale 4 | Assists | Kedrian Johnson 6 |
William Jeffress 7 | Rebounds | Jalen Bridges 6 |
William Jeffress 4 | Free Throws Made | Taz Sherman 3 |
Femi Odukale 2 | Steals | Kedrian Johnson 7 |
Mouhamadou Gueye 3 | Blocks | Jalen Bridges 5 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Pittsburgh | 59 | 57.5 | 3-6 | 10-17 | 15 | 31 | 4 | 7 | 32 |
West Virginia | 74 | 50.8 | 9-22 | 5-11 | 15 | 18 | 11 | 17 | 14 |