By Aidan Joly
This writer attended both sides of the Backyard Brawl rivalry on Saturday.
On a busy day of hoops in the Allegheny Mountains, Clemson went on the road and held off Pitt in overtime after the Panthers mounted a comeback, with the Tigers winning 78-75. In the second game, West Virginia got a second signature win by beating No. 2 Iowa State 64-57 in Morgantown.
We’ll lead with the West Virginia upset.
The second game I saw on Saturday was one of the more physical games you’ll see. Iowa State usually benefits from these physical games and did hold lead for multiple parts of the second half after trailing by one at the break.
However, it was West Virginia’s Javon Small who took over. Small, who did not have Mountaineers second-leading scorer Tucker DeVries by his side, took over the final 90 seconds of the game. After Joseph Yesufu hit a layup to give the Mountaineers a 51-49 lead with 2:06 to go, West Virginia forced a stop, which led to a Small three-point play that put the Mountaineers up five.
He then made a pair of free throws with 1:19 to go after an Iowa State bucket. After another Iowa State score from Keshon Gilbert that cut it to five, Small hit a three with 42 seconds left that put the Mountaineers up eight and served as the dagger. A dunk with 21 seconds left was the exclamation point.
He ended up with 27 points, 20 of them in the second half and 10 in the final 1:39 of the game.
With the victory on Jerry West Day in Morgantown, West Virginia now has four ranked wins (the other three are Gonzaga, Arizona and Kansas), sits at 4-2 in the Big 12, with two of those wins coming against the best two of the best three teams in the league.
Under first year coach Darian DeVries, West Virginia is certainly among the top half of teams in the Big 12 and definitely sits on the right side of the NCAA tournament cut line after missing last season.
This team has a chance to stack some wins too. It will play Arizona State at home on Tuesday and then go on the road against Kansas State. That then sets up a potential ranked matchup between them and Houston on Jan. 29.
Now, moving on to the first game an hour and a half north on Saturday.
After surrendering a 14-point lead and the game going to overtime, Clemson made key shots in overtime to beat Pitt in overtime 78-75 as the Tigers improved to 7-1 in ACC play.
Clemson is having a very good year this year. It sits at 15-4 overall and has won six of seven. Chase Hunter made big shots, including the three to put Pitt away in overtime, as part of a 20 point performance. Ian Schieffelin had 15 points and 11 rebounds as well.
Clemson is starting to trend towards the 7-line. Its advanced stats probably leave a little more to be desired. It ranked No. 35 in the NET and No. 26 in KenPom coming into the day, both of which will certainly go up on Sunday. It only has one ranked win, that being against Kentucky on Dec. 3.
It currently only has one ranked game remaining on the schedule, that being Duke on Feb. 8. Clemson is certainly safe and will continue to be should the wheels not fall off. Whether it can get back to the second weekend certainly remains to be seen.
On the other side of this game, Pitt’s tournament hopes took a large ding. The Panthers are probably still in for now, but it is worth raising an eyebrow at. Pitt has now lost four games in a row and has dropped to 3-4 in the ACC after a 3-0 start. It got blown out at Duke, lost by 10 at home to Louisville, lost by 12 at Florida State and then Saturday’s OT loss.
There’s talent on this roster. Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett are both very good players, and Cameron Corhen and Damian Dunn are both very capable double digit scorers. Guillermo Diaz Graham is getting better year by year and had a good game on Saturday.
Albeit, Pitt still has a chance to get things back on track. It will have a week to sit on this loss before traveling to Syracuse next Saturday, then hosts North Carolina on Jan. 28, then goes on the road against Wake Forest on Feb. 1. Wins in at least two of those games would be a help for this group.
All in all, between an upset of No. 2 in the country and an overtime game, couldn’t have asked for a much better doubleheader.
AJ Hoops 