The West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball program has now won seven of the last nine editions of The Backyard Brawl after capturing a 71-49 win over the Pitt Panthers on Thursday night at the Hope Coliseum in Morgantown.
After dropping the last two consecutive games against Pitt, including the last game in Morgantown against the Panthers in 2023. Legendary WVU play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi described it as a 'welcome to Morgantown' moment for first-year West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge, who had earlier in the week described the Backyard Brawl by saying that it would be "disingenuous" to ignore how much the rivalry means to the program.