Pitt will try to accomplish something it hasn’t done in nearly 20 years beat the same team three times in one season when it meets West Virginia at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.
The third installment of the Backyard Brawl will happen because West Virginia (22-10), the No. 7 seed, defeated No. 10 seed Notre Dame, 74-62, on Wednesday night in a second-round game. Alex Ruoff (25 points), Da’Sean Butler (20 points) and Devin Ebanks (18 rebounds) led the Mountaineers.
Luke Harangody scored a game-high 27 points for Notre Dame, which missed 10 of its first 11 shots and trailed the entire game.
Pitt (28-3) swept both regular season meetings with West Virginia, winning 79-67, in Morgantown, and 70-59 at Petersen Events Center.
Pitt hasn’t gone 3-0 against a team in the same season since 1989-90, when the Panthers swept Boston College during the regular season and then beat the Eagles in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
