The good news. Pitt is unlikely to face an opponent in the NCAA Tournament that is that extreme in hoisting the 3s. Pitt did not have a 10 minute stretch where they looked like a JV team, as they have through most of the Big East games. The Big 3 combined for 55 points, 19 rebounds and 18 assists. The team shot 50% for the game, and in the second half shot an efficient 57%.

The bad news. With the exception of the Providence game, Pitt has shown a nasty trait of playing up or down to the level of competition in the Big East this year. The bench only contributed 4 points on 2-10 shooting and 0-3 at the free throw line. Pitt let itself be out rebounded and out shot in the second half. Pitt didn’t stay attentive on defense, letting the shooters get free more often as the game wore on.

Is this the crisis sort of loss that St. John’s was? No. This was a home game for WVU, a rivalry game, a sellout. A career game for one player. Weird stuff happens. It doesn’t excuse the loss, though. Pitt had the game under control, but simply gave WVU too many extra chances. It doesn’t matter how much better the team’s shooting percentage was than WVU when you allow them to take 11 more shots in the first 40 minutes. WVU may have taken 40 3s, but on its 25 other shots, they made 13 (52%). That’s a problem.

Not having Ramon was not the problem on offense, but it was definitely a problem on defense. Ramon is a better defender than Graves, and Graves seemed to get tired playing more minutes than he has in the last 2-3 weeks. I am wondering how the beat writers for Pitt managed not to find out about Ramon’s strained shoulder. He suffered the injury on Tuesday, and didn’t practice on Thursday or Friday. Even if he was expected to play, you would have thought they might have mentioned that little tidbit.