For the first time, WVU Men’s Basketball will play at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh when it faces rival Pitt on Wednesday, December 9 as announced Thursday by WVU Athletics. Read more: Beyond hockey: PPG Paints Arena to host WVU and Pitt Men’s Basketball.
The first-time event will be the 193rd game between the two teams. It is now known as the Backyard Basketball Classic hosted by PPG Paints Arena.
The event will be a doubleheader, with WVU and Pitt taking the court second. The opening game of the Backyard Basketball Classic has not yet been announced.
PPG Paints Arena holds huge upside potential
Despite the game being played in Pittsburgh, it will be considered a neutral-site contest.
Instead of receiving true homecourt advantage at Petersen Events Center, the Panthers will travel two miles from campus. The move allows for more room, with roughly 5,500 more seats available. Petersen Events Center has a capacity of 12,508, while PPG Paints Arena’s capacity is 18,087.
In Pitt’s announcement of the Backyard Basketball Classic, Pitt Athletic Director Allen Greene said that the revenue of the game is expected to go beyond a typical home game, and it “drives meaningful, above-the-cap NIL revenue for [the] program.”
Meanwhile, the Mountaineer faithful will only have to travel about an hour and a half and 73 miles from Morgantown to attend the event.
PPG Paints is home to a historic NHL franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The stadium has hosted events such as the Stanley Cup Finals, several NCAA Championships, including the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the 2014 WWE Royal Rumble and historic concerts such as Sir Paul McCartney performing the first ever event at the arena.
Historic rivals
WVU and Pitt have faced off in Men’s Basketball for many years, with the first contest dating back over 100 years ago on February 20, 1904. The Mountaineers won the first-ever meeting 15-12.
The Mountaineers hold a 102-90 record against the Panthers. Pitt, however, does hold the better record in Pittsburgh at 58-36.
WVU won the most recent contest this past season, 71-49 at Hope Coliseum on November 13. Overall, the Mountaineers have won seven of the past 10 meetings. They went on a six-game winning streak from 2012 to 2022.
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The most recent neutral site contest between the two teams took place in the Big East Tournament in 2006 at Madison Square Garden, another arena that is home of an NHL franchise. Pitt won 68-57.
The last time WVU and Pitt faced each other at a neutral site in Pittsburgh was in 1998. It took place at the Pittsburgh Civic Center, with the Mountaineers winning 76-72.
A neutral site game between the two teams has never been in Morgantown.
The neutral site game at PPG Paints Arena means the Mountaineers and Pitt will have faced each other in all three of Pittsburgh’s Big Four sports locations. Football has been played at Acrisure Stadium (home of the Pittsburgh Steelers) and baseball at PNC Park (home of the Pittsburgh Pirates).
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