Harlan Obioha was a tough matchup for Pittsburgh in the paint with his 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Obioha transferred from UNC Wilmington, where he shot 64.8 percent with 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per outing. Photo courtesy of West Virginia Athletics.
West Virginia center Harlan Obioha scored 19 points and accumulated six rebounds in 31 minutes to lead four Mountaineers in double figures in an impressive 71-49 win over rival Pitt on Thursday evening. Obioha’s scoring was consistent in finishing 8-of-9 from the floor.
Pitt led the Mountaineers 23-19 with 6:32 remaining in the first half before Obioha posted a layup and a dunk while Jasper Floyd hit a triple and scored in the lane to finish a 13-0 run. This gave the Mountaineers a 32-23 lead, and they would never trail again.
“He had really deep position, and he’s a large man among large men,” said first-year West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge, of Obioha. “He has great feet and he has great balance and great hands, which is a really good combination that he can get his position and not get off balance, and once he gets his hands on it, he can get it to his chin and he finishes it.”
Pitt head coach Jeff Capel gave the Mountaineers credit on the interior.
“This is the first time we played against someone this year where they accurately threw the ball inside, and we didn’t do a good job defending it,” Capel stated.
West Virginia started the second half with a 12-0 run behind five more points from Obioha as the Mountaineers posted a 46-25 lead with 16:32 to play. That turned into a combined 27-2 run over nine minutes from the first half into the second half.
“I challenged our team because we had been in this situation every game we have played, dating back to our closed-door scrimmages,” Hodge said. “We have had a couple of possession leads in the second half coming into it, and we didn’t start halves great, but I thought we started that half really well and extended that run.”
Over that stretch, West Virginia’s defense was prolific as it held Pitt to 0-of-13 from the floor with four turnovers.
“We really challenged our guys to try to defend without fouling and clean up the defensive rebounding,” noted Hodge. “We have talked about that in this room before. A lot of that is a byproduct of keeping the ball in front of you and keeping it out of the paint. I felt like we really defended well all night long.”
WVU held the Panthers to 38 percent from the field as Pitt made only 5-of-20 three-pointers.
Panther guard Nojis Indrusaitis scored on a layup to cut the ‘Eers lead back to 50-40 with 11:03 to go, but Chattanooga transfer Honor Huff hit a triple and six consecutive free throws to allow the Mountaineers ot enjoy another 13-0 run where they opened the lead to 63-40 with 5:29 remaining. Huff led the Mocs with 131 threes last season in 315 attempts for 41.6 percent in 2024-25.
Huff’s 15 points followed Obioha’s 19, while Floyd netted 13 and seven assists, and DJ Thomas scored ten points.
West Virginia scored 21 points off of 12 Pitt turnovers, and the Mountaineers outscored the Panthers, 32-20, in the paint.
Cameron Corhen led the Panthers with 12 points while Omari Witherspoon scored 11.
Hodge on the Defensive: Coach Hodge was an excellent hire for WVU, as his defensive reputation carries throughout the sport. We saw several examples of this on Thursday, especially in that 27-2 run over the last part of the first half, combined with the early second stanza.
From the analytics, West Virginia is 25th in the nation with a defensive efficiency rating of 96.7 and an adjusted tempo ratio of 66.4, which equates to 363rd out of the 365 Division-I teams.
Adjusted defensive efficiency is the net points allowed per 100 possessions, with adjusted weights for the quality of the opponent, the venue, and the time of the game. The adjusted tempo ratio refers to the number of possessions for 40 minutes against a team that plays at an average D-1 tempo.
“Ross is doing a heck of a job with his team, especially establishing an identity on the defensive side,” said Capel.
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