West Virginia @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 16, 2012 ) West Virginia 66, Pittsburgh 48

With a win over one border rival on Tuesday, No. 16 West Virginia travels up Interstate 79 to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers on Saturday. The Mountaineers won their eighth straight game since an opening-night 88-65 loss to current No. 9 Texas A&M with a 68-61 victory over 12th-ranked Virginia on Tuesday.

"We have not fared as well in (Pitt’s Petersen Events Center) as we need to and we need to go in there and play well," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said after the Virginia contest. "I told our guys coming in, these two games against Virginia and Pitt are huge games for us." This will be the first time these two long-time rivals have played each other since West Virginia's visit to Pittsburgh in 2012, a 66-48 Mountaineer victory. In the win over Virginia, super senior Jevon Carter tallied a game-high 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Lamont West added 22 points and four rebounds. The young Panthers are coming off their fourth straight victory - an 82-78 overtime decision against Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday as emerging freshman guard Marcus Carr led four players in double figures with 23 points.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (8-1): Carter has increased his scoring average nearly six points from a very solid junior season and is averaging 19.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 4.2 steals in 33.6 minutes. Fellow senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. averages 14.6 points and 3.1 assists. “I feel we’re the best backcourt in the country," Carter said after the Virginia game. "We can do everything. If scoring isn’t it, we got to find something else to do.”

ABOUT PITTSBURGH (5-4): Junior college transfer Jared Wilson-Frame scored 15 points Tuesday, while freshmen Shamiel Stevenson and Khameron Davis added 14 and 12 points, respectively. Senior Ryan Luther (12.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists), grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Toronto native Carr (12.0 points, 3.8 assists per game) is averaging 19 points on 18-of-26 shooting, including 6-of-9 beyond the arc, over his last three outings.

TIP-INS

1. Along with Arizona State’s Tra Holder and Georgia State’s D’Marcus Simonds, Carter is one of three players in Division I averaging 19 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.

2. Freshmen accounted for 55 of Pitt’s 82 points against Mount St. Mary’s.

3. Prior to the loss to West Virginia in 2012, the Panthers had won the previous four games.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 86, Pittsburgh 61