I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but I’d say I’ve gotten the same amount of email, sent last night or this morning, about the officials as I did after the Capital Classic debacle. Was it that bad? It didn’t seem that bad to me in the moment and I haven’t watched the game on replay … and I check my expectations at the door when WVU and Pitt play and try to kill one another.

I’ll let you filter through that topic.

As for the game, the trend continues for WVU. Nothing comes easy except the explanations for the losses. Saturday WVU couldn’t shoot. Monday, the Mountaineers couldn’t rebound or get stops.

“They outmanned us, is what happened,” Huggins said. “They just beat us to death on the offensive glass and drove it where they wanted to drive it. They just outmanned us.”

The Panthers (22-2, 10-1 Big East) matched their best start in Big East play by scoring points on 25 of their 30 possessions in the second half.

The five empty possessions were three turnovers, one one-shot possession where WVU grabbed the defensive rebound and two missed free throws on Pitt’s final possession.

“They probably took two or three jump shots the entire second half,” said WVU point guard Joe Mazzulla. “The rest of it was layups and second-chance points.”

You think about that. Five empty possessions in an entire half of basketball. It’s a continuation of a concern for WVU: The defense and the rebounding just aren’t there — or where the team would like them to be. The Mountaineers can’t lean on them and expect to score enough points to win, or in cases like the past two games, to match scores to win. And when scoring is habitually difficult — below 70 six straight games, the longest streak under Huggins — you almost can’t win.

Almost. Worst-in-the-Big East DePaul comes to town Saturday and WVU killed the Demons by two points last month. Hard to call anything a gimme right now and what if Cleveland Melvin gets hot and drives to the basket and makes some jumpers and scores 30 points? Points matter right now and WVU just isn’t getting them at a time it isn’t preventing them.

Yeah, I always find something wrong. You’ve been putting up with my stuff just way to long. I’m so gifted at finding what I don’t like the most, so I think it’s time or us to have a text. 

(5:50 PM):
Gumby? Why the heck not! Any chance it is Dan Dakich in that get up?

(6:29 PM):
Yoi need to do something about this pjing situation.. You wont believe this [stuff].

(6:32 PM):
We got all the way in only to be directed out on the other side b/c they were [extremely] full. This is [ridiculous].

(6:58 PM):
[Fantastical] phil collins!

(7:07 PM):
Eat [It] Pitt chant…very audible on tv.

(7:19 PM):
Hello to our first drought of the night

(7:20 PM):
Mitchell needs to sit. We r getting zero from the guards

(7:23 PM):
I thought ESPN was showing our remaining schedule on the bottom of the screen, turns out it was just the Top 15.

(7:28 PM):
Truck has such a blind spot regarding his ability to drive into the lane in traffic.

(7:28 PM):
Huggs to Truck after that charge: “Wide [freaking] open” (referring to Casey in the corner)

(7:36 PM):
Mike Roberts 1 Jamie Dixon 0

(7:41 PM):
[Lord], Truck

(7:44 PM):
How the [heck] is that Tim Higgins’s call to make from that side??!!

(7:46 PM):
Gary magee was more likable when he was trying to kill arnold schwarzenegger in the jungle.

(7:49 PM):
Good to see mitch could makee the big game

(7:55 PM):
Deniz just needs to grow a Brett Keisel beard.

(7:58 PM):
Pitt is no. 4. We are unranked and up by 2 at the half. Digger just said we have serious issues and that pitt has played great. What a [guy]

(8:05 PM):
I have a feeling sPitt will shoot better than 29% this half. Can we shoot better?

(8:07 PM):
Cam made a wide-open layup

(8:13 PM):
Hide your kids hide your wife and hide your husband cause Gary McGhee is one ugly dude dunkin’ on everyone out here

(8:21 PM):
Loathe tim higgins. Loathe.

(8:26 PM):
I’m just surprised Higgins didn’t flop to the floor

(8:28 PM):
If there’s a case to be made for Higgins being [horse food] it HAS to include him swallowing the whistle when he’s blatantly bumped

(8:38 PM):
Heres where i need a breathing apparatus

(8:43 PM):
You probably can’t see this but the pitt guy Taylor is getting away w/ murder

(8:47 PM):
Higgins was jealous of Cam’s shuffle steps

(8:53):
Wvu necer expected Pitt to go to a zone and looked like it’d never see one. Huge possession and gave it away.

(8:55 PM):
Backcourt violation, hello? If that is not a foul… Zebra’s, sigh… If I cursed you could add the brackets here

(8:55 PM):
Bob Huggins spontaneously combusts in 3,2,w

(8:56 PM):
My bad – 3,2,1

(8:58 PM):
Me or do the refs [stink]?

(8:59 PM):
One of the worst officiated games I’ve seen in a while, both ways

(8:59 PM):
Deniz was as awful on defense as he was entertainig on offense. He’s a liability on every defensive possession.

(9:15 PM):
And now its a total cf to get out. I hate wvu

(9:22 PM):
Ask Huggs what he yelled at Karl Hess as Karl ran off the court

(9:24 PM):
The adult in me knows i shouldnt be so angry right now, but the redneck in me has taken over. This [fickle] university.