SHOOTING — WVU center Harlan Obioha takes a shot against Pitt on Thursday. - Benjamin Powell

MORGANTOWN — By the time his night was over, Harlan Obioha’s message was likely making its way out of the Hope Coliseum and up I-79 toward Pennsylvania.

WVU’s 7-footer had just played 30 dominating minutes in front of 12,453 screaming fans, many of whom were hugging him and patting Obioha on the back as he circled around the arena after the game.

His teammates followed suit with a dominating 71-49 victory against rival Pitt on Thursday, handing the hated Panthers (3-1) their first loss of the season along the way.

His message: Big Harlan was hungry.

“He told me before the game he was going to eat,” WVU point guard Jasper Floyd said.

That message went from Floyd, then to his teammates and then to the WVU coaches. It was spreading. It was unstoppable.

On this night, so was Obioha.

“Harlan is a ball of energy,” said WVU head coach Ross Hodge, who ended his first Backyard Brawl win with his own burst of energy and a scream toward the home fans. “He’s usually pretty loud and pretty boisterous. He’s got a great personality and he’s pretty engaging.

“You see him. He’s a large man, so I’m sure he always wants to eat, both literally and metaphorically.”

Obioha was the man in the middle. No, make that the MAN in the middle. He dunked. He powered his way through post moves and through Pitt defenders. He threw up baby hooks and two-handed power moves.

The one time Pitt defenders played him the right way and kept him a little too far out of his comfort zone, Obioha simply threw a no-look pass to teammate D.J. Thomas for a lay-up.

“Harlan kicked our butt tonight,” was how Pitt head coach Jeff Capel explained it.

By the time it was all said and done, Obioha shot 8 of 9 from the field – his only miss came on his final shot attempt of the game – and finished with 19 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.

“He really anchored us,” Hodge said. “He got really deep position and he’s a large man amongst large men. He’s got great feet, great balance and great hands, which is a really good combination.”

The Mountaineers (4-0), who erased a two-game losing skid against Pitt with the win, got plenty of help along the way, including from Thomas, a freshman who finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

With Thomas, a big guy himself at 6-9 and 225 pounds, and Obioha combined, WVU came away with a 34-31 rebounding advantage and a more-telling 32-20 lead in paint points.

“We didn’t do a good job with post defense before they caught the ball,” Capel said. “We allowed them to get deep positioning and then get to their left shoulder. We have to get back to work. This was the first time this year we played someone who actively threw the ball inside and we didn’t do a good job with it.”

WVU erased an early 21-14 lead midway through the first half and finished that half on a 20-4 run. To start the second half, Pitt needed nearly four minutes before it scored a single point. By that time, WVU had stretched its lead to 46-27.

And then frustration began to settle in. Pitt was hit with three technical fouls in the second half, all of them coming from simply losing their composure.

WVU players sensed they had the Panthers right where they wanted them.

“When you’re in a rivalry game and it starts to get out of hand, they’re going to try and do anything they can to get back in the game,” Obioha said. “They’re going to try and bait you into getting a dumb (technical foul) so it messes up the flow of the game.

“Jasper did a great job. We kept huddling and he kept telling us to stay level-headed. He did a great job of keeping us level-headed.”

Floyd added 13 points and seven assists and Honor Huff scored nine of his 15 points from the foul line, as the Mountaineers moved to 4-0 for the first time since 2022.

Along the way, Pitt was held to just 37.7% (20 of 53) and was just 5 of 20 from 3-point range.

“At the end of the first half and the start of the second half, we locked in defensively,” Floyd said. “I think there was a point they didn’t score for the first four or five minutes of the second half. So, we just honed in on our defensive schemes and assignments and we executed them. That’s the name of the game.”