text: West Virginia The fiercest rivalry was with former Big East Conference member West Virginia University in the basketball version of the Backyard Brawl, an extension of the football rivalry.  Adding to the importance of the game, Pitt and West Virginia shared membership in the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference (1933–1939), the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League West Division (1977), Eastern 8 Conference (1978–1982), and the Big East Conference (1996–2012). In addition, the two rivals have tangled in the last games played at three of their respective arenas: on February 26, 1951, Pitt defeated WVU 74–72 in the closing seconds of the last college game played at the Pitt Pavilion inside Pitt Stadium; on March 3, 1970, Pitt upset WVU 92–87 in the last game played at the West Virginia University Field House in Morgantown; and on March 2, 2002, Pitt defeated WVU 92–65 in Pitt's last game at Fitzgerald Field House. The two teams last met on February 16, 2012, resulting in a 66–48 Mountaineer victory. The Panthers and Mountaineers are scheduled to resume their annual series as part of the nonconference schedule beginning with the 2017–18 season, ending a 5-year absence. Pitt will host games in 2017 and 2019, while WVU will host games in the 2018 and 2020 seasons. WVU remains as Pitt's most-played opponent, with 184 meetings having been played between the schools as of the end of the 2011–12 season.  West Virginia leads the series 98 to 88.
  Penn State
  Another spill-over from the gridiron, the Panthers' third-most frequently-played opponent is the Penn State Nittany Lions, whom they have played 148 times. Penn State leads the all-time series, 76–72. They played at least once every year from 1935–82 and briefly rekindled the rivalry at the turn of the century, playing annually from 2000–05. Since that time, they’ve gone against each other just twice, in 2013 as part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, and in the 2016 Never Forget Tribute Classic. They are not scheduled to renew the series in the foreseeable future, though there have been significant talks between the universities about doing so.